BACH, the Chee-guar

So we've had this ceramic pet hanging around our house for about 6 years now.  He's from Sonny's childhood, and he claims it's a family heirloom...but it's really something that his parents were throwing out and he needed something decorative for his first condo so he snagged it.  He's been toting it around for years, and it's the one thing in our house that I hate and he loves (seriously loves) and he refuses to give it up.  Even after tail broke off in our move to this house, he still refuses to give it up. Even after Hunter almost cut himself on the broken ceramic shard of a tail when he was just starting to run......Sonny refuses to give it up.  It's been sitting by our garbage can for months and he keeps conveniently "forgetting" to take it out with the trash.

Let me also say that we have a huge ongoing discussion about what kind of animal this is.  Is it a cheetah? Is it a jaguar?  Is it a leopard?  My vote's for jaguar, his is for cheetah....hence....we have called him the Chee-guar.  You tell me....what animal is it?  It's a serious descussion in our household....we've even busted out an encyclopedia to check out the different features.  Based on the paw size and the muzzle....it's a jaguar.  Yeah...our lives are that exciting.

Anyway, after months of the chee-guar taking up space and watching my every move in the garage, I decided to make Sonny a deal.  Let me fix up the gaping whole and deathly non-tail in the cheeguar (that you can see here),

 spray paint the thing a nice glossy white, and he shall have a place in our entryway.  You know....take the old and make it new!!!  Fabulous!!!  You would think that this would be a great compromise and would produce a resounding "DEAL!" from my husband....but all I got was a quizzical look and this question....

"But he won't have any eyes? Are you going to then draw eyes on him?"

Oh Sonny.  Anyway...after showing him all different kinds of white, ceramic animals online and how they look with "no eyes," he agreed and I got to work!  I used a poly-resin wood filler (Minwax) to patch the hole in the chee-guar's butt.  I got the how-to low down on how to repair ceramic here. I overfilled the hole so I could carve it down a little, but this stuff drys pretty quick so you have to work fast.



{Adding the hardener....tip: work outside if possible.  This stuff smells}

{Bottoms up!}

{Filling the hole.  Ew....it looks.....nice....}

{carve it down when it's putty-like....but work fast...this stage does not last long before it gets really solid}

After getting it carved down to something somewhat presentable (I know what it looks like and yes, they have cream for that) then you sand it sand it sand it.  I must have been sanding for about an hour.  The main purpose of me filling this hole was to protect the running wee's from being cut as they try and play with the kitty, so I wasn't totally concerned with how it looked.  I just tried to make it look presentable.  So an hour of grease from my elbows was good enough for me.

Then I pulled out some glossy white on this sucker.  Oh. My. Gawd!  I couldn't believe how much a little white spray paint can change something.  I actually even started appreciating it a little more, and I could see the subtlties that the chee-guar had...like his rib cage, and his dainty claws.  (HA!)  And, In true Lani fashion, I had my own set of issues.  One being that it's freezing here (literally....in the 20's) so the "gloss white" dried more of a matte.  And on the final spray...it crackled.  Expletives.   But I got the kids bundled like the "Christmas Story" kids and after a rush to Home Depot and some well ventilated indoor spray painting in the basement (make SURE you have good ventilation if spraying indoors), he's fixed.  When the weather gets nicer, I shall spray another couple coats to get that glossiness I want...but for now I'm cutting my losses with the cold and leaving him a bit matte.

An I also have a new painting jacket....perfect for the cold weather that I should not be painting in...fabu!

Oh, and the reason why his name is now BACH?  Because Sonny cannot get over the "weirdness" of the chee-guar having no eye balls, so all weekend he's been calling it the "Blind, Albino, CHeetah."  BACH.  I don't know why, maybe it was the fumes from the spray paint, but this struck us both funny and I keep giggling when I go by that Blind Albino CHee-guar that's ever so nicely guarding our front door.

Inneyhe just so GAW-GEOUS!!!!!!