Eartha Kitt Catwoman: 2 of 3

Greetings from Collectivo coffee shop on Monroe.

I have made it out of the house today.

I’ve got that low level malaise: I want to zone out for days or hop in a car/a plane and be somewhere else quickly on a whim.

I haz no dopamine.

Instead of fleeing Madison I’ve pulled on a skull cardigan, grabbed my owl backpack, and walked to the second nearest coffee shop to write about Eartha Kitt Catwoman and Orangey.

Orangey, the cat who played Catwoman’s cat (Cat), had a prolific career from 1950-1967.

I can’t imagine having worked with Eartha Kitt, Audry Hepburn, Boris Karloff, Vincent Price, and more.

I can’t imagine having a career.

Orangey was a bit of a diva. Which is to say, he was a cat thrust into stardom but he was still a cat. From his Wiki:

Orangey was called "the world's meanest cat" by one studio executive. He often scratched and bit actors. But he was prized for his ability to stay for several hours. Sometimes, however, he would flee after filming some scenes and production would be shut down until he could be found. Inn would sometimes have to post guard dogs at the studio entrance to keep him from running away.

I feel you Orangey.

Leaving Japan has made finding and buying small 1/6 scale-ish items significantly more work. I can’t pop into a hobby-off or Akihabara. I went to multiple places here before finding a Safari Ltd ® Tabby Cat at a Michaels.

I visited a Five Below. I’m still not sure what is going on in that store.

Last night I made the tabby figure a collar with a jump ring (to attach a leash to) with Apoxie Sculpt.

Today I started Cat’s basecoats

Cat and leash will be the final part of Eartha Kitt-Cat

My second try at a mask worked, but it was step intensive.

I made a quick mold of the Robecca Steam face sculpt

I made a base-face with the mold and Apoxie Sculpt

I primed the base-face with a thin layer of vaseline to act as a release.

I then rolled out some CosClay (a flexible polymer clay) and lay it on the face and cut out the mask as best I could, adding holes at the side to attach a band to it later.

I cooked the face/mask.

Once cool I sanded the edges of the mask before painting it.

I sewed an elastic band to it to act as a strap. When using elastic I always make sure there’s an easy way to remove and replace the elastic as it ages.

I added pins to her cat ears. They are easy to insert and remove.

I didn’t have to add a separate braid. I used what hair I’d rooted and added a black pipe cleaner as a “bump-it” in her hair.

I’ve worried that I under rooted her this time, not wishing to make her hair too heavy. However, looking at Batman tv series stills she really doesn’t have a huge amount of hair.

So now I walk back home, hoping the change of scenery and food has done something for my mind, and paint more of Cat