The Foolproof Way to Make Poured Teacup Candles

 

I have finally locked down THE foolproof way to make perfect poured candles from any wax type and in any heat-proof container.

The secret weapon is a drill!

Up to now, I'd always been stymied by the process of choosing an appropriately-sized wick for both the wax type and the container dimensions. If your wick is too small, the candle will tunnel, look awful, and eventually just pathetically peter out. If your wick is too large, the candle will burn way too hot, smoke and sputter, and potentially crack the container and set your house on fire.

Neither is ideal.

So, here's the secret: you pour your candle wax into the container of your choosing, just as if you're making the candle, but you DO NOT ADD A WICK.

Let the wax rest for 48 hours, then get a drill and literally drill a hole for the wick directly into the wax. Insert a wick, light it, let the candle burn for an hour, and see how you like it. You can pull the wick out and replace it, drill holes for additional wicks, repour wax over the top of the candle to start over, etc.

There is no way to mess up the entire candle, yay!

I did a lot of wick tests for the poured teacup candles that my Girl Scout troop wanted to make. I wanted a wick size that would work for most sizes of teacups, AND I was really hoping to use the multi-pack of candle wicks that I found at Goodwill for 99 cents, because I'd already spent quite a bit on the beeswax.

Unfortunately, this is what my first wick test looked like:

That's 8 ounces of beeswax, and I don't know what the make and model of the wick is, but clearly it isn't going to be able to keep up with burning through an entire teacup of beeswax.

So I made a couple of changes:

1. I gave up on the idea of a 100% beeswax candle in a teacup. Beeswax burns so hot that I decided that it's just not an appropriate candle wax for a teacup candle, which narrows quite dramatically. I couldn't free myself from the intrusive daydreams of some kid's teacup candle getting too hot, exploding into their face, and then setting their house on fire.
2. I embraced the idea of multiple wicks! Test burning a wick from the Goodwill pack let me measure the diameter of the melt pool, which makes deciding on the number and placement of additional wicks a lot easier.

Here, then, is the foolproof method that I used to make poured teacup candles with teenagers. This tutorial assumes that you already figured out the melt pool you'll get with the wick and waxes you're using. If you don't know that info, do the thing I wrote about above where you pour a wickless candle, then drill a hole into the cured wax, insert a wick, and test it out. With this specific ratio of beeswax to coconut oil, the wax is actually soft enough that you can ditch the drill and just use a sharp bamboo skewer to make the holes for the wick. It SO quick and easy!

1. Melt 8 ounces of beeswax. I used aluminum cans in a crock pot for this, so that when I did the project with my Girl Scout troop, each kid could be in charge of their own can of wax. 

Eight ounces plus the coconut oil, below, was more than most kids needed to fill their teacups, so I had silicon molds on hand that they could pour the excess into. We saved all that awesome wax so we can make more candles someday!

2. Wick the candle. While the beeswax was melting, I showed the kids how to stick the tabbed wicks to the bottoms of their teacups. With this wax blend and the wick size, the melt pool for each wick was 1.5" diameter. I passed out rulers, and the kids figured out for themselves how many wicks they needed to create a full melt pool, and where those wicks should be placed. 

Since we'd be lowering the burn temperature of the beeswax by adding coconut oil, this wick placement is a pretty low-stakes judgment call, so I gave advice when asked, but otherwise let the kids consult with each other and/or figure out where they wanted their wicks to go on their own. Candlemaking is overall a heavily adult-monitored activity, thanks to the safety concerns, so it's nice to let the kids make their own decisions whenever possible.

In the future, though, I will explicitly note that the wicks should be no closer than half that burn diameter to the edge of the teacup. What with placing the wicks on their own and then figuring out how to keep them upright while the wax melted, some wicks ended up pretty close to the wall of the teacup. Not the biggest deal, but it will lead to more smoke and soot than if the wick has enough space to burn cleanly.

