Sunday, March 14, 2021

Never Pee Against a Witch's Door

Today I have a naughty treat for you. Remember when I was complaining at the start of lockdown exactly a year ago that I didn't have the right bits and pieces to make a birdbath? Well, while I was confined to the house, I had lots of time to mutter to myself and scratch around until I was able to make something that fit my mood.

My personal version of Mannekin Pis. The original lives in Brussels and has been making a statement since the 15th century. Legend has it that a little boy had a pee against a witch's door and when she caught him in the act, the furious crone froze him in place forever. Totally sounds like something I would do...

My Mannekin had humble beginnings. A plastic charm, a metal bead cap, and a pie crust from Barbie play food, here already painted grey. Assembling the birdbath was a simple matter of glue and paint. The water however, made me scratch my head for quite a while.

After watching some Youtube videos, I decided that the best course of action would be to use nylon thread to guide the flow of resin 'water'. I drilled a small hole in the strategic spot and glued several strands of filament in place.

Initially, he overshot the mark by quite a bit but after adjusting for flow pressure and wind force, I managed to glue the strands down where I wanted them. I mixed up a batch of clear resin, let become sticky in the measuring cup, then sculpted it into place over the thread and into the basin. 

At the same time, I worked on a birdbath that my friend Cheryl printed for me using a 3D printer. This being in the middle of lockdown, friends were not allowed to visit one another at home and the police could stop you on the road and ask your business. We arranged a clandestine meeting at a petrol station, fully masked and gloved. I walked past her car and threw some homemade fudge through the window. She walked past mine and tossed my printed goodies in the back seat. We never made eye contact and drove off in different directions like spies, mission accomplished.

My Cheryl-printed birdbath, also mounted on a bead cap. And below are some more views. Resin printers allow for minute detail. How I wish I had one too.



We are in this for a year already and some days it's hard to find a ray of light. Wishing you a blessed week my friends. And whatever you do, remember the consequences when you pee against a door!


31 comments:

  1. Tu bebedero de pájaros Megan te ha quedado espectacular; me ha divertido mucho tu relato de la cita en la gasolinera con Cheryl,¡ lo que nos lleva hacer la pandemia!. Cuídate y feliz semana. Besos

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    1. Thank you, Rosa! Who would ever imagine that our ordinary lives could become a spy movie overnight, ha ha.

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    1. Thank you, Sheila! I have real trouble throwing junk and leftover bits from projects away. It gives me great satisfaction when I look at them and see a way to combine them into a new miniature.

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  3. Megan que bien han quedado las dos piezas! les has dado un aspecto de piedra exacto con su verdín en las zonas de humedad, me gustan mucho! Me he reído pensando en tu encuentro con tu encuentro con Cheryl, como verdaderas espías en la clandestinidad!
    Cuidaros y pensar que el sol siempre brilla después de una tormenta, saldremos de ésta.
    Besos.

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    1. Thank you, dear Pilar! I spent a long time trying to get the paint just right. I might write up the process as a tutorial some time for other miniaturists who want to make old concrete. Our lives has certainly changed due to the pandemic, I don't think I will ever take a visit from my friends for granted again.

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  4. I love both pieces, but my favourite is the one of the boy. The story made me laugh and the humble beginning makes it even more adorable. You did a terrific job putting all the pieces together and ageing them. Both pieces superb!

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  5. Both bird baths are fantastic, I love the "Manneke Pis"-version, he's well known here too! I love the touches of green deposits caused by moisture (or maybe all of the pee??) hehehe ;).
    But I had to laugh about your spy story of Cheryl and you, I am glad I wasn't there, because I think I would dive deeper back into my car seat and would have giggled ;). Being a year in self isolation (due to my auto-immune dissease) I know what it is to be every day at home, but every day in the morning I think: what will I do this day, making mini's, or what....? If I wasn't able to make mini's I think I already got crazy. Think positive, and think of what you still can do. For me it works so far, I hope for you too, dear Megan.
    Stay safe, take care. The pandemic has started self, so it also will stop and have an end.
    Big hug, Ilona

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    1. I fully agree, Ilona. This is a time when we need our hobbies and interests to keep our minds healthy. My husband and I both work at home, so we hardly ever see other people these days. In a way I enjoy the slower pace of life but I do miss my friends.

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  6. I love both bird baths, Megan. I also love the bead caps you use for the base. Sadly, where I live our craft supplies are severely limited - pandemic or no pandemic, doesn't matter. If only I was near a big city I am sure I could find some amazing things. There are a lot of online sources but it does seem that the cost of shipping is getting higher and higher as well. Oh well, I love the advantages of small town living so I guess I have to take the bad with the good! Keep safe and healthy! - Marilyn D., New Brunswick, Canada

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    1. Thank you, Marilyn D! It really does help that I can tell the Marilyns apart now ;-)
      If craft supplies are in short supply in Canada, you can imagine what it feels like to live in South Africa. Most brands that miniaturists use are not available here at all. We also don't have something like Amazon where we can shop and have it delivered. I often explore the hardware store and use mostly supplies that one can find there. And junk. Lots of junk. Every scrap gets turned over several times before I put it in the dustbin, just in case it can become something in miniature. Just imagine if we were living a few centuries ago. People were building dollhouses, but there were no dollhouse shops. Those of us who don't have a Dollar Tree and Michaels on our doorstep are blessed with much more imagination!

