XLV. Stolen

The Stolen trio.

As I sad before, they are children that were stolen from their homes and are kept under the Piper's influence. Such kids are normally taken to a Fae market and sold as slaves, pets or snacks.

I wanted the Stolen to be visually linked to the Master of the crew, not too different from each other, and well-sculpted. I took a look at miniature children from a number of different companies, including Wyrd, GW, Reaper and Hasslefree, before I concluded these would be the best choice (although OOP). 

The uniformed look is plausible storywise, since the Piper might want to give his wares a standardised and recognisable wrapping. See, they are even decorated with a pretty yellow bow. 

The colour scheme of their clothing matches that of the Piper. The fairy enchantment they are under causes their skin to become eerily pale and their eyes give away a faint blue glow.

They all started as one and the same sculpt: Sidiamie from the old Rackham range. And since I wanted them to be quite similar but not identical, I had to make some minor conversion work. The one in the middle is unchanged- painted as it was. The one in the right just lost his horsey, and the rest of the distinguishing elements are in the paintjob. The one in the left went through the biggest transformation: his toy horse was likewise removed, but also the hat he used to hold behind his back. I sculpted a new hat on his head.

The boy with the hat; before painting.

My favourite detail about these is the little horse on wheels pulled by one of the boys. The paintjob on it is based on a traditional wooden children's toy from Hrvatsko Zagorje region in northern Croatia. I love those toys. The horsey on the miniature is really tiny, and I was afraid I would not be able to pull it off, but I managed quite well. :)

"Villagers along the pilgrimage route to the Marian shrine of Our Lady of the Snow in Marija Bistrica in Hrvatsko Zagorje in northern Croatia developed a technique for traditional manufacturing of children’s wooden toys that has now been handed down for generations.

The men in a family take soft willow, lime, beech and maple wood from the region and dry, hew, cut and carve it using traditional tools; the women then apply ecologically-friendly paint in improvisational floral or geometric patterns, painting ‘from imagination’. The whistles, horses, cars, tiny furniture, spinning dancers, jumping horses and flapping birds produced today are almost identical to those made more than a century ago – though no two toys are precisely the same, thanks to the handcrafted production process.

Popular among both locals and tourists, these toys are sold in parish fairs, markets and specialty shops around the world. They have also evolved with the times and, in addition to the traditional shapes such as horses and carts, new ones representing cars, trucks, airplanes and trains have appeared, reflecting the world surrounding modern-day children. Tiny toy instruments, carefully tuned as they are created, still serve as important components in the musical education of rural children."

- from the UNESCO website

 

Wooden horse, made in Laz Stubički, 1989. Photo by Ethnographic Museum/Zagreb.

And in the end, a group shot of the Fairy faction:

The Piper, Bratcatchers and the Stolen.