Photos of Shoelace 

Click Here to see shoelace flying

Shoelace plays with the bottle caps used on the metal dress worn in the MmeExcedrin graphic that is the old symbol of The Costumer's Manifesto. This metal dress was also used as the costume for the Bell in The Bell That Rang For Itself.

Here Shoelace tries typing on Tara's computer a few days after adopting Milla and Tara in St. Petersburg.

Here she is at about seven months old, trying to play with the portable printer in Milla's apartment.

Shoelace poses for her portrait in front of one of Milla's Paintings in St.Petersburg.

Shoelace patrols the Theatre UAF Costume Shop where she now commutes each day with Tara (her human) the UAF costume designer and author of The Costumer's Manifesto.

In the UAF Costume Shop, Shoelace hunts silverfish and plays bead hockey. She has learned to jump from the cutting table four feet through the air to the crafts table through an embroidery hoop for the amusement of all. (Click HERE to see animation of hoop jump)

Shoelace poses with her human Tara after Tara does a Makeup Class demonstration of Cat makeup.

Click photo for larger image. I originally bought this fish tank as a sort of "Cat TV" for Shoelace. After a few weeks, however she lost interest. To get what looks like a spontaneous picture of her peering into the tank I had to do a set-up shot. Just out of site to the left is a reflector lamp shooting tungsten light up into her face, and up through the tank. I bribed the cat into getting into position by putting fish food flakes on the lid of the tank (a favorite of hers). She is, in fact, crouching down to lick the flakes off the lid, not peering into the tank as it seems. In actual fact she cannot even see the fish in this position.

Here Shoelace is my model for "Animal Makeup" for my demonstration in  my Theatre Makeup class.

This more dangerous shot is not a set-up however. Shoelace cannot seem to be broken of the habit of crawling into dry-cleaning bags at work. Happily she never presses her nose into them, and so we have been lucky so far at avoiding kitty asphyxiation.

. For better safety here is a photo of Shoelace's observation net, where she could sit out on the 8th floor balcony of Milla's apartment without danger of an attempt at flying. (Click photo for enlarged view).

Shoelace sits in one of her many indoor planters I use to give her a sense of the outdoors while we are trapped inside in Fairbanks' long Winter.

  Favorite indoor sports include hiding under objects.

She also practices leaping indoors, in this case from one narrow padded chair back to another.  This requires she use exactitude in her jump rather than a large leap.  Shoelace never misses, but is sometimes so distracted by the thinking involved in calculating the leap that she forgets to eat her treats once she lands.

Shoelace sits in the middle of my not-at-all Martha Stewart bedroom.

Shoelace in the Costume Shop During the build of Les Liaisons Dangereuses:

Shoelace at 8 years old  

Shoelace at almost 10 years old, catching some sun:

  Mu, Shoelace's roommate

Another cat of our acquaintance, Haoli: 

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This Page is part of The Costumer's Manifesto by Tara Maginnis, Ph.D.  Copyright 1996-2010.   You may print out any of these pages for non-profit educational use such as school papers, teacher handouts, or wall displays.  You may link to any page in my site.