Great Unique Water Feature - Terry Pratchett fans will LOVE
Written April 2023 Kim Beaton & Yvonne Anderson
On December 8, 2022, Chris Menges, Cassie Lopez and Pal Tiya Int Co-Founder,Kim Beaton decided to make the Great Atuin as a giant water feature for the garden.
They are all fans of Terry Pratchett, and wanted to do his work justice.
GNU Terry Pratchett <3
Watch the video for an in depth look at how this giant water feature was made. We have literally hundreds of photos and have included a few below. There will be many parts to these videos and this is part 1. Enjoy.
They are all fans of Terry Pratchett, and wanted to do his work justice.
GNU Terry Pratchett <3
Watch the video for an in depth look at how this giant water feature was made. We have literally hundreds of photos and have included a few below. There will be many parts to these videos and this is part 1. Enjoy.
They made a small maquette in foil, to see what the Great Sky Turtle A'tuin water feature looked like in 3D space.
This amazing project eventually encompassed the effort of 20 volunteers over 3 months and innumerable puns. It was an amazing journey. The combined love and admiration for the work of Terry Pratchett kept everyone inspired throughout.
This amazing project eventually encompassed the effort of 20 volunteers over 3 months and innumerable puns. It was an amazing journey. The combined love and admiration for the work of Terry Pratchett kept everyone inspired throughout.
To begin they had to determine its ultimate size. They simply sketched it with chalk on cardboard till it felt right. They then made cardboard cutout silhouettes to get a real sense of the volume and shapes quickly.
The Disc ended up being 2.5 feet across. A Map of the Discworld printed in color actual size helped enormously.
Every component on this journey was strengthened and cured properly. Each piece was wrapped in plastic the first night, then unwrapped, draped in wet towels and covered in plastic again. All the pieces were ultimately wet cured for the full 28 days. This piece was worth the extra attention.
The Disc ended up being 2.5 feet across. A Map of the Discworld printed in color actual size helped enormously.
Every component on this journey was strengthened and cured properly. Each piece was wrapped in plastic the first night, then unwrapped, draped in wet towels and covered in plastic again. All the pieces were ultimately wet cured for the full 28 days. This piece was worth the extra attention.
The small team began humbly, we gathered together every Monday and Thursday evening after work, from 6:30 to 9:30 pm. Each session saw new and familiar faces come together as folks heard about the project and asked to come along. Everyone was welcome. It was a gentle, kind and collaborative endeavor.
Magic happened, we made a magical turtle and loved the whole world.
The first task was to make the bottom of the disk. This had to be extremely level so we used a big board covered in plastic. The plastic allowed us to remove it later and keep the edge sharp. The rocky forms were built up with foil and scratch coated in Pal Tiya Premium (PTP). Here the PTP is white because there was some pre-mixed oxide batch, which was left over from a prior commission. The disc bottom was cured for several days.
We then lifted it off the board.
To create the colored water edge, blue oxide was added to the Pal Tiya Premium. Then mixed and applied to the board within the circle radius and the scratch coat bottom was bedded into it. This made a wide, deep, blue, perfectly flat edge for the birdbath.
Magic happened, we made a magical turtle and loved the whole world.
The first task was to make the bottom of the disk. This had to be extremely level so we used a big board covered in plastic. The plastic allowed us to remove it later and keep the edge sharp. The rocky forms were built up with foil and scratch coated in Pal Tiya Premium (PTP). Here the PTP is white because there was some pre-mixed oxide batch, which was left over from a prior commission. The disc bottom was cured for several days.
We then lifted it off the board.
To create the colored water edge, blue oxide was added to the Pal Tiya Premium. Then mixed and applied to the board within the circle radius and the scratch coat bottom was bedded into it. This made a wide, deep, blue, perfectly flat edge for the birdbath.
The back of A’tuin's shell, head and fins were filled out with foil. This gave us a sense of the total mass of the figure.
Hmmmm, the water feature armature seemed to be getting bigger, which we all liked.
We created the 4 elephants; Tubul, Jerakeen, Berilia, and the Great T’hon in cardboard silhouettes, then bulked them out with foil. Posing them mangled the foil and cardboard a bit, but that's ok. That’s the point. Foil and cardboard are modifiable cores perfect for establishing dynamic motion, then holding the pose.
We decided that the whole idea behind the elephants is that they act as shock absorbers while A'tuin banks through space. We caught them in a moment where they are scrambling to keep that disk level during a very dicey curve!! This of course makes sense in a very Pratchett way.
Each elephant was responding to the banking in a different way, either crouching down or rearing or just holding on.
Hmmmm, the water feature armature seemed to be getting bigger, which we all liked.
We created the 4 elephants; Tubul, Jerakeen, Berilia, and the Great T’hon in cardboard silhouettes, then bulked them out with foil. Posing them mangled the foil and cardboard a bit, but that's ok. That’s the point. Foil and cardboard are modifiable cores perfect for establishing dynamic motion, then holding the pose.
We decided that the whole idea behind the elephants is that they act as shock absorbers while A'tuin banks through space. We caught them in a moment where they are scrambling to keep that disk level during a very dicey curve!! This of course makes sense in a very Pratchett way.
