Once again we will be reusing the newspaper in a creative way. We are making a little decorative kitty today which you can keep on your study or computer table, or can even present to your friend. The kitty is easy to make and needs only three things readily available at your home.

Things you need:

1. ‘One whole’ old newspaper

2. Glue stick

3. Hard paper to make the tail (eight inches); one inch to make the nose; and four inch wide and four inch in length for the paws. (The size may vary according to the size of your paper kitty).

Directions:

1. Take the whole newspaper and tear it into two large sheets. Then tear the single sheet into half. Repeat it on at least six sheets of newspaper. See pic. 2.

2. Fold one inch width from one side, (fold it twice or maximum thrice, don’t overdo it as it will be uneven while rolling), then cut or tear it out from the newspaper sheet. See pic 3 and 4.

3. Repeat this step on at least four sheets of single newspaper to get the desired amount of paper strips as it will determine the body width of the kitty (that is 3-4 inches). Note: The strips will be the same for making every part of the body. See pic 5.

4. Start rolling one strip while holding it firmly, see pic 6. Paste the end with glue, making it into a small coil, as in pic 7.

5. Take another strip and roll it on to the coil you made. Repeat rolling strips until the coil becomes minimum three inches wide. This is the body of your kitty. Remember the more you roll strip on one another, the larger the kitty’s body will be and it depends on the strips you cut prior to rolling. See pic 8.

6. For the head, make a hollow circle with the same paper strips, but you will need two-ply three strips maximum. Roll the strip; the diameter should be one inch smaller than the body of the kitty, as in pic 9.

7. For the ears, take one paper strip and make an inch high ‘two’ triangles, leaving a two-inch space between them as this is the forehead, as in pic 10.

8. For the eyes, make two hollow coils just like we did for the head but we need only one paper strip. Now cut out nose from the hard paper as shown in pic 11.

9. Paste the ears on the head. See pic 12.

10. Now you have hollow head with ears, two eye coils, nose and the body.

11. To make the tail-cum-stand, if you don’t have hard paper you can take three strips of newspaper (one and half inch wide and eight inch in length); paste them on each other, then bend one end of the strip to give it a tail shape and leave the other straight as in pic 13.

12. Paste eyes and nose on their respective places in the hollow circle of the head. Leave them to dry. We now have a complete head, body and tail, see pic 14.

13. For the feet or paw, just cut out a curved “X” shape from the hard paper, as in pic 15.

14. Paste the straight end of the tail on the centre of the paws. On the other side, paste the head on the body coil, leave both parts for a couple of hours to get properly dry.

15. Paste your kitty on the straight end of the tail; you can tilt a bit for a natural kitty pose.

Your kitty is ready. If you want to give it a colour; you can make it from coloured papers easily available in the market or you can colour it with water colours after it is finished.

Published in Dawn, Young World, October 15th, 2016