How about a meowukiyah?

During the Festival of Lights, Chanukah, we light up candles in a special candleholder called a chanukiyah. Chanukiyot come in all kinds of designs, shapes and colors. That is why we will make our own unique version. To be more specific, it is going to be a meowukiyah, since our chanukiyah will take a shape of a cat.

1. To start, have ready a few basic colors of modeling clay: orange, green, black and white, and a little bit of pink. You will also need a toothpick.
2. Take the orange modeling clay, make and set aside the body parts of the cat: a head, two ears, the trunk in a shape of a watermelon slice, and four legs.
3. Attach the ears to the head, the head to the trunk and then attach all four legs to the body. Using the toothpick, carefully trace triangles inside the ears.
4. Using white, green and black modeling clay, give your cat a face: make the eyes, the eyebrows, cheeks with whiskers – and don’t forget the pink mouth. Make green paw pads and decorate the pads just like the picture shows or the way you like it. After that, make a few green stripes and attach them to the top of the trunk. Give your cat a tail.
5. Make few little balls from white and orange modeling clay. Using a little force, flatten them into the trunk of your cat. Alternatively, you can try your own design. Don’t be afraid to use your imagination!
6. The only remaining task is to make the candles. The body of the cat can hold eight yellow candles in green candleholders, and the head can have the shamash, the candle that is used to light up all other candles.

Our meowukiyah is ready! You can play with it, just like you play with your toys, or you can use it to decorate your home. If you take a picture of your creation and print it out, it would make a wonderful Chanukah postcard. Send the pictures of your artwork to curlyorli@gmail.com and win prizes from Curly Orli.

Have a Happy Chanukah, dear Jewish Independent readers!

Lana Lagoonca is a graphic designer, author and illustrator (lunart.ca). At curlyorli.com, there are more free lessons, along with information about Curly Orli merchandise.