Ink Portrait of Walter and his Cat

I first saw Walter's photo in a LiveJournal community. There is something about this portrait that struck me as being so sweet, and it hit me pretty hard emotionally. On pain medication after having my wisdom teeth pulled and still hurting from the loss of my cat late last year, I got all weepy and imagined a bleak back story to the picture where either the cat had died and Walter was devastated, or where the cat was still alive but very old and sick. I was inspired to attempt an ink portrait of Walter and his cat.






It didn't come out exactly as I'd hoped, but I think I captured quite a bit of the feel of the original picture. It looks quite different from most of my other drawings- I'm not used to doing portraits. I hope that if Walter saw it, he'd be flattered or at least amused by it. He seems like a cheerful and fun guy, so I'm guessing he wouldn't be upset.

But, anyway, I was inspired to try more portraits and I started an ink drawing of my Mummy from one of her old school pictures. If it doesn't come out looking hideously unflattering, she'll be getting it on Mother's Day (but don't worry, she'll get something nice, too, HA).

The Elusive Happy-Faced Mug

Early last year I found this adorable little mug on FredFlare and bought one for my cat to drink his water out of (my cats prefer cups to bowls, no, they don't pick them up and drink out of them, but only because they lack opposable thumbs. If I had me a polydactyl cat, I tell you I'd have it not only picking up their cups, but also using little forks and knives to eat with. Oh yeah.)


On the other side it says, "Bonjour! Ca Va?" Cute, isn't it? Yes. Yes, it is.
Anyone who knows me very well knows I adore anthropomorphic kitchenware. I grew up in a household where we named the toaster. We named every damned kitchen appliance we had. I can hardly remember anything of one year of HS French beyond, "Bonjour! Ca Va?", but I will never forget that my family's first microwave was Mikey the Microwave.
While such an environment in my formative years may have meant a lifetime of madness for a weaker-minded individual, I am made of stronger stuff. I just put a lot of wiggly-eyes stickers on my belongings and collect stuff like the above mug.

I decided I had to have more happy faced mugs before they stopped selling them. And, Oh! FredFlare now carried them in green and blue in addition to pink. But they always seem to be sold out, and $9 seems a bit high for a little plastic mug. So I started looking for other happy-faced-mug-suppliers, and found these sites.

I've known about ReproDepot for a while, but I have no idea when they started selling housewares. Apparently the mug manufacturer is Cram Cream, and ReproDepot has a whole section of their goodies. They aren't quite the same style as the ones sold at FredFlare- these are stackable and come in a wider range of colors. Also, there is a winking happy face on the reverse side of the mug.



But even though the bottoms are tapered a bit to make them stackable, I don't think they'd be easily knocked over. So they are still suitable cat-cups. And, only $6.50 each. 

The next place I found these mugs was at The Glitter Workshop. If I wasn't on an obsessive quest for cuteness, I wouldn't have come across this little shop, and that would've been too unfortunate.
They carry the stackable mugs (in cream-color) at $6.00, and the pink and blue ones identical to the ones sold at FredFlare- for only $5 each. They had a better image of the stackable mug on their site, lookit that face. D'awwwwwwwww. Who could resist?



Besides their OBVIOUS function as cat-cups, these could possibly be used for small children as well. Not the ones in the sippy-cup phase, but the ones who can drink from a cup without making a slobbery mess who need a small cup for their little hands.