Whether Vain or Not

I always wondered what the weather vane atop Rana's cottage would be. A rooster, a sun, a spider I thought. But when it came time to finish off the cottage roof and to really imagine what would be there, it had to be the Writing Mouse. He is a very important Halfland character and very close to Rana. He lives underneath the cottage in his own house and writes everything that happens down. The Answer Tree above them produces its wisdom on its very leaves and he is a crucial part of all of that.


I've tooled his image as a double-sided copper figure, gazing upward to the skies, pen and journal in hand, with white and spring green patina to reveal the detail.

Having to make this line art to use as a guide for the embossing, prompted making a color sketch of the Mouse. I used two squares of thin copper and various stylus tools to essentially draw the image twice, once flipped the other way, so they could be placed back to back to get a nice dimension.

Once these halves were matched up, seamed together as one, I set about creating the directional of leaves (actual directions don't matter at all in Halfland) finishing them of with thick medium and copper paint (so it would appear to be part organic blending from the metal hardware.

I used KS metal tubing to closely fit the figure into the base stem. It can swing freely with precise control, no wobble whatsoever. I used a wood doll chair leg as the wooden base on top of the cottage cupola. I liked how it looked like a bee skep.

Ah, I see we are expecting a lovely day.