Title
Blues,
whites, fiery reds and yellows --
overtaking the sky from dusk 'til dawn --
fascinate me, whether in my dreams,
or longings for that something more,
whirling nebulas, mysterious planets and stars I barely see
... my Beaded Art Doll, my celestial reflection, I name you ....
CLEOCATRA, The Queen of the Milky Way.
Cats are travelers. Some tribes roam on Earth and some roam
in the solar system.
First, a little background on this story.
Cats come
from a long line of Gypsies. They leave their claw marks or a whisker,
maybe a small tuft of fur to mark a safe haven. Sort
of a road map for fellow Travelers, of where to eat and sleep safely. My
yard has many such marks because it is a safe place for cats to rest, recuperate
or give birth. There are always large pans of food, several clean water
dishes and sometimes a special treat ... Pap. Pap is a mixture of small
bread pieces with fresh milk poured overtop. Pap is brought out of the
house in a large shallow dish, making it accessible to many at once.
No hissing,
spitting or growling at the Pap dish. Regular cat food is contained in
low slung oblong dishes which sit in the middle of platters containing
water. That keeps the ants out of the food. Cats hate ants in their whiskers.
Boxes
lined with clean old sheets or towels are available for giving birth
and keeping the babies close to mum and safe until eyes
are open. When kittens' eyes open they feel the urge to wander and explore.
True Gypsy behavior. Sometimes this leads to mischief and finally to the
food dish.
In the
heat of summer there is cool shaded concrete under the deck. Good for
napping comfortably on, during those hot days. In winter
there's an electric blanket in the cat shelter, by the back door on the
deck. The shelter is close to the house so north wind does not reach the
floppy door. All cats piled in a warm safe haven. Free from danger and
cold winter winds. When it's raining or cold, food dishes are moved under
the waterproof tarp covered picnic table. This allows for comfy, leisurely
dining. Occasionally a baby possum or two will visit to share the food.
The cats don't seem to mind and the kittens like to play with the possums
strange ugly pink hairless tails. Large possums visit the apple tree next
door where the dangerous Big Dog lives. They can't enter through the small
hole in our fence that small fur people go in and out of.
Some felines arrive for a meal, some to have their babies
and some to stay forever. Strange dogs and animal control officers are
not welcome in this back yard.
As humans sometimes do I sit out the back steps every evening
and watch the kittens play. There are games of wrestling, tag, and bug
chase. It gives me much pleasure to see how the kittens learn and grow
and the adults get sleek and shiny coats from regular meals.
The last couple of days I thought I caught a glimpse of something
out of the corner of my eye -- sort of a fast moving shadow. It seemed
to vanish behind the dining tent. I've looked all around and in the food
tent. Nothing there!
On my way outdoors to enjoy the kittens this evening I scooped
up a bunch of snapshots off the top of the microwave oven and took them
out with me. While sitting on the steps Pretty Face came over and rubbed
on my leg to signal it was OK to give her a pat or two. Pretty Face is
black, white and oh so beautiful! She raises her own kittens with great
care and when they are independent she goes out in the neighborhood and
steals kittens to bring here and raise as her own. Pretty Face works very
hard at motherhood. There's eating solid food, bathing, climbing and hunting
lessons to be given. Pretty Face has a never ending supply of babies to
care for.
Whistle
Britches is the male head of the clan. He's a brother to Pretty Face.
Like her, he's black, white and very good looking....and
he knows it. He's very proud of himself and sometimes acts foolish to get
my attention. He likes to have his belly rubbed. He sits on the peak of
the roof and watches working people come home and keeps an eye on neighborhood
happenings in general. After dinner he lays on his back in the rain gutter
at the edge of the roof. There he is on his back with all four paws up
in the air, taking a "full tummy" nap. Whistle Britches guards
the females and babies so he's the head of security and mischief around
here. Sometimes
he gives tree climbing lessons to babies and always teaches the teenagers
how to climb up on the roof. First jump up on the porch rail, balance carefully,
judge distance well, gather courage and spring to the rain gutter. Step
onto the roof and join in on a rousing game of tag. For extra fun sometimes
there is an acorn or twig to play soccer with in the rain gutter. I'm not
crazy about that game over my bedroom window at four o'clock in the morning.
