Recycling Cat Hair

Recycling Cat Hair

Kaori Tsutaya is a cat lover from Japan.  She understands the challenges of all that cat hair shed from 86.4 million cats in the United States.   That includes all that cat hair which migrates to clothes, shirts, bedspreads, chairs and carpets.

Tsutaya has authored “Crafting with Cat Hair: Cute Handicrafts to Make With Your Cat” by Kaori Tsutaya (Quirk Books, 96 pgs., $14.95)  Her cat hair recycling book  demonstrates how to use that newly shed cat hair in finger puppets, book covers, tote bags and pin cushions.

The inspired cat lover provides details on how to brush the cat, collect the fur (never shave your cat) and the difference between topcoat and undercoat textures.

She even suggests the best months for best fur collection.   Once she's collected the cat hair she compresses it and entwines the fur fibers to create felt.

While Tsutaya's book was written by her to “share the fun and happiness these cute cat crafts have brought me" it does require that you either own a cat or have access to one that you can brush and collect fur from.

It also requires patience and time.

The idea behind this book is actually very clever.  It would never occur to me in my wildest dreams to use cat hair to create arts and crafts.

But then why not?  It certainly would control unwanted cat hair which if often one of the detriments for many of owning cats.  If you are a cat owner or know someone who is, this is a great book for them.

Meanwhile, if you would rather do arts and crafts from your dog's hair there is a book for you to.  The book?  Knitting With Dog Hair: Better A Sweater From A Dog You Know and Love Than From A Sheep You'll Never Meet Kendall  by Crolius  and Anne Montgomery.

Both the cat and dog books which use cat and dog hair are available on Amazon.com.  While the cat book is listed at $14.95 the dog book has variable price options depending whether you wish to buy it new or used.