Training Day Part 2...

...or Zombie Kitty Kawaii! (Mark 2) does Doors Open Toronto...
Ahhh...there's nothing like being a tourist in your own city, especially around the 3rd weekend of May when Toronto holds "Doors Open Toronto (DOTO)". What a great way to travel train Kitty Kawaii! by visiting a few of the many (over 200) places open to the public. Better yet! It's free!

Here's a little film I made of ZKK (Mark 2) and her visit to the Streetcar Yards on Saturday afternoon with the Boychild and I...

 http://youtu.be/d--9r9Pei-o

Sunday, we continued our escapade by hitting a few more DOTO sites;

First, it was the Wychwood Art Barns. The Wychwood Barns were formally an old Streetcar Barn, but have been since converted into artist spaces.Unfortunately, as it was Sunday, not many of the artists studios were open, but never mind...

Some of the old signs are still up...they must be a warning for something...

...yep! Warning of prickly weeds in an overgrown garden. Yowch!

Of course, this means it's time for lunch to sooth some nerves (mostly mine). Off we go to one of the European bakeries along St. Clair Ave.

ZKK (Mark 2) is still a little on the shy side. She tends to hide in the back of my bag; mind you, it's a convenient way to carry her around town. But, when the coffee shows up, well, that's another story...

...but, she seemed to like my husband's coffee better...

...and drank it all while he wasn't looking (he drinks it "black")...poor Pete!

Then, it was on to the Casa Loma Stables, which are part of Casa Loma, Toronto's only castle. It was built by Henry Pellatt  around 1912. You can read all about it here, if you like.

Kitty Kawaii! (Mark 2) wanted to go into the actual castle with the Boychild, but as they were charging a hefty fee,  she had to be satisfied with a photo in front of the Castle. We did go to the stables, which were free...

...ok, not as grand, but they do have some pretty cool features...

...the underground tunnels, which actually go into the Casa Loma (they were blocked off by some students who told us that we couldn't go all the way, unless we paid the fee.)...

...here we are trying to decide if we can "take" the guardian's of the tunnels...

...we decide to check out the "potting shed" instead...

...ZKK (Mark 2) seems to have something for plants. At least these ones aren't prickly or dangerous...

 ...but, she finds an old winter tire that still has it's chains on it.

We then decide to check out the grounds surrounding the stables. ZKK (Mark 2) wants to know "where the horses are". But, I don't have to heart to tell her that they've been dead for a hundred years...

...she forgets about all this, because she has made a new friend. She can't figure out why her new friend won't speak to her...not the brightest penny, as they say...

...ahhhh, but what is this? Another distraction! The gentleman running it tells me they need a new target...so we walk away...quickly...

The last DOTO visit we have is to Montgomery's Inn. It's a quick visit, as we only had 20 minutes before they closed for the day. However, we did get one more photo:

Zombie Kitty Kawaii! (Mark 2) is almost ready for her big trip back across the pond. I'm sure she will mostly be behaved...but, you never can tell...almost ready for Retailia...

Training Day at CJ's Skateboard Park...

It looks like Zombie Kitty Kawaii! (Mark 2) is pretty extreme. She convinced me to take her to visit CJ's Skateboard Park and School yesterday where she made herself at home. You're rad Kitty Kawaii!

She's Alive! Alive, I Say...

...after working feverishly in my blab-ratory, night after night, I have finally managed to re-create Zombie Kitty Kawaii! (Mark 2), with the help of our former Parisian Correspondent, Dean Marks. Dean, had the foresight to scan and clone the dear KAT and was kind enough to send the files along.

So, without further ado, I give the World Zombie Kitty Kawaii! Mark 2:

And, in case you were wondering, she speaks French and, yes, that is a tattoo of Phat Kat. I guess some of her DNA got trapped in the file somehow.

Some travel training first and then on to Retailia!

Just Add...Skin...

Now that I've finished the armature in all of its tin foil glory, as you can see below, it's time for the skin layer.

 Pasta machines, as I learned, are not only great for making home-made pasta, but are really great for running your Sculpy through, to make it flat and really skin-like. It's really kind of a cool technique. Just don't use the machine ever again for making pasta, unless you want to poison yourself. That would be a bad thing.
Once I had some really flat pieces, I added them on top of the tin foil armature. This saves a lot of clay and the foil structure acts like a skeleton. And, the foil won't catch fire, when you finally bake it (so I am told.). Here are this weeks photos of Zombie Kitty Kawaii! with her first layer of skin:

Now, the fun truly begins. I get to start modelling her!

