The Making Of: MEow-Time
ME-ow Time is a love letter to the silly animal puzzle. We have always loved those classic vintage puzzles of animals in everyday human situations and dreamed of one day making our own. Howdy Paw-tner was a step in that direction but we wanted to expand the scene and really create a world for the cat to live in. After some brainstorming (and several different scenarios that are now lost to the memory hole) we dreamed up a very pretty-in-pink sparkly bubbly daydream bathroom scene, like your dream 90s bathroom but made in the scale of a cat.
Our friend and prop-maker Reece Koetter loved the idea and immediately had a vision for how to create a tiny-to-scale bathroom set. After sketching out a basic framework for him, Reece quickly made it a reality. Using a baby bathtub and pink insulation foam he created a set that was not only perfect in every way but was also designed to be disassembled and transported across town. Once he was finished we strapped the walls to the top of Alistair’s car and reassembled everything at the studio.
“Okay, but what about the star of the show?” Goooood Q!
Above: Queen Paisley settles in to her dry nook in our mini tub.
Above: Left to right, detail of the separate dry basin for the cat, the original sketch for the puzzle, Taylor, the back-up model
Not to mention, she’d worked in the past with Gigi Hadid!
Shop MEow-TimeWe knew we wanted the cat to be fluffy and “princess-like”. We initially asked around to a few friends but ultimately decided that we needed to call in a professional. It was honestly a tough choice, hiring a cat model is so much more of an ordeal, but it’s also a lot to ask a regular work-a-day house cat to work in a foreign studio with all the flashing lights, bubble blowing, and in this case ... a generally wet environment. After making some calls we met Paisley. She was stunning, it was love at first sight and we knew we needed her. Not to mention, she’d worked in the past with Gigi Hadid!
When the day of the shoot came around, Paisley’s MOM-ager brought her as well as her niece Taylor. Taylor would act as a back-up incase things went off the rails. Taylor, a young and true Scottish Fold, is rising star in the cat model industry. We loved this added drama of an on-set family rivalry.
We kicked off the shoot with our seasoned girl, Paisley, and babe ... she did not disappoint. She quickly settled into her dry little nook below the bubbles and embraced her role as the star. Even as we reapplied a pile of fresh bubbles right in front of her whiskers, she barely blinked — a true professional. We got so many great shots of her in the tub right away.
After some lunch, we had to give Taylor the spotlight to see if she might overshadow her aunt. It was immediately evident that she was not in the mood. Taylor was smaller and took up less space in the little tub, but that wasn’t the issue. The problem was that between shots when we added more bubbles, she totally freaked out and jumped out of the tub and scurried off the set. After a few tries we felt it was only fair to give her a break.
After saying our goodbyes to Paisley, Taylor and the MOM-agers we spent the rest of the afternoon pouring over the photos in awe of what had just transpired - truly magic. It was a successful dip of our toe into set building and animal-themed puzzles, and we hope it inspires you to take some MEow time for yourself!
