A yuletide vessel for tasty sweets
T’is the season to break out the holiday décor and lay in a supply of holiday treats. This year, why not add to your celebrations with a classic: a miniature sleigh sized to deliver a party’s worth of chocolates? Made from 1/8" plywood and scroll-sawn to shape, this conveyance is an easy build over a few evenings or a weekend in the shop. While the cutting is straightforward, you’ll want to take your time with the notches in the sleigh sides to ensure a good fit with the tabs sawn in the edges of the ends and bottom. The applied side scrollwork presents an opportunity to add both depth and detail to your sleigh as well as making it easier to achieve the two-tone paint job. Make one for yourself, or an entire convoy to share with others as you await the arrival of you-know-who.
Order of work
- Adhere patterns to plywood
- Cut to shape
- Sand
- Finish and assemble
Cut, finish and assemble
Copy the patterns from below and enlarge them as indicated. You’ll need four sides—two for the actual sides and two for the trim. You’ll also need two ends and a single bottom. Use spray adhesive to adhere the patterns to pieces of 1/8" plywood. Cut the pieces to shape at the scrollsaw. Sand the edges to remove any fuzzies and splinters. Mask the sides as shown and spray the runners black. Now mask the runners, and spray the upper part of the sides, as well as the ends and bottom red. Also spray the trim gold. Glue the trim in place then glue the tabs on the ends and bottom into the slots in the sides. Fill with your favorite treats and let the festivities begin.
Inside out. Drill access holes for the inner cuts. Thread the blade through and make these cuts first, then cut out the overall shape.
Mask and peel. When painting the outside faces of the sides, leave a band of masking tape around the perimeter. This will leave an unpainted glue surface for attaching the trim.
Improvised clamps. After applying glue (I used medium viscosity CA glue) to the trim, clamp it in place with binder clips (available from any office supply store).
Sleigh Patterns