Clues To The Missing KATS?!!!

Yesterday, I received in the mail 2 postcards which possibly are clues to our missing travelers. Here is the first one for your perusal:

http://myrealwall.blogspot.ca/

Wanted: For Kidnapping Zombie KATS

This leads me to believe that the KATS, in their travels to the mysterious "E  Ambassadeur D'Utopia", were intercepted and are in the clutches of this man, who has up until to now, been believed to be dead.

Now for the second clue, a postcard from our WI, Port Washington correspondent, Angie, who in despair, had posted the following:

Are the two clues possibly connected? Probably not. But, if Zombie Kitty Kawaii! only had 8 lives left when she left Angie's, then she most certainly had many less when she left Dean's in Paris. And, what of the Mysterious "E"? Will the KATS arrive safely? Will we ever hear from them again? Will my coffee still be at least warm by the end of this blog post? Well, ZKK fans, we will just have to wait and see...until then...THHPPT!

P.s.- If anyone has their own ideas regarding this matter, please, please, please, don't hesitate to make contact. I do have one last card with Phat Kat's cat-sick that I am willing to part with for any information. Thank you.

Zombie Mini Kawaii! The Mother's Day Adventure!

Yes, I'm missing Zombie Kitty Kawaii! and her traveling companion, Phat Kat, too! But, I guess that's the misadventure with traveling by the World's Postal System. You never know whether or not someone is going to rip open the package as they deem it suspect...however, we do have an new "Mini Kawaii!" adventure for you from our lovely Brazilian correspondent, Lilian:

"Here are ZMK adventures last Sunday!"

" We went to Piracicaba for Mother's Day and we had lunch at Rua do Porto (Harbour Street) by the river."

 "Looking at the restaurant menu....."

 "Choosing her own fish...."

" She also ordered a "cuzcuz" ( a typical Brazilian food made with corn flour, tomato sauce, fish, shirimp, eggs, etc)."

" She ate quite fast!"
(And, who can blame her? It sounds delicious!-Louise)

"After lunch, she walked by the street to look at the neighborhood..."

 "Peppers in the window."

"Fake "mulata."
(She is rather lovely and I'll bet she's a great listener.-Louise)

"Posing in front a Brazilian handmade flag (courtesy of the artist Marcelo Chiaranda maechiara@yahoo.com.br)"

"But what she really liked: MOSAICS!!!! "

"Vintage stairs in my grandma's in-law building."

"Sunbath looking at the River."

 (I know that our WI correspondent, Angie, will be grateful that someone is holding "Mini's" paw, lest she falls off the bridge and into the river. -Louise)

"And finally, a panoramic view of the city."

 

What a nice Mother's Day Zombie Mini Kawaii! had with you. I do hope she was on her best behavior, especially with all the Moms and Grand-Moms around.  It was their day, after all, and she was their guest. Thank you again, Lilian, for sharing the photos. I love that Mini Kawaii! is getting a real taste for Brazil!

We look forward to your next adventures...until then...PPHHT!

Wire, Tin Foil And Wood...

...and strong fingers, is all one requires to make the Zombie Kitty Kawaii! armature. When I started this, I could understand the wood and the wire, but the use of tin foil had me perplexed, but no more! Tin foil rocks for this part of the project! The armature quickly took shape, as you can see:

Click here, if you want to see part one, the "Turn Around".

Click here, for part two, the "Zombie Kitty Head".

Zombie Mini Kawaii! Visits The Mall!

There is nothing in the world I like better then a bit of "retail" therapy. And, so does Zombie Mini Kawaii! apparently. Who knew? A KAT after my own heart! Photos and commentary by our "Brazilian correspondent", Lilian Mariutti:

"I took her to shop for a few things at Dom Pedro Shopping Mall, the biggest one in Latin America."

"She is posing with the mall symbol: The Bird. (of course, she tried to eat it, but....)"

 " Here, she is playing in the in the fig tree."

"When they were building the mall, they found an enormous 400-year condemned fig tree and a lot of sculptures were made from it."

"Then we bought a few things....

...and finally, we had a nice meal!"

What a great shopping adventure you had with ZMK, Lilian! And, those fig tree sculptures are truly spectacular!  I'm glad she didn't eat "The Bird" though. That might have been a bit akward to explain to the Mall Security...

As always, we look forward to your next adventure with Zombie Mini Kawaii!