Each elephant was responding to the banking in a different way, either crouching down or rearing or just holding on.
Building out the base with foil. This represents the intergalactic space A'tuin swims through. Lovely nouveau sweeping lines. Annnnd turned out to be way too short, so we built the base higher :)
The base scratch coat is also in white Pal Tiya Premium, the same leftover color from a prior commission
Checking the fit. Oh my, it is soooo much taller!!
The base scratch coat is also in white Pal Tiya Premium, the same leftover color from a prior commission
Checking the fit. Oh my, it is soooo much taller!!
Part 2 - All About That Base
Building out the base with foil. This represents the intergalactic space A'tuin swims through. Lovely nouveau sweeping lines. Annnnd turned out to be way too short, so we built the base higher. The base scratch coat is also in white PTP, the same leftover color from a prior commission.
Every component on this journey was strengthened and cured properly. Each piece was wrapped in plastic the first night, then unwrapped, draped in wet towels and covered in plastic again. All the pieces were ultimately wet cured for the full 28 days, we knew that kids might hang on the head or fins.
This piece was worth the extra attention.
We've also included a little bonus behind the scenes on machine mixing and scratch coat technique explained. This batch is mixed with white oxide, the normal color is dark grey.
Every component on this journey was strengthened and cured properly. Each piece was wrapped in plastic the first night, then unwrapped, draped in wet towels and covered in plastic again. All the pieces were ultimately wet cured for the full 28 days, we knew that kids might hang on the head or fins.
This piece was worth the extra attention.
We've also included a little bonus behind the scenes on machine mixing and scratch coat technique explained. This batch is mixed with white oxide, the normal color is dark grey.
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Part 3 -Start of The Star Turtle Shell
The shell was also scratch coated in white (pre-mixed oxide powder batch from previous commission). Just the top part. It was important to have this in two pieces to open it up and clean the insides.
Just to be clear, we didn’t have a set plan, we just knew the direction. Each session was to look at what was in front of us and decide what we did that day. Whoever showed up made the decisions. It was all very democratic and collaborative. Sometimes we had to back out of a decision and redo. So? The idea was to have fun and make cool things. We had no idea so many volunteers would come to help. Just goes to show how many people love the work of Terry Pratchett.
Just to be clear, we didn’t have a set plan, we just knew the direction. Each session was to look at what was in front of us and decide what we did that day. Whoever showed up made the decisions. It was all very democratic and collaborative. Sometimes we had to back out of a decision and redo. So? The idea was to have fun and make cool things. We had no idea so many volunteers would come to help. Just goes to show how many people love the work of Terry Pratchett.
Part 4 - Constellations on Base
The base was texture coated in black and blue tinted Pal Tiya Premium swirled together. One of our group discovered the actual constellations from the books. These heavenly animals were embellished with glass beads and stones as stars. We made up some for laughs :)
Time to cure & strengthen once again...
Time to cure & strengthen once again...
Arts & Crafts Time
Time to make a pattern directly from the map so the continents can be accurate. We had planned on spray mounting the map onto cardboard to make the pattern and cut out the landmasses. We were saved from this hand done method by Steven Saunders from Scale Studios.
Steven provided us with a laser cut outline of the continents in MDF so these could be as accurate as possible. Thank you Steven!! We cast a scratch coat with yellow Pal Tiya Premium on a plastic covered board so it was truly level.
A'tuin is ancient and we felt that the shell should show the same lineage of impacts as the moon’s surface. Very craggy, pock-marked and textural.
Time for the disc top! The foil has been shaped to make room for the seas and oceans. We begin with a white scratch coat covering the entire inner surface. (Yes, still using up the extra pre-oxide mixed powder from the prior commission). By doing a single layer it makes the disc waterproof by being a monolithic coat. The yellow continents are embedded into this layer and brought up exactly to surface level. Cori Celesi, the great ice mountain in the center, is reinforced with a stainless spring steel.
The bottoms of the ocean were sculpted in dark blue Pal Tiya Premium with careful submarine landscaping. We kept thinking how much the birds would like some deeper areas for a proper bath.
Steven provided us with a laser cut outline of the continents in MDF so these could be as accurate as possible. Thank you Steven!! We cast a scratch coat with yellow Pal Tiya Premium on a plastic covered board so it was truly level.
A'tuin is ancient and we felt that the shell should show the same lineage of impacts as the moon’s surface. Very craggy, pock-marked and textural.
Time for the disc top! The foil has been shaped to make room for the seas and oceans. We begin with a white scratch coat covering the entire inner surface. (Yes, still using up the extra pre-oxide mixed powder from the prior commission). By doing a single layer it makes the disc waterproof by being a monolithic coat. The yellow continents are embedded into this layer and brought up exactly to surface level. Cori Celesi, the great ice mountain in the center, is reinforced with a stainless spring steel.
The bottoms of the ocean were sculpted in dark blue Pal Tiya Premium with careful submarine landscaping. We kept thinking how much the birds would like some deeper areas for a proper bath.