My friend Natalya decided to make some most wonderful 3D Rhodesian Ridgeback gingerbread cookies and we made a collaboration out of it (by which I mean I offered some “Engineering” + prototyping pointers while Natalya did basically everything.)

Natalya created vector paths for the dog based on a photograph of Ruger, the handsome lad who fathered her own Rhodie named Oscar.  Oscar is the star of Oscar Ate My Muffin.  We used those vector paths to laser cut the dog shapes out of 1/4″ acrylic sheet.  After cutting down some tin sheet stock into 3/4″ strips, we used the laser cut forms as a buck to bend the tin around.  As with just about any metal, the tin doesn’t just bend and stay put.  The metal will recover a bit, so you’ll need to over-bend the metal.  This may drive you mad and you’ll want a 1:1 scale print out of the form to help you resolve your final bends.  Store-bought cookie cutters are generally spot welded, which was not an option here, although now my mind is turning over the thought of getting a resistive spot welder.  We used an industrial glue gun to drop some wax on the tin to make a little lap joint.  It’s plenty strong, especially for the task at hand.

Natalya has some lovely photos and language that won’t put you to sleep over at Oscar Ate My Muffin.  Her post also got some love from NotCot.