Black Cats, Jewellery and Radical Women.

Hello! As this is my first post I thought I’d tell you a bit about myself. I grew up in Greater Manchester and lived in a few different places, my favourite being Worsley where the trees are tall, the people are friendly and the canal is orange. As a child I loved reading, drawing and painting, playing with my adorable dog Calley and making things from Blue Peter. I studied history at university and worked for a while in the public sector. I then decided life’s too short to not follow your dreams and ran off to art school. Three years ago I started a small business designing and making jewellery and small upcycled objects. I’ve recently branched out into painting portraits of animals, houses and people.

I call myself Blackcat as I love felines, no matter the colour of their fur, and I’m baffled by the fact that black cats are the last to be adopted from rescue centres. Black cats are every bit as lovable, beautiful, intelligent and cuddly as other cats yet for some reason they get overlooked. So I decided to align myself with the misfit black cats!

In my work (and life in general) I’m inspired by books, music, radical and rebellious people, particularly women, and art and design, especially that of the early twentieth century. I love The Gaslight Anthem’s early albums, they’re always on my playlist while I work. One of my heroines is the suffragette Sylvia Pankhurst who was also an artist, socialist and anti-racism campaigner. I love the art and designs of Sonia Delaunay Terk and the Orphists, and of course the legendary Glasgow Girls and Boys.

I love painting animals, probably because I’ve loved animals all my life. I’m lucky to have shared my life with the world’s most lovable dog and cats! Earlier this year I painted my aunty’s gorgeous cat and realised I could incorporate animal portraits into my business.

I design jewellery for people who like their accessories quirky and colourful, sometimes with a slogan (always positive of course) I like to incorporate messages of equality and respect for humans and love and kindness for animals. I like to upcycle wood whenever I can and I've made pendants, earrings and bracelets (as well as tea light holders, incense holders and wall plaques) from old wooden wardrobes, chests and clocks! I think of my work as being defiantly out of step with the mainstream high street shops. I make pieces which appeal to me and the wonderful, quirky, animal adoring individuals who appreciate my work!

I can’t afford to make big donations to charity so I donate a percentage of some of my sales in my online shop, mainly to animal rescue and community projects. Recently I was asked by supporters of The Born Free Foundation to create a wooden wall plaque to mark the 35th anniversary of the charity, as a gift for the legendary Virginia McKenna. I was absolutely thrilled to receive a thank you from the wonderful lady herself! My jewellery is sold at the regular fairs held to raise funds for the Atherton & Wigan branch of Cats Protection. I consider it an honour to support them and the great work they do caring for the needy felines of Greater Manchester. I have an immense amount of respect for all the people involved in my favourite charities. My clients thank me for donating but it’s the hard-working, kind, courageous people who run the charities, most of whom are volunteers, who deserve the thanks (and if you’re one of them – thank you, you’re truly amazing)

I’ve been vegan since I was twenty so everything I make is always 100% vegan friendly. It’s amazing how far we’ve come in the past couple of years! Back in the ‘90s we had to walk miles to wholefood shops for tofu and soya milk and endure blank stares and eye rolls at the supermarket checkout when we insisted that we didn’t need a plastic bag thank you, as we had our own fabric bags. Now when we go shopping having a fabric bag is the norm for everyone and instead of having to squint at the list of ingredients (always in tiny lettering!) we just have to look for the ‘vegan’ label on items. We have so much choice too, it’s fantastic!

Thanks for reading. Be kind to yourself, be kind to animals and stand up for equality whenever you can! Until next time! xx