A contemplative kitty sits quietly, looking out the window at the day.
I created the Silhouette at the Window design as another of my feline votive lamps collection but as soon as I added them to my display people bought them for themselves or others as sympathy or remembrance gifts. I can take the hint, and I can see why. So I’ve included them in my non-customized memorial gifts collection.
Silhouette at the Window Votive Lamp is a particular shape of upcycled jar, frosted outside with a black cut vinyl design and black glass paint embellishment, and offered in clear white or with blue, green or yellow transparent glass paint interior. All votive lamps come with a string of LED lights with a six-hour timer.
The inspiration and design of the Silhouette at the Window Votive Lamp design and product
I created the ink drawing that is the basis of this design way back in 1988, called Puck at the Window from a photo I’d taken in 1984, my roomate’s cat. You may have noticed in other feline art that cats at windows and the feline silhouette are favorite themes of mine, and you can see now it started early.
Its original intent was as a sympathy card for my veterinarian to use, but that never came to fruition. I’ve considered it in my own collection of sympathy cards, but I’ve also had many another idea for items on which I could use this design, most involving light, and most originating decades ago. One of the first was as a nightlight cover, then a suncatcher, eventually, of course, a votive.
Scroll forward to today, when I’m actually planning my votives, this design was top of mind for three years, from the time I started working them out. I could picture this design on one of the four-sided jars I use for my cat art votives.
But what was the best way to present it? I love the contrast in the black and white, but the labels I print for my glass items don’t quite capture that; the black isn’t dense enough and the edges aren’t completely sharp because the label has a surface texture. No, the labels are purrfect for continuous tone artwork, not line art.
I could hand paint it in the dense black paint I use for glass, but I know I wouldn’t be able to reproduce this design well enough without taking a lot of time to handpaint each one. Trying to stencil or screen print each one would be too cumbersome because of the shape of the surface.
But now…there’s vinyl to cut, with nice clean edges and permanent application, just perfect for an adaptation of line art with the interesting cat silhouette. I frosted the outsides of the jars so the glass exposed inside the vinyl design would have a matte finish while the permanent vinyl is gloss, giving it an extra dimensional interest.
I first introduced this design on a votive just in time for my 2021 Holiday Open House, as I’m so fond of creating a brand new item at the last minute for each open house and other events. That was also when Morty first had his urinary issue and I worked off my worry about him with working out this design while I kept an eye on him. I liked the way the original looked but wanted to make other adjustments and changes, and that’s what I worked out over the next few months. I made two to have at my events and was surprised they immediately sold. I’ve been making them since then, usually six at a time.
One of those refinements was adding color to the clear space. I liked the plain white, and the initial sketch was from a winter photo. But I could also visualize a blue sky out there, or a sunrise yellow, or even green for greenery. I will always make the plain white/clear, but I like the colors too. Up to now I’ve painted them on the inside, but I’m also working to see if the colors I use will be permanent on top of the etched surface.
Purchase a Silhouette at the Window Votive Lamp
Each of them comes with battery-operated string lights with a six-hour timer, and each has the original jar lid to keep the inside clean. You’ll also see that each one is a little different where the “leaves” are concerned in the design; those tiny pieces of vinyl don’t always stay where they’re supposed to.
Visit Non-customized Memorial Gifts to order.
Other Feline-themed Votive Lamps
Like everything else I make I’ve worked on the design and production of my upcycled glass jar votives, and one of the things was changing from small LED votive candles to LED light strings, with timers, so they are brighter and more colorful, and you can use them as lamps that turn on and off automatically.
They are made with frosted vinyl labels and embellished with glass paints and cut vinyl. Some of the jars may even look familiar as they are from spaghetti sauce, pickled things and condiments. I don’t mind buying new materials, but I also like to recycle, upcycle and reuse things when I can.
My feline votive lamps have a big variety of felines so you might be able to choose one that resembles the feline in question. Some of them are silhouettes or more abstract cat shapes, and some are collages of cats.
Visit the Votives Page in my Handmade Gift Gallery on Portraits of Animals to see the rest of the votives.
You can also read about Other Memorial Gifts, Animal Sympathy Cards and Commissioned Pet Portraits.
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