Make Your Own Japanese Welcoming Cat

Learn how to bring good luck into your home when you make your own Japanese Welcoming Cat. Place it at the entryway of your home or office and see if the Gods smile on you!

First, you will need some materials you probably already have lying around your home. Get an old toilet paper tube, acrylic and tempera pains in white, red, black, yellow, and green, brushes (fine and broad-tipped), a pencil, and a jar of water. To make the salt dough for the cat's body, you will need 1/2 cup of salt, 1 cup flour, 2 t. cream of tarter, and 1 cup cold water. Mix all the ingredients in a pot and stir in the cold water, mixing with your hands or a spoon. Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly until the dough looks like mashed potatoes or a firm ball. The completed dough mixture can be molded and will air dry in 12-36 hours.

Prepare an orange-sized amount of cooked salt dough for the cat's body. Set aside another lime-sized amount for the ears, arm and details. With the cardboard tube in hand, mold the big ball of dough around it. You will be molding the head over the top of the toilet paper tube. With four finger-size clay "worms" make the cat legs and haunches, the resting arm, the nose, cheeks, and ears. With wet fingertips, smooth out the rough edges of the body parts. The toilet paper tube should be visible when you turn the cat upside down. Now, add the waving arm with the tipped paw. Use a dab of water to smooth the arm into the cat body. Let your cute cat dry out completely, for 24 hours, in a warm place but don't let him melt. If you feel the clay move any under the dried surface, it has not dried completely. Give it more time.

To paint your welcoming cat, brush a coat of white paint over it and let it dry thoroughly. Use your pencil to make the eyes, nose, mouth, whiskers, bib and claws. The bib can be whatever you want it to be. Create your own special design. Usually the cats follow a traditional formula in style and colors. Ears, whiskers, and paws are black. Mouths are red and eyes are red, green, yellow, or black. Before you paint the features on your cat, make sure your drawings are symmetrical. Use a piece of paper down the middle of your cat to check that both features are the same on both sides, except for the resting and waving paws. With your fine-tipped brush, paint in the your cat's details.

These are easy to make and will give your kids and/or students a cultural lesson in art.