2. Add 1/4 cup of coconut oil to the melted wax. I chose to figure out a volume measurement for the coconut oil just to make it easier for a group of teenagers to do while all standing around a table. You could also probably measure out and add the coconut oil to the can at the same time as you measure out the beeswax, but I did all the beeswax measuring before my troop arrived so I could start it melting in the crock pot, and I wanted to leave something for the kids to do.

I had the kids use a pot holder to remove their can of melted wax from the crock pot and put it on their own work space, then measure and pour the coconut oil into the melted wax. I gave them popsicle sticks to stir with.

3. Use popsicle sticks or bamboo skewers to prop the wicks in place. Even if the wicks are primed and stiff, they'll collapse as soon as the hot wax melts their own wax coating. It's better to prop the wicks in place before you pour.

4. Pour the melted wax into the teacups. I encouraged the kids to pour a little at a time, hoping to avoid too much wax shrinkage, but I'm not sure if it made a difference. This step was utter chaos! It's VERY exciting to pour candles, and somebody is definitely going to spill, and everybody is going to have trouble with their wicks shifting. The kids find it thrilling, though, so just go with it.

Here's what it looks like when the wax is poured and starting to set:

The wick placement is really good on those candles! 

5. Trim the wicks, and let the candles set for 48 hours. For bonus points, save the trimmed wicks to make new candles!

I was VERY worried that the candles wouldn't be solid enough for the kids to take them home that day, but another bonus of adulterating beeswax with coconut oil is that the wax solidified much quicker than 100% beeswax would have. 

6. Let the candles burn for at least an hour the first time they're burned. I'm a believer that the first burn is crucial to building a proper melt pool. It probably matters more for some candles than others, but I think that burning a candle for at least an hour that first time gives it a fair shot at establishing a good melt pool.

Here are the candles my kids made, after about an hour of burn time:

You can see the melt pool better with this overhead shot:

The candle on the right is perfect. The middle candle, after a few more burns, did build up to a full melt pool. The candle on the left is still tunneling down that original melt pool, mostly, I think, because the bottom wick is butting up against the wall of the teacup. 

And here's how it looks to have teacup candles in your life!

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Overall, I think this was a decently teenager-friendly project, and I'm satisfied that this is about the most foolproof method around for pouring teacup candles. The kids talked about making candles for holiday presents, so we might revisit this in a few months. Otherwise, I'm thinking that sand candles could be a fun project for a camping trip!

P.S. Want to follow along with my craft projects, books I'm reading, dog-walking mishaps, road trips, and other various adventures on the daily? Find me on my Craft Knife Facebook page!

How We Refinished This Thrifted Wooden Shield

 This tutorial was originally published on Crafting a Green World back in 2016.

Some things you just cannot pass by, such as a great toy hiding underneath a gross one. 

 On a recent trip to Goodwill, my kid showed me this wooden shield. It was finely crafted, made from a solid piece of wood with sturdy straps on the back, but man, it was a mess. It looked as if it had been given to a kid to paint, and then that kid had painted one hundred thousand layers of muddy paint on it.

 I am all about process-oriented art, my friends, but when it's done on a great toy, an heirloom quality wooden one that some other kid would be absolutely thrilled to have?  It bummed me out to look at it.

 So even though the kid is probably a wee bit too old for it, I told her we could buy it. At a buck, the price was for sure right, but also, I knew that very few people were going to look at that gross toy in that Goodwill and see what I saw: a great toy that just needed some sweat equity and some TLC. 

  Step one: sand that baby down! I made the kid do some of the sanding with our trusty palm sander, but I took over when she got tired of it, because it was a big, tedious job. 

Friends, there were a LOT of layers of paint on that shield!  

Hiding way, way, at the bottom was also a printed outline of a two-headed dragon, probably what the child was intended to color. My older kid would have loooooooved to color a shield with a two-headed dragon on it, but alas, this dragon had one hundred thousand layers of muddy paint on it, so it got sanded down with all the rest. 

