Widespread in the past, the pyramid shaped frames, with three or more sides and decorated with woven twigs, colored paper, dyed nuts, apples and doughnuts, formed the forerunner of the Erzgebirge pyramid with its "propeller". It is thought that the use of heat rising from candles to turn a fan attached to the top of a frame is a later, thought traditional, addition. Further inspiration is thought to have come from the horse gin, one of the early machines to be used in mining. Attached to the central axle were one or more discs, on which the craftspeople placed figures they had carved or turned themselves. Later, nativity figures as found in Bohemia began to appear.