One clean path
The outline is a single closed curve with no interior detail and no narrow notches. The gap between the legs is the tightest point and is kept at 10mm or wider at every size, which is the clearance a pair of kitchen scissors or a paring knife needs.
That makes it usable for dough, card, felt, craft foam and salt dough. A template with a printed face is useless for all of those, because you end up cutting round detail you cannot cut.
Three sizes and why they are those sizes
Eighty millimetres fits twelve to a standard baking tray and is the size a shop biscuit comes in. One hundred and twenty is the size most people picture, six to a tray. One hundred and eighty is a single large biscuit for a gift, or the right size for a felt decoration.
Any height between 50mm and 250mm can be typed in. Below 50mm the legs get too close to cut cleanly in dough.
The chain option
Switching on chain mode draws figures joined at the hands with a fold line between each pair. Fold a strip of paper concertina, cut round one figure through the folds without cutting the hands, and open it into a row. It is a reliable twenty minute activity and the result goes along a shelf.
For dough, chain mode is a mistake. The joins break the moment you lift the tray.
Questions
- Is there a face or buttons on the template?
- No. It is a plain single outline with nothing inside it, which is what you need for cutting dough, card, felt or foam. The colouring pages have the decorated versions.
- What sizes can I print?
- Three presets at 80mm, 120mm and 180mm, or any height between 50mm and 250mm typed in. Below 50mm the gap between the legs gets too tight to cut cleanly in dough.
- How many fit on a baking tray?
- Twelve at 80mm, six at 120mm, and one or two at 180mm on a standard tray, allowing for spread during baking.
- What is the chain option for?
- Paper chains. It joins the figures at the hands with fold lines between them, so a concertina-folded strip cuts into a row of linked gingerbread men. Do not use it for dough, as the joins break.