The Menurkey Backstory

The Menurkey was conceived, designed and named by 9-year-old Asher Weintraub, a fourth grader from New York City.  He thought of the idea and the name when he learned of this strange calendar anomaly. He says one of the reasons he thought people might like to have a turkey menorah was because the holidays were similar – because in some way both commemorate being ‘thankful.’ Asher used Tinkercad, a 3D modeling platform, to make the first sketches of the prototype:

That’s when we asked for some help from our friends at Makerbot Studios.  They printed out the prototype for us:

Next we found a great ceramic artist, Connie Smith of the Etsy shop doters(http://www.etsy.com/shop/doters).  Using Asher’s design, Connie adapted our first prototypes for the Menurkey in plasticene, showing two different exterior textures:

Note: the photos above represent full working prototypes, and represent both the ceramic (textured) and plaster (smooth) finishes. Our latest prototypes reflect concerns that our hanukiyot would not be kosher, due to the fact that the candles on our early prototypes weren’t level (traditional Hannukah law requires that the Menorah have all the wicks on the same level, none higher or lower than the others).  Of course, this being a menorah/turkey hybrid, the Menurkey fits squarely in the ‘modern’ menorot category, but we’ve tried hard to respect all Hanukkah traditions: