#UniqueGnome

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Check out this cool solar light gnome! He has a flower hat!! I want him!

My grandgnomes gnome! ❤️😍 I want his twin! I just love the unique hat!

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Check these different gnomes!

Pineapple gnome!

Strawberry gnome!

Tomato gnome!

I need all of these! They are so unique!

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Look at this awesome gnome from pet smart! Lupin just LOVES it!

He can even hold a treat under his mustache!!

Isn't it cute!

You can put peanut butter on his belly too!!! Thank you Pet Smart! (I should have bought 100! All the doggo gifts!

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3 words... PAPA GNOME POPPER!

Oh I need this gnome toy! Absolutely need it! But I didn't want to carry it all through Baltimore 😭 Oddly enough he was my only gnome find for the day... Baltimore is low on gnome activity I guess...

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Look! It's Elvis! The gnome!!!

I used him in my Gnome Periodic Table and found him in person at Hobby Lobby on my gnome hunt... I mean shopping trip...

I feel like I need him in my life 🥰

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These are all the unique gnomes used in the Gnome Periodic table! All of these gnomes minus the Elvis gnome who is just one of a kind! Are all gnomes painted by me! Mr.Leafton! Mr.Tirebum! Mr.Shroom! Mr.MoonerPin! Mr.NuttyBottom! Mr.Diggs! My beloved hanging gnomes!!!

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I think these plush gnomes are unique and adorable!

Don't they have cool hats! I love the mauve one!

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It comes in a few colors!

I need them all!

http://trampt.com/1101/g-n-o-m-gnome-doktor-a-raje-toys

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These gnomes are so cool and robotic!

I want him!

http://trampt.com/1101/g-n-o-m-gnome-doktor-a-raje-toys

Thank you to the Artist!

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Tom Clark

So personally I find these gnomes creepy looking but exceptionally cool in concept and being! Below is an article from Davidsonian about him and his creations!

The More You Gnome: Tom Clark’s Woodspirits of Davidson

Long before Davidson’s downtown was graced with the top-10 nationwide restaurant, Kindred, 131 North Main Street was home to a collection of gnomes known all over the world. These creatures, called Woodspirits, are charming, personal little beings, many modeled after people once known around campus. Many of us unlucky enough to have come to Davidson after the museum closed in 2012 will never have seen one of Dr. Tom Clark’s world-renowned creations.  

My family has always had Tom Clark gnomes around our house. He was a close friend of my grandparents, who lived with him as he and my grandfather both studied theology in Scotland. His religious background may surprise people, as he is most famous for his art. However, he first studied at Davidson as an English major, graduating in the class of 1949, before continuing his post-secondary education in theology at Union Theological Seminary and the University of Aberdeen in Scotland.

After getting his Ph.D., Clark became a religion professor at Davidson. Still, art remained a favorite hobby that he always engaged in. With the resources of the college, he was able to explore it further. He began creating busts of individuals he knew, though sadly only a few can still be found. One, a statue of one of his Ph.D. professors, is still on display at the University of Aberdeen.  

With his interest in art blossoming, Clark began to teach classes on Christian art for the Art Department. My aunt, Katherine Jennings, took this class during her time at Davidson. She said that students found him so funny, “like attending the Tonight Show,” that the course was always quickly filled.

But it was 1978 before Clark began to create the gnomes for which he is most known. Two years before, Wil Huygen and Rien Poortvliet published a book of gnome drawings. Clark found them fascinating and decided to try to bring one to life. Soon after, people began expressing interest in having their own gnomes. Another Davidson alumnus, Joe Poteat, helped launch and market the business, named Cairn Studios after the Scottish word for “a man-made pile of stones.”

It was not long before Cairn Studios began to expand, and Clark began to travel nearly every weekend, visiting places all around the country and even the world to promote his art. As he traveled, he sometimes liked to take a gnome with him to hide, inscribed with a special message that the lucky person who found it could then call into Cairn Studios to register. However, not all trips were as fun for him. Despite preferring to work in isolation, he once agreed to be placed on a platform in Ginza, a large shopping square in Tokyo, to demonstrate to passersby how he created his gnomes.  

