Effetre Calico Cat

I love this - oh my. Gonna buy me pounds of this!

This glass is lyrical - evoking all kinds of memories and ideas.

The rods - a cored cane - reminds me of Turkish Delight, with a jelly center! It appears to have a layer of EDP in there too!

And it makes up into the most amazing streaky beads. Not a subtle streakiness - but in your face streaky.



I rather thought it looked like it was devtrifying - going matte - and while I ensured the above beads stayed glossy by warming the surface to glowing and then kilning them, I thought I would confirm the devit with this bead. This was allowed to cool a little and then given a gentle re-warming, without bringing the surface to glowing again. And sure enough - some matte areas. I'm guessing this is the result of the EDP looking layer.


I seriously expected the beads to be more purple when they came out of the kiln - they certainly looked purple going in. So - whether that was a kiln-strike or just that you can't see the colours well when hot - we'll have to wait to get more to find out - as I blew through all I had last night!

But this put me in mind of two poems I remember from my childhood - on Calico, and by extension, Tortoiseshell cats. BTW - a Calico is Black and Ginger and White, a Tortoiseshell may have cream fur, but not white. Tortoiseshell is a sex-linked gene - they are always female, or in the rare, rare cases they are male, they are sterile. Kewel, eh?

I googled the poems - here they are. The first is a funny little kids' poem. The second is a rather deeper statement on the value of appearances. When I was young - I could recite these, and many others too - but now it's just snatches here and there I remember. Fortunately - googling them is easy!

The Duel
by Eugene Field

The gingham dog and the calico cat
Side by side on the table sat;
T'was half past twelve, and (what do you think!)
Nor one nor t'other had slept a wink!
The old Dutch clock and the Chinese plate
Appeared to know as sure as fate
There was going to be a terrible spat
(I wasn't there; I simply state
What was told to me by the Chinese plate!)

The gingham dog went "Bow-wow-wow!"
And the calico cat replied "Mee-ow!"
The air was littered, an hour or so,
With bits of gingham and calico,
While the old Dutch clock in the chimney-place
Up with its hands before its face,
For it always dreaded a family row!

(Now mind: I'm only telling you
What the old Dutch clock declares is true!)
The Chinese plate looked very blue,
And wailed, "Oh, dear! what shall we do!"
But the gingham dog and the calico cat
Wallowed this way and tumbled that,
Employing every tooth and claw
In the awfulest way you ever saw--
And oh! How the gingham and calico flew!
(Don't fancy I exaggerate--I got my news from the Chinese plate!)

Next morning, where the two had sat
They found no trace of dog or cat;
And some folks think unto this day
That burglars stole that pair away!
But the truth about that cat and pup
Is this: they ate each other up!
Now what do you really think of that!
(The old Dutch clock it told me so,
And that is how I came to know.)

THE TORTOISESHELL CAT
by Patrick Reginald Chalmers

The Tortoiseshell cat
She sits on the mat
As gay as a sunflower, she;
In orange and black you see her blink,
And her waistcoat's white, and her nose is pink
And her eyes are green of the sea.

But all is vanity, all the way;
Twilight's coming and close of day,
And every cat in the twilight's gray,
Every possible cat.

The tortoiseshell cat
She is smooth and fat,
And we call her Josephine,
Because she weareth upon her back
This coat of colors, this raven black,
This red of the tangerine.

But all is vanity, all the way;
Twilight follows the brightest day,
And every cat in the twilight's gray,
Every possible cat.