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  7. ROFL!!! I love him! So adorable! So creative! And if getting turned into stone for peeing on a witch's door isn't punishment enough, how about getting
    a hole drilled in a "strategic spot", lol!!! I think if you made a million of these you'd have orders for a million and a half! Just awesome!

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    1. Thank you Jodi! I have to admit that I giggled while I drilled. Infantile, but these days you need to take your entertainment where you can get it. I do have supplies to make a few more birdbaths. Each will look slightly different, but the theme will be the same.

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  8. Fantastic!!! 🔥 And your story about the birth of the birdbath is hilarious 😂

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    1. Thank you, Ersilia. If you care to read on the internet, history blesses us with many good stories. But you already know that ;-) I always enjoy reading your well-researched blog posts.

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  9. Oh Megan, this gave me a much needed giggle and certainly brightened my day. Thank you. I can't help wondering what would get you into more trouble; being out when not supposed to or; exchanging suspicious looking packages through car windows...
    Both birdbaths are fabulous. Hard to believe the Manniken started out as a not very appealing yellow plastic 'thingy'.
    Stay safe, stay well.
    Anna

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    1. I'm happy that I could make you smile, Anna! We certainly are living dangerously these days, ha ha.
      My mother found a jar full of those 'unappealing thingies' in a junk shop. They are plastic charms from the 60's and 70's and were often given out free with food products such as margarine and cereals. There are several animals and even some Disney characters. I see a bright future for all of them in my dollhouses.

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  10. Preciosos los dos bebederos, han quedado auténticos !!!
    Muy divertido el intercambio con Cheryl en la gasolinera.

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    1. Thank you, Eloisa! Ha ha, yes, these days even an ordinary encounter between friends is an adventure.

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  11. Hi Megan. Both your birdbaths look great and you did an excellent job with the resin! Love them. I hope the vaccinations get rolled out quickly to help alleviate the problem. Take care.

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    1. Thank you, Shannon! For the 'water', I used an industrial resin called Clearcast202. It starts curing after about 7 minutes, so it was ideal for sculpting the water streams. Unfortunately, if you don't have a pressure chamber to cure it, the resin develops lots of little gas bubbles as it hardens. In this case, I think it looks realistic but if I wanted flat water in a pond, I would rather use Epoxacast.
      Sadly, we are many months, if not longer than a year away from vaccination here. The government strictly regulates the vaccine and is bringing only 40k of doses into the country per week and then it is distributed only to the people they favor. At least some of our health workers have been vaccinated. I'm afraid we might have to take a trip overseas when other countries have enough vaccine for their people, and try to get vaccinated there.

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  12. Thank you so much for giving me a real good laugh - although it also gives me some kind of a luxury dilemma now. The thing is I can't decide which nominee for "movie-in-the-brain" should get the well deserved award. Candidate A aka imagining you working on that strategic spot? Or candidate B aka the clandestine meeting throwing each other a package into the open door window? Oh my, the pictures before my inner eye are making me giggle again... *grin*

    Manneken Pis is well known in Germany and I really loved to see your version, it turned out awesome and nobody not knowing would ever get its humble beginnings. And the second birdbath being the result of a conspiracy and dangerous meeting is also beautiful; I really admire how the water turned out.

    Keep on having fun with miniatures whenever you can! ;O)

    Hugs
    Birgit

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    1. Ha Birgit, thanks for writing and I'm sorry that you now have several personal Netflix channels running in you head. That is the problem with us miniaturists, we have lots of imagination.
      I explained the use of resin in my reply to Shannon60 above, if you want to know how I did it. I know that the products I used are available in Germany.

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  13. I love both your versions of the Manneken Pis and its story. A "forever peeing" punishment is only slightly better than a hole in the strategic point. Bravo for the brilliant results.
    Hugs, Drora

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  14. You had me chuckling with your story and my goodness you are so creative!
    I love both of your fountains!

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    1. Thank you, Kathleen. Glad I could make you smile. I hope that all is going well with your family.

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  15. Wow. My mom would have loved this so much. Like you, she was a Master of making Something Out Of Nothing. (Hint--use cut up pcs of green balloons to make leaves for tiny house plants.) When she passed 30 yrs ago, her attic was FULL of all those tiny useless bits of trash in shoe boxes and trunks. Useless to normal people. I love the little peeing fellow. I have a cheeky little Pewter peeing fellow who sits above the toilet in our bathroom. He must have met that same witch. :~)

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