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Custom Felted Cat Portrait Guide: From Mini to Full Sculpture

Custom Felted Cat Portrait Guide: From Mini to Full Sculpture

Cats aren't dogs. The face is subtler, the expressions are quieter, and the whole thing has to look just right or it doesn't look like your cat. Here's how we approach custom felted cat portraits, and which style fits which cat.

We've made a lot of dogs. We've also made a lot of cats. They are quite different. Getting the result right depends on choosing a style that suits the cat in question.

Why cats are different to felt

A dog has a face you can read from twenty feet away. Eyebrows move, mouths open, ears flop. A cat's face does most of its talking with eyes, ear angle, and the set of the whiskers. Miss those and you've felted a generic cat.

So three things matter more on a cat than on a dog:

Eye colour and shape. Cat eyes come in a small palette, green, gold, blue, copper, hazel, sometimes odd-eyed. But the shade and shape are unique to your cat. Almond, round, half-closed in that signature "loaf" squint. We custom-mix the eye colour or hand-paint the iris when no pre-made eye matches.

Coat pattern. Tabby stripes are a directional pattern, not random spots. A tortoiseshell isn't 50/50 black-and-orange; it's blended in a specific way per cat. A Siamese has darker points that fade gradually. We blend 2-3 shades of wool by hand for every coat type, layering until the pattern matches the reference photos.

Ear set and whisker placement. Folded, tipped, tufted, or plain. The ears define the breed and the expression. Whiskers are the last detail, but the length and number matter (we typically use 6-12 per side, longer than feels natural).

The four cat portrait styles we make

Four styles, four price points, four very different objects. Here's what each is and what it works best for.

2D framed cat portrait

A flat needle felted cat portrait set in a wooden frame, like a textured painting. The cat's face and shoulders, or sometimes the full body if the pose allows, rendered in wool against a soft fabric background.

Sizes from 15×18cm (single cat) up to 24×36cm (three cats). From CHF 98 (EUR 108).

Best for: people who want wall art, multi-cat households where one frame can hold two or three cats, and cats with strong coat patterns (tabby, calico, tortoiseshell).

Mini 2D cat portrait

The smaller version: 2-3 inches, framed, designed to sit on a desk or shelf. Same handwork, less surface area, lower price.

From CHF 81 (EUR 89).

Best for: gifts where you don't know the recipient's wall space, office desks, and people who already have wall art they like.

3D framed cat portrait

The cat's face and shoulders emerge from the frame in three dimensions, which means you can see the texture of the fur in actual relief. Same wooden frame as the 2D version but with depth.

From CHF 98 (EUR 108).

Best for: short-haired and medium-haired cats where the coat surface tells the story. The 3D version captures the dimensional softness of a real cat better than a flat portrait can. Less ideal for cats with very flowing long fur, where the texture gets compressed.

Full 3D cat sculpture

A complete needle felted cat figurine, standing or sitting freely on its own, built over a wire armature. Wool body, sculpted paws, hand-set eyes, real whiskers.

Sizes from 5cm desk pieces up to 30cm+ display sculptures. From CHF 72 (EUR 79) for small sizes.

Best for: cat lovers who want the whole cat, not just the face. Particularly good for cats with distinctive poses, the "loaf," the high-elbow stretch, the side-eye sit. We can sculpt your cat in their favourite pose if you have photos of it.

Cat ornament, magnet, or brooch

For people who don't want wall or shelf real estate taken up. Small 3D pieces, 3-5cm, intended for hanging, sticking, or wearing.

From CHF 56 (EUR 62). Best for: gifts where you don't know how much display space the recipient has, second cats in a household that already has a portrait of the first, or anyone who wants their cat with them every day in a low-key way.

Multi-cat portraits

We get this question a lot. Yes, you can fit two or three cats in one 2D framed portrait. The 24×36cm size is designed for three. We've also done multi-cat 3D sculptures where two cats are sculpted together (curled up, grooming each other, or back-to-back).

Multi-cat pieces work best when the cats have visibly different coats. Two identical solid black cats are harder to tell apart in a portrait than a tabby and a tuxedo are.

Special situations

Memorial portraits for cats who have passed

This is a meaningful slice of what we do. If you've lost a cat, you may already have a small collection of photos that feel precious. Bring whatever you have: phone photos, professional pet photos, old printed photos, screenshots from videos. More angles is better but we can work from less than ideal references if we have to. Many memorial cat portraits are made from photos that aren't technically perfect but capture the cat's personality.

If you've kept your cat's whiskers, fur clippings, or even a small bit of their bedding, we can incorporate those into the piece. Several customers have sent us small envelopes of their cat's real whiskers, we set them carefully and film the moment so the owners can see the placement.

Senior cats

Senior cats often have features that have shifted with age, thinner coat, cloudier eyes, sometimes asymmetric ear set. We sculpt to the references you provide, so if you want the senior version of your cat captured, send recent photos. If you want a younger version, send older photos. Both are fine.

Kittens

Kitten portraits are popular as a birth-announcement style memento or a "first months" keepsake. Kitten proportions are different from adult cats (larger eyes, rounder head, shorter muzzle) and we sculpt accordingly. If you'd like the kitten captured at a specific age, tell us the age and we'll match the proportions.

Exotic and pedigree breeds

We've made felted portraits of Sphynxes, Scottish Folds, Persians, British Shorthairs, and a few rarer breeds. Pedigree features (the Sphynx's lack of coat, the Scottish Fold's ear set, Persian's flat face, Bengal rosettes) are well within the technique's range. Send breed-specific reference photos if you can, official breed standard photos help us nail the details.

Best photos for cat portraits

Cats are notoriously uncooperative photo subjects. The good news: you don't need professional photos. The better news: you can use photos taken over months or years. If you've been photographing your cat for fun, you probably already have what we need.

What works:

  • 5+ photos minimum, ideally 8-10
  • A mix of angles: front, both side profiles, three-quarter view
  • Eye close-ups, even if the rest of the body isn't framed well
  • Natural light (windowsill light is usually fine)
  • Photos that show the coat pattern clearly

We have a full pet photography guide for portraits if you want the deep version.

How long it takes and what happens next

From order to your door: roughly 4-8 weeks depending on style and shipping destination.

  • Order placement and photo review: 1-3 days
  • Material selection and sculpting: 2-15 days of handwork (full process here)
  • Quality check and your approval: 1-3 days
  • Shipping: 2-21 days depending on destination

We send you progress photos partway through. If anything needs adjusting, for example coat colour, expression, eye lines, we change it before completion. Nothing ships until you approve it.

How to start

The fastest path: pick a style above, browse the shop, and add it to your cart. Once the order is in, send your cat's photos to the email confirmation. We respond within 24 hours and walk you through anything that's unclear.

If you're not sure which style fits your cat, send us a message first to describe your cat, what you're hoping the finished piece will do (wall art, desk piece, gift, memorial), and we'll suggest a style. There's no obligation; we'd rather help you pick the right thing than ship you the wrong one.

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