Felted Cat Cave, a quick how to -revisited.
I am supposed to have the summer off. So far, I don’t seem to have stopped running. So I have nothing new to tell you about. So I am going to share this with you again. I hope you enjoy it again if you have already seen it. I am at a Demo today. I plan to take lots of pictures and blog about it on July 23. It sounds so far away, but I am sure it will be here the day after tomorrow.
I have been wanting to make a cat cave for some time now. I decided it needed to be bright. I picked some Blue Faced Leicester wool so it would be strong and dyed it chartreuse. Then I picked some purple and magenta for the spikes.
I wanted an oval cat cave. I used my oval hat form to get the shape and gradually sized it up.
I laid out 4 layers of wool for strength and even shrinkage. I put the first side aside, and after laying out the second side, I poked holes to put the spikes through.
After wetting it all down, I wrapped each spike in plastic wrap so it would not get felted down flat.
I covered it with a sheer curtain and rubbed both sides for a while and rolled it for a while, and then wrapped it up, put it in the dryer twice, changing the position of the felt each time. It was starting to shrink, so I cut out the resist and switched to rolling it in a stick blind. I find the stick blinds to be very aggressive and shrinks the felt quickly. I did do some throwing, too. Finally, I rinsed the cave out in a bucket of alternately hot and cold water, being quite aggressive with it. I then had to stretch the top so it would be domed. I steamed it to heat it and make it easier to stretch. Mostly, I used a wooden spoon to push in a sliding motion to get the shape. Here it is on top of the resist, so you can see how much it shrank.
Here it is in use; it didn’t take long for one of my cats, Wu, to take up residence.
As a footnote, Wu (the queen of all things) is no longer with us. This is one of my favourite pictures of her. She really liked the cave; we buried her in it, here on the farm.
8 thoughts on “Felted Cat Cave, a quick how to -revisited.”
What a beautiful coffin (casket) for your beloved cat.
Having time off in a busy life is difficult and being busy also makes time disappear like morning mist in sunshine. Hope the demo goes well.
It was sad but I was happy I had it for her to be buried in.
Things do seem to find a way of putting themselves on the calendar when you’re not looking. The demo was nice despite the weather.
I like your spikey cat cave that Wu decided was hers and what a fitting permanent cosy home for her.
Running and never stopping….seems to be on the cards for so many of us. Hope you can take the chance, when it finally arrives, to take a well deserved breather. Xx
She did like it and I hope she got to take it with her over the rainbow bridge.
I hope to get some time this week to do the things I want/need to do. Fingers crossed. 🤞
I wonder if Wu decided to make it hers because it’s the same colour as her eyes. She looks so content and comfy.
I did make a cat cave for one of my cats many moons ago – before I knew how to felt. I made it with terry towel covering foam rubber pieces and it was used and loved (I like to think). There’s no point in making one for my current cats, I doubt they’d use it. They must have been brought up badly – they don’t even like getting in cardboard boxes, and neither mum nor son seems to know how to purr.
Hope you find time to slow down soon.
Ann
She did look good in it, a perfect fit. Are you sure they are really cats, no boxes? do they like paper bags? I have some plans for my own stuff this week. But don’t tell anyone or they might find something vital for me to do. 😉
I’m beginning to wonder if they are meowing dogs – as Jan would say. The male is as big as a small dog and is very vocal (must be some Siamese in there somewhere) and his mother chases balled up bits of paper. And no they don’t like paper bags either or those noisy crinkly plastic ones. They were rescued cats, so we don’t know much about their history, except that their names, when they arrived with us, were Pi (the mother) and Radius, whom we now call Boy. Very odd.
Ann
Oh Ann, I love this cat cave, I think I may make one for grand daughter’s cat.