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Xoanon here, today Kathy and I had the pleasure of meeting Royal Selangor sculptor Graeme Anthony when his world tour passed through Montreal. He was there to ‘sign’ his LOTR themed glasses, vessels, mugs and other items from Royal Selangor’s collection.
The event took place at the Rob McIntosh china and crystal outlet store in the suburbs of Montreal. This store is the only one in Quebec of its kind, it features all manner of crystal ware and accessories.
We arrived early enough to see Graeme and Barry (Royal Selangor Sales Rep) getting setup for the signing. A large number of pre-sold items were waiting for Graeme to add his special touch. He would personally sign each item in the pewter with a special engraving device, he would also add the date and his name. Graeme was more than happy to see us arrive and prepare our cameras (we also shot a future segment of TORN DIGITAL dedicated to the signing). Once the doors opened a few curious on-lookers arrived and were asking questions about his work. Graeme spent time with each individual person and went into details about the items they were about to purchase. A special touch was added to each piece that was bought on site, Graeme would include the customer’s name in old-English runes, carefully writing them down on paper for the customer to approve.
Graeme sat with us for a while and went into detail about his tour through Canada. This was his first time here and he said he enjoyed it very much. His full acclimation in Canadian society was two days before when he attended his first hockey game. He said he loved it. He showed us a work-in-progress piece, which is the tower of Barad-dur complete with small stairs and intricately detailed doorways and passages. He told us that he asks for his fans to add their input into the piece in each town that he’s visited in Canada. He plans on making this tower of Barad-dur into a centerpiece for a table or living room stand. When completed it would hold a glass vial at the top where wick oil could be held. A wick would then burn and the flame would make the eye of Sauron!
He also showed us another piece; Sauron’s gloved hand with the one ring. This piece was unique as it was reversible. On one side it could be a champagne flute while the other is a wine glass. You could even lay it out horizontally and use it as an art piece.
He explained the process involved in making each piece. Using his limited edition ‘Smaug & Bilbo’ statue as an example, he explained how each item is hand carved by him first using plasticine then a metal version is made. For Smaug’s wings it took 4 weeks to get the bat-like leathery look on them. He would then send it off to the Royal Selangor headquarters in Malaysia for approval.
By this time many fans had lined up and more were curious about the hubbub around the front entrance. Many fans and fan-loved-ones were buying Christmas gifts and having them signed. Graeme was always sure to find out exactly what the fans wanted on their item, since you can’t exactly erase a mistake in pewter!
We’ll have a full episode of TORN Digital available soon. Be sure to take a look at all the images.
Special thanks goes out to the folks at Rob McIntosh who were kind enough to allow us access to film inside the store, to Barry from Royal Selangor and Kathy for taking those great images. Lastly of course Graeme himself for being so accommodating and disarming. Thanks!