Lay your newsprint down onto the table and then place your large sheet of acetate over the top.
Arrange all your templates on top of the acetate to make sure you have enough space for all the pieces.
Make a border with your ¼" plexiglass spacers around the templates. Remove the templates and set them aside for now.
Fill your pastry bag with the tempered chocolate and glue the spacers down.
Fill the center of the square with tempered chocolate.
Use a ruler or straight edge to make the chocolate flat and even.
Once the chocolate starts to look slightly matte (after about 5 minutes) and is slightly tacky but not fully set. You may need to start tracing in areas where it is set. The chocolate doesn't always set at the same time.
Trace between the chocolate and the plexiglass border and remove the border.
Place the template on top of the chocolate and trace around it with your skewer to cut out the shapes. Work quickly before the chocolate fully sets.
You can make extra pieces just in case of breakage.
Remove the templates and discard them.
Place the chocolate pieces on top of a large sheet pan or plexiglass with parchment paper underneath. Put some parchment on top of the chocolate. Place a large piece of plexiglass or heavy sheet pan on top so as the chocolate sets in the cooler, it does not curl.
After 10 minutes you can take the chocolate out of the cooler.
Remove the chocolate pieces from the surrounding chocolate. If you have any cracked pieces watch the video to watch how Christophe fixes broken pieces.
Brush the chocolate pieces with a wire brush to create a wooden texture. Brush off the excess chocolate dust with a pastry brush.