 To do a really bang-up job, you could use sandpaper with progressively finer grit after you'd sanded all of that paint off, and end up with a shield face that was as smooth as butter. I didn't bother going too smooth, though, because I knew that the techniques we were going to use to refinish the shield wouldn't require it. 

  Step two: base coat. If it had been up to me, I would have painted a nice design on top of the bare wood, then sealed everything, leaving some natural wood to show and be pretty. This is my kid's shield, however, and she likes things to shine; she spray painted a base coat of gold on top of the bare wood.

  Step three: draw a design. My kid worked on this for a while, because first she drew a bird, then decided that she didn't like it, so erased the entire thing and drew a unicorn. I had her draw her design in pencil so that she could erase it, but if that didn't work, it wouldn't have been a big deal to lightly sand the shield, repaint the base coat, and go again.  

After she was happy with the penciled design, she went over the pencil with black Sharpie to give her a better outline to color in. 

  Step four: paint the design. I gave my kid our nice artist's acrylics to use when she painted in all the colors on her unicorn. Craft acrylics are a good substitute, but artist's acrylics are thicker, and I think they're better for details and smaller projects.  

After she'd finished painting, she went back over the Sharpie lines, to cover any paint that had gotten out of the lines. The finished result looks neat and tidy. 

  Step five: seal the shield. This step isn't completely necessary, but the shield will last longer and hold up better to hard play if you do. I didn't want any of my kid's beautiful unicorn to chip off, so I sealed it with a clear sealant. 

 My kid and I are very pleased with the finished product--it's a great toy now, and is one hundred percent worth the buck that I paid for it. The wooden shield looks a million times better, will hold up for all kinds of pretend play and dress-up, and it's so lovely now, decorated with my kid's artwork, that I can certainly see it being a keepsake for her after she's grown.

 I mean, come one--she painted a unicorn on it. Can you get any more ten-year-old girl than that?

In Which a Plague of Cats Help Me Reach My Goal (of Remaking a Hoodie)

I have wanted to remake the too-small hood and the stained front pocket on my thrifted Nintendo hoodie for... I don't even know. If someone told me it was a full decade, I wouldn't so much as blink in surprise.

Funny that for something I've had taking up space in the back of my mind for multiple years, it was a single morning's work to actually do it!

I strained the snot out of my poor myopic eyes ripping the old hood and the front pocket with Superglue all over it off the hoodie, then made new paper pattern using the much nicer hood of my favorite Titanic hoodie:

For fabric, I used a flannel shirt for the outside and some stash black flannel for the lining. Gracie helped a lot with this step:

I managed to do all that--AND sew the whole thing back together!--on Sunday morning while Matt mopped up an entire basket of eggs that the cats apparently spent the night throwing around the kitchen (note to self: the basket might as well just sit empty from now on, since the cats will clearly fight over that specific lounging space whether or not it's full of eggs freshly collected from the coop) and the kids followed behind him making an equally huge mess prepping their District breads for our Hunger Games Family Movie Night.

Darn that I was too busy to assist with any of those clearly super fun activities!

Matt drove the kids to driver's ed and when he came back, I asked if he'd take some photos of me in my new hoodie.

Spots helped:

Here she is having second thoughts about helping me model:

Here are her third thoughts in the midst of my clear delight:

And then I guess I wrongly assumed that the photo shoot was over...

Not gonna lie: I am REALLY looking forward to fall weather! I love layers and flannel and sweatshirts and hoods a lot more than I like shorts and sandals and swimsuits. Put me in a Nintendo sweatshirt with a two-layer flannel hood, a pair of jeans and some hiking boots, and a plague of cats to shed on me, and I'll be happy as a clam!

Easy Handmade Gift: Matted Photo in a Thrifted Frame

This tutorial was originally published on Crafting a Green World in 2016.

 Need a gift that's easy to make but still personal? A matted photo that you make yourself can be just the thing! 

You use a photo or artwork that lets your recipients know that you're thinking only of them, and yet the actual matting and framing of the photo takes less than an hour and costs less than five bucks. 