There goes that shadow again! I'm too lazy to get up for
another useless search. Time to look at these pictures. Here's a picture
of a statue inside the entrance of a building. The sunlight blanketing
the patterned brick floor is beautiful. What a fabulous visual image ---
Wouldn't it be the most wonderful thing if I could create a design like
this? BAP!! Suddenly there was a white paw with golden claws smacked down
on the snapshot.
White Paw With Heart
The thought, "You
can create this with beads," floated into
my head. "You can do this, with my assistance and your hands, it can
be done. My paw can show you what the final results will be, but your hands
must do the work. I will guide you mentally and together we will make beautiful
beaded images. I will be your muse so to speak." With that the golden
clawed paw slid over the brick floor image in the snapshot and I saw that
floor
design done in beads. Glorious sunlight reflecting beads. I couldn't believe
my eyes. I blinked several times and the patterned floor still consisted
of glowing beads. "How did you do this," I thought. The paw lifted
off the picture and it immediately returned to a flat glossy snapshot. "That
is not for you to know," answered the cat. "You have cared for
all my sister and brother felines, and now I would trade beaded visions
for you to create,
if only you would do me a kindness." "And what would that be?" I
questioned.
"Create my image in beads for my fellow fur people to remember me
by, for I am the Queen of queens."
"What does that mean?" I asked. "Well," thought cat, "at
the last world gathering of all the gypsy tribes with much study of my
ancestry by the elders, it was proclaimed that I was the true Queen of
queens. You see my familiy on the male side came from Egypt, the female
side came from Ireland and the lot of them were Gypsy royalty. Thus I am
the Queen of queens." "How can you be two queens?" I thought. "It's very
simple," thought cat. "I am the Queen, as I am of royal bloodlines on both
sides. I am female, and the female cat is known as a queen spelled with
lower case 'q'." "You must have a name," I thought. "You are so regal,
you are royal, your fur so beautiful, you must be Queen Cleocatra, the
Queen of the Milky Way." Cleocatra gave a little purr and a knowing smile
and proclaimed, "That is how I shall be known from this day forward. I
am Queen Cleocatra, the Queen of queens and the Queen of the Milky Way."
So, now
you know how this beaded cat doll came about. Cleocatra would transfer
her thoughts and very strong opinions to my mind and my
hands would do the work. Long hours of labor, I might add! Cleocatra enlisted
the help of other friends in the creation of this art doll. She also insisted
on final approval every step of the way.
The doll
is the image of Cleocatra. She has earrings of 7 gold coins in each ear
and a jeweled pendant in the center of her forehead.
Eyelids in Peyote stitch and size 15 beads. Lashes are woven with a touch
of ginger to match the top of her head. Her hair is done with loops of
silver lined gold size 11/0 beads. Each loop consisting of 7 gold beads,
one ginger bead and the second half of the loop is 7 gold beads again.
That's just the top front of her hair. Her luxurious long locks are done
in loops of three black size 11/0 beads, 8 gold beads, 1 black bugle bead,
8 gold beads and repeated in the reverse for no telling how many gazillion
strands of hair. As you can see, Queen Cleocatra was quite a taskmaster.
Her forehead in white/silver bead smaller loops and her eye shadow in lavender/silver
beads, each and every bead counted and sewn on. No gluing on royalty. The
bridge of her nose is done in gold backstitch and the nose in raspberry
matte beads. Cheeks are done in red/orange mixed beads, chin in light orange
with gold accents. This part of her face was done in what I like to call
cobble stitch for it is nubby and very textured like a cobble stone walk.
Whiskers are extra fine silver knitting needles. Neck and chest are white/silver
mix with a necklace of gold wire and Egyptian human Queen charm. Left arm
is the Irish side of the family with two, four leaf shamrock charms on
her bracelet and a Celtic design ring. Gold dagger beads make her claws.
Paws in Cobble stitch again. Right arm is Egyptian side, with a red cartouche
charm hanging from a golden asp bracelet.
