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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Cat-astrophe!




Chris in Canada wrote:
Sometimes life (or in this case, Lucifer the cat) can derail the best laid plans. The little "sweetie" decided to stage a midnight raid on the dining room table where I had been wrapping gifts, and succeeded in unwrapping several of the packages with the furniture inside, damaging and/or losing the contents.

There was however a bit of good arising from this incident. I discovered that paper-maché coffee trays can be a good emergency source of wood filler to repair kitty teeth marks and missing bits of turnings when you are out of PolyFilla, plastic wood and paper clay and everything is closed for the next 2 days. I soaked a small amount in warm water, shredded it with my fingers, pressed out the excess water and kneaded in some craft glue. It came out the consistency of paper clay, only sticky, and handled the same way as long as my fingers were kept wet. It dried to a hard smooth surface, and after sanding and painting you cannot tell where the repairs are, even on the headboard of a bed that was punctured completely through in 2 places by Lucifer's teeth. I even had to stain one bit with a water-based stain and it came out great so I see fewer wasted containers of hardened fillers in my mini future.