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This entry is from Arthur, who kicked serious ass in the Warding Contest, and who I had the pleasure of meeting (along with his lovely girlfriend Lauren) when I was in LA last summer. Once again, he has created a thing of brilliance.

I kind of want this for Cassie. Imagine if One Arm became her favorite crib toy? Oh, the joy that would bring me…

Hey Peat,

When you announced the idea of the contest way back when, I was hoping you’d open it to plushes because that’s the first thing that came to mind. Having never done one, little did I know what I was getting into!

Originally I planned to do One Arm, a fire demon, and Arlen. Not so much, but here’s what I did get done after about 40-50 hours of fumbling around without a pattern. This version of One Arm is probably more appropriate for your daughter’s desk than yours, but I hope you enjoy it.

-Arthur

Posted on November 27, 2010 at 10:23 am by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Craft, Fan Art, Fans, Homemade Heroes, Warded Art, Warded Man
2 Comments »

So I checked my e-mail around 2am last night just to make sure there were no final entries before the 12:01 deadline. Nothing. So I went to bed thinking the contest was over and I knew who the winners were.

But then this morning, I sleepily checked the e-mail on my phone as part of my “I’m still too sleepy to get out of bed but my brain is awake” morning ritual. There were not one, not two, but THREE fantastic new entries, all of which came around 2:30am, and all of which came with technicalities. You see, I never specified EST in my deadline…

But really, it’s not like I was going to disqualify someone for being a few hours late anyway, especially after they put in a ton of work. I think rules help keep us from chaos, but that doesn’t mean I’m a dick about it.

So without further ado, I will post the last three entries, and then take a few days to debate the winners with my braintrust. I have secured some GREAT runner up prizes!

The first comes from Liz in the UK (click pix to enlarge):

Dear Peat,

I know this is last minute. I took you very seriously when you said until 12:01. It is now 2:55 am here in Hull (UK), and I am embracing the fact that that makes me a geek. I have also just realised I have got black acrylic paint on my favourite jumper. All in the name of art… 😛

I decided to make Leesha, the herb gatherer, because I think she is ace. I had wanted to make Twilight Dancer as well, but I’m afraid I didn’t have time. Well, here’s my entry anyway (sorry for the poor picture quality):

She’s made from air-drying clay….

…painted with acrylic paint. The outfit is made from white muslin (skirt includes herb pouch, though it’s not very clear here.) and an old Etam t-shirt.

The cloak is made from white muslin, blanket stitched (by hand) all round the outside, painted black and then warded.

Oh, and I mugged a pound shop Barbie for the boots, repainted them and laced them up where the cheap, nasty plastic split. I also stole the barbie’s hair, though it was blonde so I had to paint it black. Apparently cheap barbies only come in blonde.

This project took longer than I anticipated, and didn’t come out as well as I’d have liked. The hair has gone a bit wiry and painting her face was very difficult.

But anyway, I hope you like what I came up with. It was tremendous fun to do, so thank you for giving me something to be creative with.

And finally, what became of ‘Joanna’……

A Coreling victim perhaps??

My housemate came in to offer me a cup of tea and saw this decapitated Barbie… there were raised eyebrows.

Anyway, happy Thanksgiving for yesterday, still technically today for you. Thank you for wonderful books and a wonderful contest.

Liz x

(nari-journal.blogspot.com)

Posted on November 26, 2010 at 4:34 pm by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Craft, Fan Art, Fans, Homemade Heroes, Warded Art, Warded Man
1 Comment »

It is almost Thanksgiving, which means there is just over 24 hours left to submit your entries to the Homemade Heroes Contest. Just when I was starting to worry that there weren’t many entries, the floodgates opened, and now every day there is more awesomeness. I have much to be thankful for this year, but at the top of the list is having such amazing readers. Every time I have one of these contests, I am stunned at the results.

It seems Yelie, who entered with her husband earlier this week, making homemade heroes out of Legos and Barbies, is looking to stack the deck further in her family’s favor, especially after the great entries of the last few days. Check out this SWEEEEET new entry. Twilight Dancer!

Peat,

I think that it may be a good thing that this contest is ending soon because I am dreaming in wards!  Me and my husband had so much fun doing the other entry, when we saw this horse in the store we knew we had to turn him into Twilight Dancer!!  He just screamed “will kick demon ass!”.  So we barded him and warded the crap out of him and let him go to town on our rock demon 🙂

Arlen must have been away on a potty break or something but when that rock demon came up to his nice warded circle he couldn’t help but hop out and kick his head clean off.

Anyways thanks so much for this contest!  I really loved seeing everyone’s entries and it was awesome working with my hubby on something creative from a book we both love!

Yelie

In addition to the sheer demon ass-kickingness of TD, I also really love the portable warding circle in the camp diorama, which I assume was made in the same sandbox as the Lego Jardir and Arlen scene. Ah, sandboxes! They are like a magic carpet that can take you anywhere.

