The Making of..... Something Tiger-ish

This time, Patch decided to try her hands on something “Tiger-ish”. Right after Black & Patch decided on a Tiger picture that they both like, Black started to work on the cameo pendant right away. (fast and furious!) Black’s skills on the resin cameo pendants have really improved! Guess that's the result of trying, trying… and more trying....  And once Black was done with the pendant, it's Patch's turn to start working on the design of the necklace.

Days of pondering passed and Patch FINALLY got her hands moving. To avoid “over-indulgence”, Patch would occasionally seek Black’s opinion such as “Should it be this length?” or “Is this too much?”  Black always give her views, though sometimes they do get a little too abstract for Patch.... such as “hmmm...A little bit more.” or  “Yes, almost there…”.

Patch was in momentum and the necklace was near to finish until she had a “mental-block”! The design was lacking one important bit – the secondary pendant. When worn as a short chain, Patch wanted a secondary pendant to give a more unique look to the accessory. But this secondary pendant had to be interesting, yet it cannot outshine the Tiger pendant. The colour, the size – these have to be carefully thought through. After toggling with the various choices, Black gave her ultimate input by creating THE ONE - what you see on the chain now! =D Once that was put together, both Black & Patch said “Yeah!! and now you have it – Blackpatch’s first Tiger accessory!



On a more serious note, Patch was really hoping that this accessory can catch people's attention and thus interest them to find out more about tigers.  Patch knew that tigers are victims of illegal animal trading. But what she didn’t know is that there are less than 3,200 wild tigers in the world today. It may seem like a large number, but think again… a century ago, there were about 100,000 tigers in the world. That works out to mean, about 968 tigers die each year - and that's not exactly a small number. Sadly, one of the reasons for the decline is that tigers are hunted to feed the illegal wildlife market. As long as there is demand, there will be supply! So hopefully as people know more about tigers, they learn to love them and eventually stop buying tiger part products. And maybe these beautiful animals may still have shot at having a future. 

Do check out some local news  http://www.acres.org.sg/wildlifecrime/tiger2.html

Lion - The King of the Jungle

I’ve always thought of lions as symbols of courage and strength. Whenever i see a lion, I'm ALWAYS awed by its magnificence! For those of you who remember the Walt Disney animation “The Lion King”, you may recall the final scene where Simba, after his victory fight with uncle Scar, walks up Pride Rock and lets out a powerful roar (which was joined by the lionesses). 

Lions have sandy colour fur, but males have manes of darker hair on head and shoulder that make them look powerful and threatening. The mane also protects a lion from bites and scratches if he gets into a fight with another.  Known as the King of the Jungle, do you know that the lions are in fact NOT the biggest cat in the feline family? The tiger is actually the largest of all cats. And you may ask – “ Then why is the lion the King of the Jungle if he is not the largest?!?”  Well , lions attack so quickly that their prey usually doesn’t get much time to protect itself. They attack big animals like buffalos and giraffes from behind and tears them apart with its paws and teeth. And due to such excellent quickness and power, some believe that's how they earned the title "King of the Jungle".

Some of you may not know that the lions are the only social cat – that is, they stay together in a family unit known as a pride and exercises teamwork during hunting. Remember the youtube clip on the heart-warming big reunion between Christian and John and Ace? That clip captured everyone’s attention some years ago, and I believe has everything to do with a lion’s natural need and appreciation for companionship. Youtube video - Christian the Lion

As much as the lion is “man of the family”, a male lion does not hunt. Maybe his mane makes him too difficult to hide/camouflage during a hunt. So the lionesses hunt while the male lion stays home to defend their territory, protect the cubs, and even play with the cubs. Lionesses hunt in a very instinctively cooperated manner, especially the way they stalk and fan down the prey and pressure the prey into exactly the direction the lionesses want it to. And when a hunt is successful, the lion, being the man of the family, will still be the first to eat.

You may think now it's all nice and glam- being a lion. But stop and think again. Many of these big cats hunt to survive, but are hunted for pleasure. I stumbled upon this distrurbing article on National Geographic some time ago and will like to share this with you as a takeaway from my post today. Do they really deserve this? Lion Hunting Scandal

Circle of Life - Leather bracelet with silver animal charms (featuring lion, lioness, zebra, crocodile and buffalo charms)

Remember our magnificent wildlife with this bracelet! Take a close look and you'll notice the intricately detailed lion, lioness, zebra, crocodile and buffalo dangling charms. The tarnished silver colour, together with the leather and red and grey beads, gives this bracelet a sense of character and ruggedness. 

Whether you’re simply looking for a unique one-of-a-kind handmade bracelet or a wildlife fanatic who wants to spread the word of conservation, this bracelet may just be what you’re looking for! 

This ready-to-deliver piece measures abt. 17cm long (from hook to end) with a chain extension of additional 7.5 cm. To give you a feel of the size of the charms, the lion charm measures abt. 2 cm long and 1.4 cm tall. 

PATCH's BIG KITTIES

Many of us, including me (not shy to admit), started off not realising just how different  these amazing cats are. 
Check out the below 4 coats and guess who is who? 

 

From left to right:

Cheetah – The only big kitty with solid spots. (but King Cheetahs look different. They have thick stripes)

Tiger – Black stripes

Leopard – Rosettes of spots

Lion – Uniform tawny colour

So after knowing these kitties by their coat, it’s time to check out their beautiful faces. Cheetahs have distinct black facial stripes running down their face. The 4^th and 5^th photo shows a male and a female lion respectively.

 

Photos from National Geographic and Eden

 

“DO-U-KNOW ?” of the day

Cats either roar or purr but they can't do both. 

Source: Eden.Top Ten Big Cat Facts.

Take-Away of the day: Watch This

PATCH and her Big Felines

When we decided to go with the “Cats” theme, I told Black- “I want a place to post stuff about MY Big Cats!!” Can’t recall when I started taking interest in these huge felines, but it has definitely been “love-love” since…. 

Black replied casually “Just post! Why ask?? So what do you want to blog about?” 

Erhmmm… honestly, I didn’t know. “Conservation stuff?” -  preachy and too heavy, maybe. 

“Different types of cats?” – too generic maybe? Blah blah blah

Since then, Black’s simple question of “what do you want to blog about?” kept spinning in my tiny little head…. 

Finally I decided!! Awwww why ponder…. I’ll just blog about ANYTHING I want!!