My wife is a great lover.....of lawn ornaments and for this Christmas season, she has decided that we should display a Grinch lawn ornament. Inevitably she showed me a picture from her computer with the dreaded question, "Can you make this?" "Of course, darling," I responded, not too sure how to actually do it.

Over the next few days I mentally tried to picture the actual steps, finally arriving at the Grid Method and about the same time thought, "This would make a good Instructable."

I did a Google Image search and came up with two pictures that I liked. She chose the one on the right.

NOTE: I am uncertain of the copyright status of these pictures and certainly do not wish to break the law but since this is a one-time personal use, I think it falls under the "Fair Use" doctrine.

Step 1: Getting Started

Obviously the Grinch's foot will be at the bottom of the ornament but just looking at the figure, it seems to me it would be unbalanced (heavier on one side than the other) if I used a vertical line so my vertical axis is slanted to try to equalize the weight.

Next I drew lines at the top and bottom perpendicular to the vertical axis of the figure to define those points on the ornament.

Step 2: Getting the Height Right

The distance between the top and bottom lines is 8 inches. Since the wife thinks 6 feet is the proper height I divided 8 by 6 and got 1 1/3. Thus 1 1/3 inches on my grid is equal to 1 foot on the ornament.

I now drew horizontal lines spaced 1 1/3 inches apart.

Step 3: Finishing the Grid

Starting at the vertical axis, I measured outward and drew parallel lines 1 1/3 inches apart. My grid is now roughly finished. From measuring the grid I can now see that I need a panel that is 6 feet by 3 feet 5 inches.

Using this picture with its grid I can take a panel and draw a grid of 1 foot lines then copy each square from the picture to the panel.

If necessary I can also increase the number of grid lines on the picture and the panel by drawing intermediate lines in both directions and achieve a 6 inch by 6 inch grid for finer detail.

It is much easier to duplicate what is in a 1 foot square than to try to free-hand draw the figure by just looking at the picture.

Obviously this means another I'ble is coming. Watch this space for "How To Make A Lawn Ornament."

Thanks for reading this far, folks. If you'd like to comment, I will answer back.
Be safe, live well, enjoy life, have fun, make something.