 Key to this project is the thrifted frame. If you've never gone thrifting for frames, I highly recommend it! Many people, when they get tired of what's inside the frame, just donate the entire piece, frame and all. Our local Goodwill stores have monthly 50%-off storewide sales, and whenever I go to them, I always look through their frames and take home the ones that I like. I generally repaint them for use in my own house, but this gold one that I pulled out of my stash (with the price tag on the back: $1.50!), even though I'd have painted it navy or slate for myself, will actually go perfectly well as-is in the recipient's home. That's one fewer step for me! 

 If you do want to refinish your frame, check out my round-up of the best methods. Scroll down to the paint and fabric tute to see how I refinish my frames 99% of the time. 

 The next thing that you need is a lovely paper to cover the thrifted frame's existing mat board. You're not making a piece that has to look perfect in a thousand years, so I don't worry overly much about the acidity of the papers that I use. This is a gift for your grandma or your girlfriend, not the Queen of England. 

In my own house, I have frames covered in dictionary pages, comic book pages, and wallpaper samples, but for this particular frame, I'm using handmade paper from a little book that has a looooong story, full of drama, from my wedding. So much drama that some of the pages ended up getting torn out. Ask me about it in the Comments and I'll tell you. Buy us a pitcher of margaritas, and I'll tell you some even worse stories of my wedding drama! 

 I decoupaged the handmade paper to the mat board, tearing the paper into strips and overlapping the edges into straight lines to make the piece look somewhat orderly. The handmade paper is neutral-toned, as well, so it doesn't distract from the photo. 

To attach the paper to the mat board, I just used double-sided tape. Now, tape is something that you DO want to be picky about, because a lot of tape is horrible and will begin to discolor your work within months, so it's best to have handy some kind of tape that says it's "document-friendly." 

 If you've got that document-friendly tape, you can also use it to attach the photo to the decoupaged mat board, but if you're worried, just use photo corners. 

That was such a beautiful road trip!

 Honestly, the biggest pain in the butt when using a thrifted frame is cleaning that glass! These frames have sat in someone's house for decades, sometimes, and I don't know what all they have on them, but it can be gross. I use straight vinegar in a spray bottle, scrubbed off with crumpled-up newspaper (this is also how I clean windows and mirrors), repeated until whatever gunk is all over the glass finally comes off. 

 The last thing that you have to do is simply re-assemble the frame, making sure that you have the hanger on the back correct. 

Wrap it up, add a pretty bow, and wait for the squeals of happiness when your thoughtful gift is opened!

How to Remake a Puzzle

I originally published this tutorial on Crafting a Green World.

There are lots of cute ways to upcycle an old puzzle into something completely new, but what if what you'd really prefer is simply another puzzle?

I mean honestly, have you ever looked at the picture on the front of a puzzle and thought, "Huh. I could do better than that!"

Well, you absolutely can!

It's surprisingly easy and doesn't take a ton of artistic talent to remake a puzzle into one that's brand-new-to-you.  This is a great craft for kids or a great way to make an educational toy for a kid. Here, for instance, I've remade a very odd puzzle (I'll show you in a minute, but trust me--it's ODD!) into a puzzle of the digits of pi. What classroom wouldn't want to have that on the shelf in readiness for a rainy-day recess?

Here's how to remake a puzzle of your own!

Supplies Needed

An old puzzle to upcycle

I have a very firm Puzzle Policy, which consists of this: we buy puzzles only from thrift stores or yard sales, never spending more than a buck or two. We happily put together our puzzles, knowing that it's highly likely that there will be missing pieces. When there are, we don't care, because we still had the fun of putting together the puzzle and anyway, it only cost a couple of dollars; I'll recycle or upcycle that puzzle, then, with a clean conscience.