Interesting aside, Twilight Dancer was also the name of the protagonist’s horse from the unpublished fantasy series I wrote before working on The Warded Man. I loved the name and cannibalized it for Arlen’s horse. If I ever publish that old series, I will probably need to rename the horse…

Posted on November 24, 2010 at 8:53 pm by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Craft, Fan Art, Fans, Homemade Heroes, Warded Art
5 Comments »

OMFG.

New Homemade Heroes entry, and it is so fucking awesome words fail me. This one from Mia, who is apparently from here in NYC. Check this shit out. You can click on the pictures to enlarge them:

Hi. Attached are photos of my entries — the Sharik Hora, a sand demon and One-Arm.

I never intended to enter for lack of skill and experience. But I found myself thinking of the project. Around Halloween, I hung a 5 skeleton garland outside my apartment door and it struck me I could cannibalize it and make it part of the Sharik Hora.

Re the Sharik Hora: a task that got away from me and grew beyond what I intended. The dome-like top was part of a puzzle I embellished with tiny skulls. The dome sits on remnants of a cut-out puzzle that looks like the outline of bones so I thought it’d create the effect of letting in natural sunlight. There are 6 pillars — 2 fully warded pillars and 4 skull-adorned pillars made out of molding trim.  The pews were made from pegs, wood pieces, and my cannibalized skeleton garland. The altar has a replica of the chalice with a skull sitting on a forearm, standing on a foot.  The ceiling view from the inside consists of larger skulls and hand bones with my little skull chandelier hanging in the middle.  The outer ring of the floor is warded, of course, and is intended to have a glowing effect.  I randomly sponged white paint on it for a weather-beaten, desert look.

Re the sand demon:  Was a pteranodon — removed wings, remolded and reattached arms, made ragged teeth from toothpick ends, painted, glued all over then rolled in sand.  I wanted it to be able to stand on its hind legs as well as move on all fours for speed.

Re One-Arm: More comical than I intended. I planned to make it purely out of rocks like cairns, but it was extremely heavy and unbalanced. So I molded the parts from air-dry clay and stuck a few actual rock pieces. The feet/talons are formed over chopped up Mr. Potato Head feet and the one arm is also from Mr. Potato Head because I wanted to be able to move the arm.  I sponged black nail polish all over for a granite rock effect. Supposed to look imposing and strong but not graceful.  Well, it’s certainly not graceful.

Thanks to this project, I now own a soldering iron, miter saw, several types of glue, air dry clay, knives of various sizes, skeleton parts, puzzle remnants, among other things. I’ve also glued together my fingers several times. Tried gloves but couldn’t work with them. I also still have a Prince of Persia figure that I wanted to make into an Arlen but everything became a bigger project than I intended. Thank goodness for insomnia.

You’re very welcome to these creations, if they’re to your liking. I live in NYC too and would be more than willing to bring them to you as I don’t think they’d survive shipping. Honestly, I only entered for a shot at the Great Bazaar which I couldn’t find despite all efforts (including emailing international bookstores). I know there are copies on ebay, etc. but I oppose the idea of overcharging for books unless it’s for a cause.  But, win or lose, I surprisingly had a lot of fun doing it.

Mia

Unbelievable. My jaw literally hit the floor. My first guess was that  One Arm’s… er, one arm, was made from a Mickey Mouse arm. Awesome.

Still more than two full days to submit an entry! I will accept them up until 12:01 am this Friday. I will be adding some awesome runner up prizes (Including at least one Great Bazaar) to the list soon. They are well-earned, with all the amazing things people have put together.

Posted on November 23, 2010 at 6:25 pm by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Craft, Desert Spear, Fan Art, Fans, Homemade Heroes, Warded Art
13 Comments »

With only four days left until the deadline, we have another fantastic Homemade Heroes Contest entry today! It is getting increasingly difficult to pick a winner, but I hopefully have a lead on a couple of killer runner-up prizes. More on that when/if it is confirmed. In the meantime, check out this amazing entry from Carol in the UK, who you may remember from her awesome prize-winning tattoos in the Warding Contest:

Hi Pete,

Just managed to get an entry in for your latest competition. After looking through all my son’s toys I found a dragon that looked a little like how I imagine one-arm to be.

I took off his wings and half an arm and changed his tail for a spikey one. He’s also had a coat of paint and I set up the scene where he loses his arm. Hope you like it.

I am trying to make arlen from a doctor X figure but after a torture session with a scalpel and sanding tool he isn’t looking too good !!! I’m still working on him but I don’t think he’ll make it on time.

Bye

Carol

Posted on November 22, 2010 at 4:07 pm by PeatB
Filed under Contests, Craft, Fan Art, Fans, Homemade Heroes, Warded Art, Warded Man
2 Comments »