Christmas Cocktail Picks

Tired of the same old straight cocktail picks?

Make a beautifaul christmas scene from your cocktail snacks.

Make your own proffesional looking cocktail picks specialy for christmas.

Search for pictures in the theme.

If you want to find inspirational pictures fast on the nternet try pinterest.

Start drawing on paper and move on to computer.

There are some nice open source drawing programs:

librecad     http://librecad.org/
inkscape   http://inkscape.org/

The program I used to draw is not open source but it's free : 

draftsight:
http://www.3ds.com/products/draftsight/download-draftsight/

Once you've drawn your picks on computer you need to get them cutted.
I took 3mm birch triplex as material, but other thin sheet materials should also work.

For cutting there are some options:

1st: Cut them out manualy. This is the cheapest way to cut the pick out is with a figure saw, but the quality of the cut is limited by the qualities of the cutter (in my case quite a poor quality)

2nd: Let the picks be lasercutted by a service or in a fablab.

https://www.ponoko.com/
https://www.snijlab.nl/

This is a little bit more expensive, but it is worth it.

3th: Cut them on your own lassercutter or cnc router (there are some nice instructables on how to built a cnc router, check them out)

If you give this as a gift, it's always nice to give it in a packaging.

With the open source software inkscape you can easily draw and print your own packaging;

If you want it you can put on a qr code (with a measage like: "merry christmas"
A QR-code can be made online, for example here: http://qrcode.kaywa.com/ and gives a kind of professional look.

Give the picks as a gift or open them up yourselve and use them (on scampi's for example) and enjoy.