well that was predictable.
anyway, time to turn my cat into a necklace.
neck-kit
may 27th 2025 was a fateful day, and not only for the 222nd anniversary of St. Petersburg. kit marlowe - our cat of 9 years - ended. he was a funny creature, taken before his time, and in a mysterious manner, though probably not of his own election.
anyhow, life goes on. for the rest of us.
the rest of the rest of us get turned into necklaces, thems the rules.
in fact, it had always been my ambition to collect his skeleton post his passing, in a sort of operation london bridge style (with respect ma'am), but life intervenes, or death rather, and somehow the occasion didn't feel right. so we burnt him instead.
rather wasteful in a way, but that's what we do for some reason. bury it, burn it, lace it in a solid gold sarcophagus (it was an option, but we decided against it for kit, he always preferred understatement), I suppose people like to avoid the sense of visceral confrontation. I don't think it's entirely cowardice, but I also don't think it's any less dignified being displayed on a plinth than being incinerated. just my thoughts.
besides his burnings I managed to keep some other bits of him over the years though. no, not those bits, these bits.
with these I thought it might be nice to make some little memento of him.
plan:
I'll make a little memento of him. I have whiskers, ashes, and internet commerce at my disposal - plenty to get started with. I had different ideas for what to do, but for practicality and style I decided a necklace might be good. eventually I found my supplier: ringsupplies.com
just a slight digression; I really like websites like these. pure does-what-it-says-on-the-tin (well, plus necklaces and some other bobs), but otherwise no pretension, just commitment to selling supplies for rings. honestly, I couldn't find the thing I wanted anywhere else, on the whole WWW, but these people not only had it, but then asked in what colour, flavour, and smell (metaphorically speaking). chapeau.
I went for the "tungsten narrow inlay pendant", with .925 sterling silver chain. the grand plan is that we get a whisker in that place, and presto!
(I'm actually writing this months after the fact, so excuse me if I'm sparing of detail), but basically we'll just epoxy it in there and give it a fine polish afterwards. step 1 is we'll mask it all up - it should just flake off where we don't want it, but in any case:
in anticipation of the epoxy, we also give the inlay a good alcohol wiping - this is so it stays too inebriated to reject the mix of ash and glue we'll be forcing down it.
we're working with a two part formula, rather than the UV setting kind (I've had enough bad experiences with my retainer to trust it). the instructions say to warm both solutions before mixing, I think this is to improve the consistency, but may also have some chemical effect. I'll also warm the pendant, and keep it warm after application with a heat mat, which I borrow from my ant colony. you don't have to have one, but it probably doesn't hurt, and should help prevent pits from forming as it cools.
in the rush of frantic urgency I forgot to document what happened between this and setting the epoxy. vaguely I recall misplacing the whisker somewhere (I've got dozens spare, but it's the principle) so if you're following along be mindful of that. sooner or later it was found, and then commenced the mixing of the ashes, with hope against any kind of weird reaction with the epoxy.
it seemed to blend well enough actually, though if I could do it again I would maybe give it a bit of a fine sifting, and say not to stir too vigorously, at peril of bubbles. we poured it into place, aiming to get it slightly domed (we'll be sanding anyway), and then let to set on our mat. we're only dealing with a small amount, so it shouldn't take too long to harden, but cautiously I let it go for a day or two.
blah blah blah, lots of sanding later (be patient!), et voila!
I think it didn't turn out too badly. a slight dimple in the middle, but in a way it's symbolic: not everything in life is perfect, sometimes we just have to button up and make do.
it's only a little tribute, but it's something to remember him by. farewell kit.
the real reason cats have 9 lives