Lucky cat!

After sweating away for days for the stall at the Transition Town launch yesterday, I decided to indulge myself by making a model from thin card, designs for which abound freely on the web. Print out the designs and instructions and you're away! Boyish delight, I know, but it keeps me quiet.

This is a Lucky Cat or Maneki Neko. In this particular configuration - black cat, left paw raised - it's said to protect to against the trouble that people bring, and is most effective near the front door. Here, he's sitting on a kitchen stool outside the back door, so that's not going to work very well! I'm deeply impressed by the way the designer, Ayumu Saito, manages to create a pattern for such a curvy creature. It is terribly ingenious.