When the puzzle gods smile down upon us, however, it's a real treat, and then when I put the puzzle back in the box I'll securely tape it shut, tape on a note that reads "NO MISSING PIECES," and donate it to a thrift shop to move on to some other lucky soul. So even though my family loooooved putting together this very, very, VERY strange puzzle, it has two missing pieces, so recycled or upcycled it must be:

Acrylic paints and brushes

You'll be watering the paints down, so a little will go a long way.

Paint Pens

These can be pricey, but you don't have to buy a full set if you're planning on a limited color scheme. I got by using only black for this project.

Spray sealant (optional)

Aerosol sprays are the WORST, but if you feel like you have to seal your work--I would only if it's quite detailed and delicate--then you'd better use this instead of a brush-on sealant, which will go on too heavy and stick the puzzle pieces together.

Directions

1. Assemble the puzzle, turn it upside down, and make any necessary repairs. When my kids were younger and much more emotionally attached to their puzzles, I figured out how to make a pretty decent replacement for missing pieces--it's at least good enough to make the puzzle complete again, although of course you can tell the difference:

Here's my tutorial for how to repair a puzzle by recreating missing pieces. Give it a try!

2. Paint the puzzle with watered-down acrylic paint. Watercolors would work, but wouldn't be vibrant, and acrylic straight from the tube would be so thick that the puzzle pieces might stick together. Instead, use a paint palette to water down your acrylic paints, and use those to paint your puzzle.

Pro tip: to avoid the colors bleeding together, let an adjacent color dry before you paint right up next to it.

3. Add details with paint pens. Since the acrylics have been altered to behave more like watercolors, when you want to add detail to your painting, you'll want to use paint pens. These are spendy, but they're absolutely terrific for fine work, and you can add tons of detail that you'd otherwise need the tiniest paintbrush for.

After all the paint and glue has dried, the only thing left to do is work your brand-new puzzle!

As you can see, this puzzle is even more fun than working one whose only claim to fame is that you bought it from a store, and the more time that you put into it, the better it can look. I kept mine pretty plain, because my children are heathens and wouldn't appreciate it anymore if I'd spent fifteen more hours on it making it look cute.

You could add a ton more embellishments with the paint pens alone, and there's nothing to stop you from adding even more decorative elements, such as Swarovski crystals, glitter, or anything else that you fancy.

How to Make an Upcycled Playing Card and Upholstery Sample Bunting

I originally published this tutorial on Crafting a Green World.

There's nothing like a bunting to make a festive occasion just that much more special. That's why my daughter wanted a bunting as part of the decorations for her recent Alice in Wonderland birthday party--and also, of course, she IS my daughter. It's possible that a love for buntings is expressed at the genetic level...

Knowing what I wanted to make, I sorted through my stash of potential crafting supplies that surely will be useful someday (this is also known as my "stash of trash") and hit the jackpot when I came across a partial deck of souvenir playing cards. You can't play a lot of games with a partial deck of playing cards, and you also can't recycle them--and if you're me, you apparently also can't bear the thought of simply tossing them into the waste stream, not when you might want to make a bunting out of them six years later!

The faces of the playing cards would work as-is in the bunting because playing cards are on-theme for Alice in Wonderland, but as for the backs... well, my daughter for some reason didn't want scenes from Yellowstone National Park in the 1980s decorating her party. Silly girl!

Instead, I turned to another super useful piece of trash, a giant book full of tacky old upholstery samples. These sample books are notorious for being snapped up at thrift stores by avid crafters with stars in their eyes, who then take them home and never, ever figure out a way to separate the samples from their glued-on paper backings.

There isn't a way, Friends. Stop breaking your hearts on the effort.

So you can't sew those upholstery samples into anything, because they have thick paper backings glued onto them (you'll never get that glue off! Stop trying!). What you CAN do, however, is cut and glue them, stencil and paint on them, and embellish the snot out of them. That's what my daughter and I did to make her upcycled playing card and upholstery sample bunting, and here's how we did it!

Directions

1. Cut Bunting Pieces Out Of The Upholstery Samples

Use a playing card as a template to trace the bunting pieces directly onto the back of each upholstery sample.

