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Creating a Menorah

Besides Christmas, December is also the Hanukkah holiday season for members of the Jewish faith. One of the symbols of Hanukkah is the Menorah, a candle holder with seven candles or lights. Drawing inspiration from an ancient stone carving of a Menorah, we'll recreate this symbol in this tutorial.

A Menorah Xara Xone Tutorial

Using the Ellipse Tool, and holding down the Ctrl key to constrain the ellipse to a circle, create 3 centered circles to the sizes shown. Change the line Widths to 16pt . Select all 3 circles and from the Arrange menu, select Join Shapes. Then from the Arrange menu, select Convert Line to Shape.

 

A Menorah Xara Xone Tutorial

Create a rectangle to the size shown and center it and position it as shown above in the blue dashed outline. Copy the rectangle to the clipboard (Ctrl c). Select the rectangle and the circles and Arrange > Combine Shapes... Subtract Shapes. From the Arrange menu, select Break Shapes. Delete the top portion of the circles.

 

A Menorah Xara Xone Tutorial

Paste the rectangle on top using Ctrl Shift v (hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys and press v on the keyboard).

Create a new vertical rectangle to the size shown and place it in the center as shown.

 

A Menorah Xara Xone Tutorial

Clone the smallest of the circle shapes shown above in red (Ctrl k), press the Flip Vertically icon on the Infobar, and position it at the bottom of the center rectangle. Select all the shapes and Arrange > Combine Shapes... Add Shapes.

 

A Menorah Xara Xone Tutorial

Using the Freehand and Brush Tool, draw an irregular shape around the Menorah. End the shape in the same place where you started drawing to create a closed shape. Open the Fill Gallery (Shift F11 ) and from the Stone Fills folder, apply a Granite 6 fill to the shape.

Click here for more information on using the Galleries.

Copy the stone filled shape to the clipboard (Ctrl c).

 

A Menorah Xara Xone Tutorial

Select the Menorah shape and Paste Attributes (Ctrl Shift a).

Select the Menorah shape with the Bevel Tool and apply a Flat, Outer Bevel. Change the Contrast setting to 80, the Size to 6pix, the Light Angle to 136 (this creates a recessed effect) and the Light Elevation setting to 25. These categories are all found in the drop down list on the Infobar.

 

A Menorah Xara Xone Tutorial

Clone the Menorah (Ctrl k). Set the Bevel Type to None. Apply a Flat, 60% Stained Glass transparency. This makes the Menorah symbol a little darker and enhances the appearance of depth. Apply an Outer, Rounded bevel to the irregular stone shape.

The paper fill is Cloth 1 from the Background Fills folder in the Fill Gallery.

 

 

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