Markus Springl from Bischofswiesen makes small-format buttnmandl and kramperl by hand. His hobby doesn't just keep him busy during the run-up to Christmas.
Bischofswiesen (dpa/lby) - Between straw and fur, everything that makes Markus Springl happy can be found in the small workshop: Kramperl, Buttnmandl and Santa Claus are in the form of dozens on a table. Bischofswieser is currently working on a Krampus miniature. Handicrafts are a passionate hobby that he pursues all year round. "Saint Nicholas Day is the best time of the year," he says.
Springl - a trained carpenter who works in mechanical engineering - spends a few hours in his workshop almost every day. The wooden extension to the house is something like his personal retreat. The 40-year-old was a Kramperl himself in his youth - a frightening figure who accompanies Saint Nicholas. And even as a little boy, he helped his father to make mini Kramperln, which you can put up around the time around St. Nicholas to decorate the apartment. "He showed me how to do it all." The connection to St. Nicholas time remained.
Springl's figures are 30 to 40 centimeters tall. Of course, Santa Claus carries a miter, staff and book. "Everything is self-made," says Springl. The family man buys a lot of material such as wooden boards for the base, hazelnut sticks and broomsticks for stabilization. He and his children looked for and found the small rods made of braided willow branches. He gets straw from a farmer, which he cuts himself - depending on the size of the figure. The matching bells are also included. Because every real Krampus can make itself felt - and that also applies to the hand-made figures from Springl.
His works of art have even made it as far as France: a bishop's meadow worker who emigrated had the figures made for her new home far away from home.
