how do they do it...

[wilfy]

hope this is the right section guys.

basicly i'm in the process of making something very similar to the picture i'm attaching..

i understand that it is 2 pieces of whatever material laminated together and that the top piece is cut first.

what i dont understand is how the top piece is cut. i know it isnt done by a cnc router but i'm curious to think how you guys say it's cut.

now on to the more important part.. if this was to be cut by a cnc i understand due to bit sizes it's highly unlikely one can do this in one piece...
as i have no experience of cnc software yet could someone tell me, can you draw say the cut out of the lion and then tell the cnc to cut the frame then from the same drawing swap it round and tell it to cut the lion and miss out the frame? if that makes sense.

any help would be appreciated