Eyelids
Hair
Face
While I spend months toiling away with needle, thread and
beads, the Queen spent her time with the sisters and brothers out on the
deck, communing or napping. Little did I know this would end up taking
six months to finish. Cleocatra named the latest arrival Jack. "Why 'Jack',"
I asked. "Can't you see," thought Cleocatra. "He's blind in one eye ...
one eyed Jack. Don't you get it?" Jack is gray with a white bib. Shy but
seems like a nice sort of fellow. Twitch shows him the food and water dishes.
Twitch was born with some sort of spinal nerve disorder so her hind parts
don't always cooperate with her front parts. When something scares her,
and she tries to take off in a hurry, her front end goes in one direction
and sometimes the back legs try to go in another. Oh yes, her tail twitches
involuntarily most of the time.
Enough
of what's going on outside, it's time to get on with this job. Triangle
shaped beads sewn in a circle with gold center beads
and leaves on the sides make flowers for modest female attire on the belly.
You might notice her body is done in a series of triangle designs, some
pointing up and some down, some white, some black and some mixed colors.
I guess that was a mention of the pyramids for her highness. She insisted
on an orange and yellow tutu ruffle as Cleocatra is fond of the ballet
as well as Iris step dancing. "Who would have guessed...a cat that
likes dancing?" Her tail was another counting exercise as it was first
crocheted in a rope and then beaded fringe again with all those beads to
count. The
garters that hold up the stockings are a mix of beads to represent sprinkles
on birthday cake. Speaking of which, Cleocatra joined in on the cat birthday
party last night. That took place after midnight and a good time was had
by all. Here's how this bunch of felines celebrate birthdays. First I give
them a large pan of Pap. Then late at night when no humans are about spying,
a game of chase that turns into the best game of all, "Jump and Slide."
All the cats jump on the trunk of the old Saturn automobile, as it's the
right height and the windows are slanted perfectly for the game. Shinny
up the slippery dew coated back window, skate across the roof and slide
down the windshield. What fun.
Pyramids
Now, back
to the doll again. The Queen enlisted the help of spiders to weave the
most delicate threads for her stockings. The spiders
insisted in being represented, so one spider charm is on front of hind
leg and one's on back of the other hind leg, spinning away. The aqua stripe
represents turquoise, a stone Cleocatra loves. The light purple beads are
dyed with the juice of soft fox grapes. The green was donated by the Leprechauns.
They collected the juice from many shamrocks to make the dye. Yellow from
the lemon drops. Light orange stripe the color of Halloween pumpkins and
fall leaves. A tiny gold ruffle to remind us to skip every now and then.
The red/orange stripes of sunsets. The golden red from the juice of holly
berries. You might notice the lavender heart shaped heart beads on the
bottoms of the paws. That's because cats leave their paw prints on your
heart.
Spider Knit Stockings
When I inquired about the wisdom of the stars on her stockings,
the Queen sent me the thought in short order. "The stars represent wishes.
You see I'm a star traveler. I'm not tethered to earth, I travel through
the solar system on my Star cycle. I sometimes call it my Star Hopper.
Humans admire the stars and make wishes on them. Little do they know that
each star is a wish already made and sooner or later if you're very fervent
in your wishing, it comes true....but only good wishes.
Now the
doll is finished and the Queen is very pleased. She has promised to send
me creative thoughts in the future and leave her doll
here with me so that all who pass through this safe haven might not forget
that wishes really do come true, if you wish fervently and with good intentions.
What's this? All the cats are gone and here's a lavender
paw print on the back door glass. When I touch it with my hand, I see a
vision of all the cats piled in the basket on the back of the star Hopper
purring happily as Queen Cleocatra takes them for a ride through the stars.
"By the way, did you know that when a cat purrs, that is
how cats sing with happiness."
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Frontal Image
Side Image
Back Image
Detailed Image
Leap of
Faith
on her Star Hopper
(rotation)
List of Materials
and Techniques Employed
Dimensions:
18 1/2" tall including ears
Chest 12 1/2 inches
Waist 12 1/2 inches
Hips 13 1/4 inches
Construction
Techniques:
Doll is beaded with needle and thread on cotton fabric poly filled body.
Six
months in the making and major input from Cleocatra herself, for you
see, her story is really true.
Materials
List:
Various beads and jewelry findings
Techniques:
Stitches used are Peyote, Herringbone, Back Stitch, Cobble Stitch, Loops
and Square Stitch
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