Clark had a lot of travel experience even before his Woodspirits took off. In Aberdeen, he lived with my grandparents, Randy and Arline Taylor, and another friend, Charles Turner. During the week, the three men would read for their classes every morning, and then all four of them would discuss what they had learned during lunch. But Clark was in the fortunate position to be able to travel all around Europe during his weekends. He would bring back many rolls of film of things he saw to show the others, in the process introducing them to many works of art they otherwise would never have seen.

Cairn Studios was making millions in revenue every year, and Poteat once bragged to Business North Carolina that there were dealers “in every county in every state in the nation.” Clark ultimately retired from teaching at Davidson to work full time on his art, and sales only expanded. Clark and Poteat’s company grew and eventually had a staff of hundreds of people working on faithfully reproducing each one of Clark’s creations for sale.

Tom Clark gnomes usually cost between $20 and $60 when sold new, while the collector’s market flourished as well. Clark gave each statue a name and a story and surreptitiously placed a coin somewhere on it. Each one would have multiple paint schemes, though Clark ensured that colors maintained a similar aesthetic appeal.  

With their antique look, the Woodspirits became very popular among collectors. Among Clark’s many fans, some of the most famous were best-selling author Stephen King, actor Bob Newhart, and former first lady Barbara Bush. Avid collectors were even known to collect multiples of the same gnome with different paint schemes.  

While in his nineties today and no longer making gnomes, Tom Clark’s art is still a staple in many homes. His art touched countless people over the decades he was working. Often compared to Norman Rockwell, the legendary American illustrator, for the personal stories every piece contained, Clark has remained humble throughout his life. He may not have quite the notoriety of Steph Curry or Woodrow Wilson, but Clark is a Davidson graduate of whom we can be proud, a man who heartened our whole community and made many people’s lives just a little bit happier.

http://www.davidsonian.com/the-more-you-gnome-tom-clarks-woodspirits-of-davidson/

I have a few of these gnomes but I would love to be an avid collector one day! I will be honest they will be a set I don’t look at very often for their cuteness!

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Gnomenclature by Tom Clark

Check this out! Know your gnome!

I think this is soooo cool and I wish each gnome was done like this! I need more Tom Clark Gnomes!

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Gnome Thy Enemy!

Here is one of the articles from gnome-zone!

https://gnome-zone.com/gnome-facts/

Battle gnomes defending the garden one zucchini at a time...

Petaluma, Calif.-based artist and master prop builder Shawn Thorsson is best known for his jaw-dropping costumes, like the 8-foot-tall Warhammer 40K Space Marines that have graced the cover of MAKE Volume 32 and have been spreading awe the last couple of years at Maker Faire Bay Area. He’s currently in the midst of doing a blog/video series for us detailing his build of the life size replica of Robocop’s ED-209 he’s bringing to this year’s Faire. Badass costumes aside, Thorsson is also known for his Combat Garden Gnomes. Yup, gnomes with weapons because as he puts it, “In the world of garden warfare, anything can happen.”

1. What motivated you to make garden gnomes? Back when I came up with the idea, I was still making my living as a navigator on cargo ships, and the costume and prop-making thing was just a hobby — an expensive hobby. So I’d been trying to think up a way to use the tools and materials that were going into the hobby to offset the costs of the tools and materials that were going into the hobby.

I’m not sure exactly how I’d hit upon the notion of making gnomes in particular, but after doing a bit of research I was surprised by how much people were willing to spend on unique, well-made garden gnomes.

2. How did the gnomes end up going into combat mode? The biggest challenge with garden gnomes was coming up with something that hadn’t been done already. I brainstormed a couple dozen variations on the garden gnome theme and started doodling up some thumbnail sketches to work from.

At the time I was out at sea with no internet connection, so I had to wait until I got home before I could do any real research. That’s when I found out that most of my other seemingly original ideas had actually already been invented. A cursory search found garden gnomes with suits of armor and dressed up as ninjas and making lewd gestures.

