Yuri the Shining Moose - Christmas Tree Companion

Our not-so-huge Christmas tree stands on a box, which we decorated with natural fabric and a nice red bow.

To keep the little tree from feeling lonely, it needed to have a companion.

You will now witness the birth of Yuri, the shining moose.

Step 1: Acquire a Moose

I stumbled across a miniature moose on ebay and immediately wanted to have this, but bigger... and brighter.

So, I ordered the little guy for about 4€. He stands about 14cm tall.

Step 2: Digitize and Find the Edges

The parts of the little wooden moose were laid on a scanner and digitized in a medium resolution and in greyscale.

It really helps to overexpose the non-moosey parts of the scan. So, instead of using the scanner's lid, I covered the parts with a single sheet of paper and let a bright lamp shine on it. This helps the image editing software to find the edges of the scan. I used GIMP and it was not a big deal. Just play around with the selection tool and the selection editor to draw a line around the edges on a new and empty layer. Drop in a white background and export the image to a .bmp or .jpg file.

I uploaded the scanned and edited image so you can see what the result should look like.

Step 3: PosteRazor Does the Magic

To get the parts to the size you want them to be, use PosteRazor.

Just drop in the image, adjust some settings and enter the size. You can use the "rule of three" or some other kind of black magic to figure out what the size of the print needs to be if you want a specifically-sized moose.

This should result in a pdf file you can print and glue together to get the template for cutting the wood.

Step 4: Sawing, Grinding and Varnishing

Stick your templates to the wood with some double-sided tape.

Cut out the pieces using your favourite tools. My weapons of choice are:

• A Makita jigsaw to separate the pieces
• An old Black&Decker Table Bandsaw (with new blades) for cutting along the lines

Attention: Cut the slots according to the thickness of your material! The enlarged image may have too wide or too narrow slots!

Sand down the edges and put on a clear coat of varnish*.

*I thougt about putting Yuri outside. For indoor use only, the varnish can be skipped.

Step 5: Wrap With Led Wire Lights

I used about 17 meters of silver wire LED lights to wrap the moose and make him shine.

Yuri now accompanies our Christmas tree and lights up the whole room!

If you love Yuri like I do, think about voting for him in the "Make it Glow" contest!

If you build a brother moose or something similar, I would love to see some pictures!

I wish you a joyful christmas and a happy new year!