Today is the day to bring attention to one issue constantly plaguing cats and their owners: hairballs. Well, we decided to do it with Moderncat style. Instead of shunning these furry frustrations, we have turned them into a hot new accessory, because if you’re going to wear cat fur, why not be fashionable about it.
Hairballs are not usually pretty. The best way to avoid a nasty mess is to brush your cat regularly. My preferred grooming tool is The Furminator. Use it to groom your cat and you’ll have the raw material needed to create your own jewelry line that allows you to take a little bit of Kitty with you everywhere you go.
I enlisted the help of my friend and modern jewelry designer extraordinaire, Heidi Abrahamson, to create these one-of-a-kind pieces. I started with a good grooming session with several of the cats, then I hand-rolled each ball of cat fur into a tight bead. By rolling the loose fur between your palms, the strands become felted together, forming a solid little bead. Heidi then transformed the beads using her silversmithing skills and her amazing eye for modern design, and voilà!
I admit, I had way too much fun working on this project! A huge thank you to Heidi and to the stunning Justine Nations for modeling our hairball creations. We even had a little help from Heidi’s cat Puccini, who you may recognize from some of my other photo shoots. Thank you to Caroline from Romeo the Cat for organizing National Hairball Awareness Day. I don’t know if we’ll be able to top this next year!
Yes, Heidi said she would be happy to create custom hairball jewelry for you, too! Feel free to contact her for pricing and details.
Photos by Kate Benjamin.
April 29th, 2011 at 6:10 am
Your creativity never ceases to amaze me!
April 29th, 2011 at 6:41 am
I love your cat’s eyes.
April 29th, 2011 at 7:54 am
Oh, my gosh! How did I miss THAT pet holiday? Very creative use of cat hair! My kitty does not cough up hairballs…I think it must be the enzymes on his kibble, in particular, the protease to breakdown protein in the hair.
April 29th, 2011 at 10:15 am
I think it was during Victorian times that “hair jewelry” was popular, and this is the updated ModernCat version. Very unique and different, and pretty, I must say! I’d like to see some red tabby creations, and some “house panther” black silky ones, too. Puccini is gorgeous
April 29th, 2011 at 10:36 am
This is fantastic! Everything looks amazing and a good way to use up my ‘furry balls’ I keep creating – take a peek at just how many I have. http://blog.blanketid.com/2010/10/furry-balls/
April 29th, 2011 at 10:46 am
I have enough fur in my house to stock jewelry counters across the nation!!! why didn’t i think of this??? lol
April 29th, 2011 at 11:31 am
I am not sure how I feel about these hairballs.
April 29th, 2011 at 11:55 am
That’s a very cool idea. Usually my mum makes hairballs like those and she throws them back at me, so I can play with them.
Puurs from Gotchi
April 29th, 2011 at 12:10 pm
Oh my goodness! I can’t believe someone had the same idea that my mom & I had and actually implemented it! Very awesome! We would roll up our kitty’s fur into balls and my mom saved a few saying that it sure would make nice jewelry. I will have to show her this! Thanks for sharing!
April 29th, 2011 at 12:32 pm
i love it!!!
April 29th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
I LOVE it!
Right ON!
Woo-Hoo!
National Hairball Awareness Day is IN my calendar – yippee!
And I have to say these are some pretty fine pieces of jewelry.
I simply adore the unexpected!
April 29th, 2011 at 5:26 pm
Awesome. I started to make those hairballs too after I got a furminator. But as both my fluffies are black, I’ll probably need to do use the furminator on some some of my friends cats to pick some material of a different color, and then make some jewelry. I love Heidi’s design.
April 29th, 2011 at 5:56 pm
I can see that many think this is a cool idea but I find it a bit icky. I can’t explain why but, go for it if you like it. I will admit that I am saving my cat’s brushings to be “knited” into a business card carrier and I don’t think that’s wierd. Perhaps it’s the name “hair balls” that turn me off. It is creative I guess.
April 29th, 2011 at 6:31 pm
What a fun idea! Very chic.
April 30th, 2011 at 12:47 am
Really great idea and what I especially love about them is that they must be super lightweight. My only question is: do the hairballs shed?? Seriously – do they shed if worn on a black sweater, for example?
April 30th, 2011 at 3:26 am
Hmm … Can’t see past the hairballs … Like someone else posted I’m not so sure what I feel about this either.
April 30th, 2011 at 4:43 am
Fun Idea!
April 30th, 2011 at 8:41 am
Mr. Katz and Lulabelle prefer to dress me in the All-Over Cat Hair look.
They thoughtfully shed over every surface in my home, so that I am assured of complete coverage.
April 30th, 2011 at 6:04 pm
So many people were celebrating the royal wedding yesterday. It was fun to have an alternative holiday to celebrate…
And I’m glad that hairball jewelry is made from clean cat hair and not something that got hacked up!
By the way, any creative ideas for whiskers?
May 12th, 2011 at 8:04 am
Pretty sick…… pretty sick.
May 12th, 2011 at 12:30 pm
I’m with Betty – my 3 girls give me the “covered in cat hair” look. As for these hair balls, I think they might get wider acclaim with a different name,since they look so much different from the hairballs our kitties leave underfoot
June 15th, 2011 at 3:56 pm
I aslo create “feline fur sphere” necklace. I just had my cat and necklaces featured at the blog Catsparella. Please visit at: http://www.catsparella.com/2011/06/cat-hair-jewelry-by-flora-davis.html
July 22nd, 2011 at 6:44 pm
MIAU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!