In close up. John's cork carved Hobbit looks a little rough.To much of Barliman's Best perhaps or perhaps beetroot wine?
However, there is an advantage in being made of cork if you are a Hobbit.
Frodo would never have lost his parents in that boating accident if they'd have floated.
Here's a close up of the pipe, tankard and cork barrel.
Perhaps John himself can detail the technicalities behind the tankard and contents by adding a comment.
1 comment:
Carved from several Prosecco'champagne corks - the body from a whole one , head and various extremities from crudely cut pieces, which once glued in place, were more finely shaped and finished with craft knives and ladies emery boards. His hair, head, chest and feet, is fine wool yarn and his clothes craft felt. A friend of the female persuasion once informed me that the best place to get felt was Catford Market on a busy Tuesday. I can't vouch for this, so got mine from Amazon - turn right at The Matto Grosso - which was very cheap and did the job.
The tankard is made from the piece which holds the entirely useless white eraser at the end of a lead pencil. Cut it off with at both pencil and eraser ends, leaving about half a mm of white rubber inside to form a base, Devise the handle from a soupcon of wire from a fizz bottle cork closure and glue in place with industrial superglue. Use the same glue to fill your tankard and immediately drip a tiny amount of water on the wet adhesive, it will immediately set, forming a passable white head on your pint of Barliman's Best. The portly barrel is made from a cork and has cardboard hoops glued in place. painted an old metal brown and then given a gentle buff with brown boot polish.
Bilbo's pipe bowl is the end of a machine sharpened pencil, cut off with a sharp Stanley knife, then you must gently push the smidgin of lead remaining through and out with a cocktail stick. The rest of the pipe is concocted of the classic mixture of wire and wound string smeared with glue. Bilbo grew his own pipeweed. His walking staff is a kebab stick smuggled out of Turkey, where it once secured a Parson's nose, which gives it great power. It's cunningly and finely carved with a motif of winding pipeweed vines.
I am ashamed to admit that, after all that work, Bilbo has put on so much weight sittng around on his garden bench, boozing and smoking in between 1st, second and third breakfasts, that he won't fit through the door of Bag End any more and must now spend a further eleventyone years idling around in his front garden. Curses!!!! John
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