The Curious Issue of Feline Deterrent

I've got a new work table coming into the garage space soon and I am faced with the issue of how to keep cats off of the flat space and the projects I'll have there. I can't close off the garage, because that is where the cats' food and facilities are, so I really do need to find a way to protect painting, sculpting, and building projects when they are left out. So far, I've come up with a couple of ideas, each with its own pros and cons.

Plastic Cake Covers

My wife has a few of these around and they might actually do the trick for covering projects. They come in various sized from round to rectangular and are pretty cheap and straight forward. The only major issue they are pretty sturdy I can see is that the cats will likely try to get up on them and that could lead to problems.

Chicken Wire Screen

I had an idea of rigging up a roll away screen made of chicken wire. I could fasten it to one side of the table and then create a sort of latch or anchor on the other. When I was done, I could drape the chicken wire over the top of the table and lock it down. Why chicken wire?

I seem to recall that cats do not like putting their feet on stuff like chicken wire because it goes up between their toes and aggravates the pads on their feet. It also has the added benefit of not having to make sure everything lays flat on the table top.

This is my plan A an B.

-Eli