Out of all of my concepts, the only one I couldn’t find somewhere on the internet was a mashup between garden gnomes and the little green plastic army man figures. I was surprised since those poses are pretty ubiquitous, and the toys dated back to the Vietnam War era. But since nobody had beaten me to it, I was happy to fill that very little niche in the garden gnome world.

3. How many styles have you created so far? A couple of months back I sat down on a whim and sculpted the first female combat garden gnome. She’s the thirteenth variation I’ve made and she’s posed in the same standing shooting position as the very first gnome rifleman I sculpted.

Aside from those two, there’s a kneeling rifleman (which I’ve recently re-sculpted to alter a few details and improve his facial expression), a prone rifleman, a grenade-throwing gnome, a rocket-launcher-toting gnome, an officer with a pistol, the flamethrower gnome, minesweeper gnome with metal detector, the heavy-machine gunner gnome, the bayonet attack gnome, radio gnome, and the mortar launcher gnome.

4. What are the challenges that come with crafting each new style? The biggest challenge is making sure that each one has some unique personality. Since the poses are already established, most of the sculpt involves making sure that they have all of the integral characteristics of garden gnomes (pointed hats, funny beards, pot bellies, etc.).

I try to save the face and hair for last because that’s the part that really brings the sculpt to life. If I make the mistake of giving them an expressive face before the rest of the sculpt is done, they get a deceptively finished feel and it’ll take weeks to get around to adding the folds in their pants or the soles of their boots.

5. What are the gnomes’ weapons made out of? The weapons are made out of the same urethane resin that the rest of the gnomes are cast in. The only real difference in the process is that instead of sculpting the prototypes in clay, I usually have Jarvis (my 3D printer has a name) print them out for me. He’s pretty good at mechanical shapes, so it’s really just a question of getting the scale right or maybe making the proportions a little cartoonish.

6. What types of reactions have your received and what are a couple of your favorites? I get all sorts of reactions ranging from mild amusement to abject horror. Usually I’ll get emails from customers who write something like “my Uncle Jim is a gun nut who hates Aunt Jenny’s garden gnomes and Aunt Jenny is an avid gnome collector who hates Uncle Jim’s guns. I’m so glad someone’s finally made the perfect gift for both of them.”

The really odd reaction, which I never anticipated, was the way in which a lot of people have incorporated them into various political agendas. I get occasional angry emails from folks on both sides of the gun control debate who are upset by whatever statements they think I’m trying to make.

Before I sculpted the first female one, I’d get emails accusing me of all sorts of misogynistic things. It’s funny to me because there really was never any kind of social or political commentary intended. They’re garden gnomes. If you’re doing anything other than laughing at them, you’re doing it wrong.

7. Any new developments in the works? I had a customer a while back suggest that I should start making Kama Sutra garden gnomes, but I don’t think I’ll be going down that path. Instead, I’ve got a sketchbook full of doodles just waiting to be sculpted. There’s at least another dozen or so poses before I run out of little green plastic army men, and I still need to make a few more females as well.

Somewhere along the way I’m going to have to make some gophers in foxholes with machine guns and sandbags just so the gnomes will have enemies of some sort. Maybe throw in some squirrel shock troops and a raccoon recon force just to mix things up a bit. In the world of garden warfare, anything can happen.

https://makezine.com/2014/05/03/gnome-thy-enemy/

Shawn Thorsson thank you so much for your epic Garden gnome work making combat gnomes for everyone to enjoy!

1. Awesome way to use those materials and he is entirely right it is crazy what people... well me... will spend on Garden gnomes!

2. I want to see all of his doodles and earlier gnome concepts!

3. Ok so 13 back in 2014 so i wonder what he is up to now... post about the newer additions to come!

4. I want a step by step explanation... I an so curious about the Urethane resin... what does that feel like? How heavy is he?

5. Does he then cast over them? It looks like the same material to me not a printed material...

6. Aunt Jenny is my kind of person! Gnomes wouldn’t be political that is simply to much work! I mean loving them is fine too... I am glad he made a female gnome though!

7. Kama sutra gnomes would be really neat! I can’t wait to see the rest of that sketch book!