When Bunny's brother saw my attempt at a 3-D reindeer [1], he noticed that the wood grain was running perpendicular to the neck:
[Direction of the woodgrain; perpendicular to the neck] [2]
and given that the neck might have been a bit thin, it's no wonder the neck snapped like it did (I think his exact words were “I need to give him a lesson on woodgrain direction!”).
So, that, the small size, and removing pieces as I cut, lead to a decapitated 3-D reindeer. But now that I'm finally on vacation from The Corporation, I felt it was time to tackle this project once more.
I printed the pattern 50% larger, left myself a bit more wood around the edges to work with, aligned the woodgrain so that it was parallel to the neck:
[Direction of the woodgrain; parallel to the neck] [3]
and I did not immediately remove pieces as I cut. This time, the results were much better:
[Leg's okay, neck's good---looks like we don't have to shoot him] [4]
Some careful sanding with fine sandpaper (220 grit) and we get one nice looking 3-D reindeer in time for Christmas.
[Unlike his sleighmate Rudolph, Blitzen isn't a lush] [5] [6]
(I should note that it's standing in front of a cutting board Bunny made as a gift for a friend, and both are sitting on some red velvet, just because).
[2] /boston/2014/12/22/necksnap.png
[3] /boston/2014/12/22/neckkeep.png
[4] /boston/2014/12/22/good-reindeer.jpg
[5] /boston/2014/12/22/thumb-sanded-reindeer.jpg
![[2] /boston/2014/12/22/necksnap.png](/gemini.conman.org/boston/2014/12/22/necksnap.png){kind=link}
![[3] /boston/2014/12/22/neckkeep.png](/gemini.conman.org/boston/2014/12/22/neckkeep.png){kind=link}
![[4] /boston/2014/12/22/good-reindeer.jpg](/gemini.conman.org/boston/2014/12/22/good-reindeer.jpg){kind=link}
![[5] /boston/2014/12/22/thumb-sanded-reindeer.jpg](/gemini.conman.org/boston/2014/12/22/thumb-sanded-reindeer.jpg){kind=link}
![[6] /boston/2014/12/22/sanded-reindeer.jpg](/gemini.conman.org/boston/2014/12/22/sanded-reindeer.jpg){kind=link}