This is what happens when you buy Disney World annual passes and live in Florida. Your daughter becomes obsessed with Mickey Mouse, and lights up whenever he pops up on any screen. In person, she's not much of a fan...
Regardless, this project was something I saw on Pinterest that seemed like fun, and I really wanted to try it. It took about a 2 hours total time to complete, and my daughter loved it!
To start, I printed out the Mickey head on cardstock paper. I cut out the entire shape of his head and translated it to a piece of 3/4" common board to serve as the background. I then cut out all parts that were to remain black, leaving only his facial features. I traced that design onto really thin plywood, including the tongue. NOW... to the scroll saw!
Using the scroll saw, I cut out the 3/4" common board head shape (easy peezy). Then, I moved on to cutting out the thin plywood overlaying piece (not so easy peezy). See, the super thin plywood piece was not really strong. So any parts of the face that were close together were at risk of breaking, simply because of the wood vibrating. I actually got about halfway through cutting it the first time, and the wood cracked and split. Deep breath. Second time, I was a lot more careful, and no issues!
After sanding down the rough bits, I used acrylic paints to paint the design. The 3/4" backing piece was all black, while the thin plywood "face" was all white. The tongue was painted red. Once the pieces were all dry, they were glued together using liquid nails and clamped to allow to cure. A coat of brushed-on polyurethane, and it's done!
My daughter's face lit up when she saw the Mickey head! Heck, she didn't even ask where the body was! Great success!
-Kevin
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