During Jewish Festival of Lights, Chanukah, we light up candles in special candle holders called Chanukiahs. Chanukiahs come in all kinds of designs, shapes and colors. That is why we will make our own unique Chanukiah. To be more specific, it is going to be a Meowukiah, since our Chanukiah will take a shape of a cat.
To start, have ready few basic colors of modeling clay, orange, green, black and white, and a little bit of pink to make our Meowukiah. You will also need a toothpick. (Picture 1)
Take the orange modeling clay, make and set aside the body parts of the cat: a head, 2 ears, the trunk in a shape of a watermelon slice, and four legs. (Picture 2)
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. (Picture 3)
Using white, green and black modeling clay give your cat a face: make the eyes, the eyebrows and cheeks with whiskers, and don’t forget about pink mouth. Make green paw pads and decorate the pads just like the picture shows or the way you like it. After that, make few green stripes and attach them to the top of the trunk. Give your cat a tail. (Picture 4)
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! (Picture 5)
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, or the candle that is used to light up all other candles. (Picture 6)
Our Chanukiah – Meowukiah is ready! You can play with it, just like you play with your toys, and it is absolutely safe to play with, or you can use it to decorate your home. If you take a picture of your creation and print it out, it can easily make a wonderful Chanukah postcard.
Send the pictures of your artwork to: curlyorli@gmail.com and win prizes from Curly Orli. Use your imagination, creativity and model from clay with us. Have a Happy Chanukah!
Special for Jewish Independent.
