THIS CAT IS C H O N K Y is a popular Facebook group with over 200k members, a place where people go to share cat-related videos and memes and speak to each other in that weird kinda internet speak where people go to ‘hecc’ and the cats are ‘thicc’ and ‘good bois.’
Image credits: Amanda Pirrone
Group member Amanda Pirrone, having gotten a hold of a felting needle, decide to share her flash of inspiration and its resulting masterpiece with the rest of the ‘chonksters.’ Needless to say, the post was a hit.
Image credits: Amanda Pirrone
Image credits: Amanda Pirrone
Having a neverending supply of material to work with at hand, Amanda brushed off a nice quantity of beautifully soft fur from her cat and set to work. For those of you who, like me, are unfamiliar as to what felting is exactly, howtofelt.com describes it as the “simple process of separating, tangling, and relocking animal fibers found in items such as yarn or wool.”
Image credits: Amanda Pirrone
Image credits: Amanda Pirrone
For her first time, Amanda’s results are mightily impressive! We assume that her kitty thinks so too, but the look on its face isn’t giving away too much in terms of emotion.
Image credits: Amanda Pirrone
But who wouldn’t want a mini-me made especially for you made out your own hair? Amanda’s project worked so well that it inspired others to create their own little tributes to their beloved pets.
Image credits: Amanda Pirrone
Image credits: Melissa Fox
Image credits: Melissa Fox
Melissa Fox went a step further, using food coloring to add realistic-looking eyes, earlobes and butthole. Nice! Although again, her actual cat’s reaction to its new friend seems more of confusion than anything else.
Image credits: Melissa Fox
Image credits: Melissa Fox
Image credits: Melissa Fox
Image credits: Melissa Fox
Image credits: Melissa Fox
Image credits: Melissa Fox
Image credits: Melissa Fox
Of course, this trend isn’t entirely original. Last year, Russian cat lover Yulia Galitsina uploaded her artistic efforts to Bored Panda, with incredibly cute results.
Image credits: Юлия Галицына
Felted cat-hair crafts got a big boost in popularity after the release of Crafting with Cat Hair, the cat crafters’ bible by Japanese artist Kaori Tsutaya.
The book includes chapters on how to properly collect your cat’s hair, as well as cat-fur facts and fun projects including finger puppets, portraits, feline-embellished scarves, and coin purses.
Image credits: Юлия Галицына
Image credits: Юлия Галицына
Image credits: Юлия Галицына
Other uses for kitty fur include environmental cleanup, the fur is super absorbent for oil and has been used to help to clear oil spills. You can also leave it outside for birds, they love to use the soft, heat-retaining fur to line their nests with. Don’t worry, they don’t realize that they are ‘sleeping with the enemy.’
Image credits: Юлия Галицына
Image credits: Юлия Галицына
What do you think? Do you have a cat? Have you ever considered putting all that excess fur to good use? Let us know in the comments!
Image credits: Юлия Галицына
Image credits: Юлия Галицына
Image credits: Kristianna Marshall
Image credits: Kristianna Marshall
Here’s what people had to say about the quirky and creative trend
from Bored Panda http://bit.ly/2ITM5um