Cutting these pieces out is sort of a nightmare, at least for my own set of upholstery samples, because the glued-on paper backing doesn't cover the entire piece. I obviously can't use my fabric scissors to cut paper, and my paper scissors are too dull to cut fabric, so I had to use two different pairs of scissors for every piece, ugh.

2. Embellish as desired

The possibilities for embellishing buntings are practically infinite, but for this bunting, I wanted to spell out a welcoming message.

Stencils and paint to the rescue!

I have a very old-school Cricut on which I can cut letter stencils, but happily, a set of store-bought cardboard stencils that I already had on hand turned out to be perfectly sized for this bunting--yay! I traced each letter onto the front of an upholstery sample piece with black Sharpie.

Because this bunting isn't washable, you can use any kind of paint on it. My fabric paint is getting a little old, though, so I've been using it on any even remotely fabric-adjacent project lately so I can use it up and have an excuse to buy more.

3. Adhere The Upholstery Pieces And The Hanging Cord To The Playing Cards

You can use any type of hanging cord that you'd like for a bunting, from a kid-made yarn cord created on a knitting spool to store-bought bias tape. Bias tape actually would have looked really cute with this particular bunting, except that I filled nearly all of the available space with my letters, and bias tape would definitely have cut the tops off of some of them. Instead, I decided on simple brown twine, to be sandwiched between the upholstery fabric and the playing card.

You can also attach the two sides of the bunting pieces together in a number of ways. I seriously considered machine-sewing them together with a wide zig-zag stitch, but then my daughter happened by and got involved, and her solution to every problem is to hot glue it. So she hot glued it!

I wouldn't use a bunting that was hot glued outside in all weather, but it was perfect for a beautiful, mild birthday party day. Afterward, we hung the bunting in her bedroom, so that every time she looks at it she can remember what a wonderful time she had at her Alice in Wonderland birthday party!

P.S. Do you also have a book of wallpaper samples that you're wondering what to do with? You can make a bunting with those, too!

Make an Upcycled Aluminum Can and Silverware Wind Chime

I originally published this tutorial on Crafting a Green World.

One of my favorite parts of windy weather is enjoying the sound of the wind chimes singing from my front porch and back deck. I love them even more because they're handmade!

Do you need some handmade singing in your life, too? Here's how to make your own wind chimes. Mine are upcycled from aluminum cans, silverware, old keys, bottle caps, and metal lids, but feel free to substitute your own stuff needing to be upcycled. I also really like glass bottle wind chimes!

Supplies & Tools Needed

Here's what you'll need:

• Aluminum can (empty, no label, clean, and dry)
• Embellishments (silverware, old keys, metal lids, stash beads, bottle caps, etc.)
• Keyring or paperclip
• Twine
• Cordless drill with a drill bit
• Scissors

Directions

1. Drill Holes In The Can

Use a drill bit that's slightly wider than the width of your twine, and drill a hole through the bottom center of your aluminum can.

Next, drill holes around the rim of the can. I prepped these cans for my Girl Scout troop, and drilled eight holes around the rim of each.

At this time, you can also drill holes through any of the hanging objects that CAN be drilled. The stainless steel silverware that I purchased from Goodwill for ten cents a piece can't be drilled by my cordless drill (you'll see soon how we'll attach those to the wind chime!), but the metal lids and bottle caps can.

2. Prime The Cans

Priming the cans will allow the paint to stick when you embellish them later. Paint-on primer is far more eco-friendly than the spray primer that I used here, but spray primer is a LOT faster when you're priming enough cans for seven kids!

While you've got the primer out, prime anything else that needs it. If you'd prefer a different base color, you can also use a spray paint + primer.

3. Embellish The Can And Silverware

Use acrylic paint or paint pens to embellish any of the hanging elements. You can even decoupage if you seal it VERY well afterwards, or super glue on three-dimensional embellishments.

My Girl Scouts especially enjoyed painting the silverware, although next time I do this project with a group of children, I WILL take my own advice and give some of the pieces a different base color. Some kids create better when they're not faced with all that empty, white space waiting to be filled!

