Transformers: Rabbits in Disguise

Although a cat is not a rodent it can be made to channel its inner rabbit by means of a ratchet in its base that, by way of a crank/slider mechanism and guided by vertical channels passing through the region normally occupied by its brain, elevates a pair of rabbit ears.

The animal is made from lime wood left over from another job. The base is pitch pine- part of a dwindling hoard of ecclesiastical furniture made from that most Protestant of timbers. The brass ratchet was found on the floor while looking for something else. Nothing was wasted in the making of this item unless you count the five failed attempts to carve the body that had to go into the stove.

Paintwork was executed in thin glazes of Liquitex, Jackson Pollock’s favourite acrylic. 

H 23/26cm x W 12 cm x D 7 cm