Throwback: First appearance of the mice
Idea
This is a throwback issue for a 2016 card. It’s not too fancy but I include it since it has the first appearance of the mice, who have been in 14 cards as of February 2022. Sometimes as main characters, and sometimes, just one hitching a ride on a bumper.
Sometimes I’ll hear or recall a phrase, and it just hits me in a funny way. In this case, it was “When the cat’s away, the mice will play.” I thought, what if the mice played, they played in a rock band. – And there is a bit of back story to the mice.
When I was a child, there was a cartoon Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks, where two mice plagued a cat (Mr. Jinks). I adopted the two mice, Pixie and Dixie, as my imaginary friends. I would play with them in my room, talk to them as I went to sleep, and even took them out of doors to play. One day while playing with them, some friends wanted to play some people games. I couldn’t just leave Pixie and Dixie, so I ran to the back door and yelled, “Mom, come take Pixie and Dixie! I’m gonna play with Mike and Mark!” I held up the invisible mice by their tales and Mom dutifully took them and went inside as I ran off with Mike and Mark. Mom walked into the house through to the kitchen, still holding Pixie and Dixie. Then she paused still holding her hand out, gently gripping the mice, and then she realized that they were imaginary. This proves the power of a child’s imagination is indeed a contagious thing indeed.
Design
This 180° card uses a floating plane (FS11) for the drummer’s stage and a strap (BT8) for the other two. The floating plane is simple enough. It forms a platform with another fold above the main one that lifts two right-angle V folds, one for the drums, and another for the drummer. The strap is an interesting mechanism in that it adds extra folds away from the main fold. In this case, it adds two 45° folds on either side to life the other two mice. As the card opens you can see the strap flatten out, and lift up the two other mice.
As with most bands, each member has to express himself in one way or another. The keyboard player wears a bowler and the guitarist has spiked hair (and tail). And the drummer is just happy to have a job. To make each mouse more interesting I used the “sticking pieces on” technique (BT2) to add their instruments and heads. By adding pieces on, I avoid a crease on the instruments and heads.
Cover
This is simply a pen-and-ink drawing of the cat going off to work. Mr. Jinks had a catchphrase “I hates those meeces to pieces”. On the back of the card, there is an epilogue.
Though occasionally invisible, Pixie and Dixie left Galesburg, Illinois in the mid-60s to form a successful rock band, “The Meeces”
Build
- 9” x 6”
- The mice were cut by hand using a screw punch for the small circles.
- The base is colored paper, with a layer on top for the cover.
- The mice, instruments, and stage are cardstock