Making the Reindeer

The reindeer is a pretty simple project. The Lightburn file is here. The basic process is to cut 2 reindeer at a time out of a 24” wide piece of plywood. It’s similar to making Santa’s Sleigh.

I found plywood 0.203” thick at Lowes. The slots in the Lightburn file are adjusted for this thickness of plywood. You may have to modify the slots for different thicknesses of plywood. The Lightburn “Resize Slots in Selection” tool available in Lightburn 1.3.01 makes this pretty easy. I used 1/16” plywood from Amazon last year. The process is just as described here but I found the thinner plywood made the reindeer much more fragile.

I cut the plywood into 24”x48” strips. The Lightburn file has 2 reindeer in a 24”x14” section of the 24”x48” strip. There is a horizontal line across the bottom of the two reindeer that cuts off that section of the plywood. After cutting two reindeer, I move the plywood up and cut two more. Note: the 48” length forces the plywood to extend out the front of the laser. This is not a problem for my OMTech laser. You may have to modify the Lightburn file to accommodate your laser.

After cutting out the reindeer, I’ve found the best next step is to paint them prior to assembly. Painting first avoids some shadowed spots that are hard to reach behind the legs and the leg attachments. Painting first also allows you to lightly sand the first coat and get a much smoother second coat. I also paint the antlers gold before applying the glitter. The gold undercoat masks any voids when applying the glitter. The green is Krylon ColorMaxx Paint + Primer in Gloss Emerald Green. The red is Rust-oleum Gloss Protective Enamel in Regal Red. The Gold is Rust-oleum Metallic Finish. I found all three colors at Lowes.

I apply the glitter on the antlers by first brushing on a thin layer of yellow wood-worker’s glue then sprinkling on the glitter. The Glitter is from Hobby Lobby and is called Extra Fine Gold. I found that coarser glitters don’t look as good.

After everything is painted and glittered, I assemble them with super glue.

I hope you enjoy making reindeer of your own and that your friends and family like them as much as mine!