Tand Muis (Tooth Mouse)

The Tand Muis (Tooth Mouse) is a South African folktale about a little mouse that collects children's baby teeth and exchanges them for money, much like the Tooth Fairy. He uses the children's teeth to build his little home in the forest

Looking back now, the idea of a mouse sneaking into your room to collect your teeth sounds a bit creepy. But as a kid, I thought it was a cutest thing, so I decided to make the Tand Muis the way I always imagined him.

Traditionally, children would place their baby tooth inside a slipper before going to bed, and by morning the Tand Muis would have replaced it with money.

I made this project with resin 3D printing in mind, so I wasn't too concerned about topology or UVs. Instead, I wanted to learn the resin-printing pipeline and just have fun creating the character. Not having to worry about game-ready topology gave me the freedom to explore different ideas and keep iterating until I was happy with the design.

I also sculpted a small base, imagining the Tand Muis walking through a magical mushroom garden on his way to collect a child's tooth. I gave him some climbing gear as well, since I imagined he'd need it to get over things like a child's bed to reach the slipper.

The rolled-up bundle under his backpack is meant to represent the money he carries. I had to make it a little thicker than I originally wanted so it would print properly in resin.

I learned a lot from this project, especially about the resin-printing workflow, and it gave me the chance to experiment freely while bringing one of my favourite childhood stories to life.