4. Knot The Hanging Cord

To attach a hanging cord, cut a piece of twine, tie a knot to a key ring or even paper clip and pull the twine through the bottom of the can. The keyring will hold the can, and you can hang more wind chime elements from it.

To attach the hanging pieces that have holes, just knot twine around them and tie them to the can using the holes that you drilled around the rim.

5. Lash All Of The Hanging Piece To The Can

To attach the silverware, however, you get to act like a good Girl Scout and learn how to tie a lashing knot! Use this animated tutorial to walk you through the process, and then go forth with your life, knowing how to tie anything to anything else!

Seriously, the lashing knot is dead useful. You're going to be thrilled that you now know how to do it.

6. Seal Your Embellishments

Even if your wind chime will be hanging under a protected eave, you still want to seal anything that you painted or decoupaged. A clear sealant does the trick!

If you're feeling uncertain about any of your knots, you can also hit them with a little dab of super glue.

Pro tip: Noise can also be pollution, and wind chimes should only be mounted where they can enhance nature, not disturb it, so be a good Girl Scout and don't hang your wind chime anywhere that it can annoy someone else.

We've got acres of land and only ourselves to annoy on it, but we still wouldn't put a wind chime anywhere near our bedroom windows. If you've got other people's bedroom windows nearby, be similarly considerate of them!

The Weirdest Puzzle

I wrote several years ago about our family Thrift Store Puzzle Philosophy, and we still hold to it. I can't tell you the number of puzzles that have come and gone over the years--certainly more than our house could hold if we'd had our hearts set on keeping them all!

This puzzle, though, is something special. First of all, it's round, which is unusual:

Primarily, though, this puzzle is just very, very strange:

Okay, yes, it's all cats. That is very, VERY weird.

But these cats? They're also all consecrated religious, and they are acting VERY irreverently:

Yeah, that's a feline nun. Dancing. With a feline monk.

DANCING.

Dancing while TOUCHING.

Very irreverent, indeed!

The entire puzzle represents male and female consecrated religious have a giant party. I can't imagine what on earth the artist was thinking. There are SO many weird things going on here.

For instance, check out this act of charity:

So those are anthropomorphized consecrated religious cats, sitting on the steps eating from a plate, and there are non-anthropomorphized cats around them begging for food.

Are the non-anthropomorphized cats meant to represent the laity? Are they begging for the fruit of salvation? Or... did the artist just think that it would be cute to have cats begging from cats?

It's all so deeply suspect, yet presented so lightheartedly, that I can't figure it out. It's as if Martin Luther, instead of writing his 95 Theses, decided to draw an adorable cartoon and never tell anyone whether or not he was being ironic.

Because OMG look at this!!!

Was the artist trying to make a statement about sexual impropriety between nuns and monks, or is it just supposed to be cute? Is that non-anthropomorphized black cat next to the cat nun meant to symbolize witchcraft, or is it just... there?

Because the implications make a VERY troubling set of statements, but the whole thing is so cute! Does anyone really make a set of statements this troubling by means of a cartoon this cute? I mean, normally when you want to draw worldly sin, you channel your inner Hieronymus Bosch, you know? Not your inner Charles Shulz.

Here are another couple of weird excerpts. We've got a feline Mary and Jesus (but an avian dove)--

--and a domestic cat Adam but a lion God, but domestic cat angels, and there are more non-anthropomorphized cats:

So in this reality, God did not make his creatures in his image, or is the artist making a broader statement about species identification and implying that we should respect monkeys and apes as also containing the divine spark?

If I was still an academic, I would write SO MANY PAPERS about this puzzle.

I'm not, though, so when we were done, I flipped it over and painted a new puzzle for the kids on the back. That was only because there were a few pieces, though--if this puzzle had been intact, I would be hoarding it as-is forever, probably painted with one of those Puzzle Saver solutions and hung on my study wall with all my other weird things.