Last night Weta Workshop released two more prop replica items from The Hobbit Trilogy. The first is an item I have personally been looking forward to getting since the films were announced. The escape from Thranduil’s halls is one of the best parts of the book and this item plays a pivotal role in that escape. Fans can now own their own replica of The Mirkwood Gaol Key that Bilbo uses to rescue the Dwarves. As we all know the Dwarves were given seven rings of power and one of these rings went to Thoror who was the King of the Longbeards. Thanks to the craftsmen at Weta you can now bring home this ring of power. Collectors can snag The Mirkwood Gaol Key for $29.99 and Thror’s Ring of Power for $174.99
Category: Weta Collectibles
The Holiday shopping season is quickly approaching and its time to start thinking about what to get that special Tolkien lover in your life. We’re pleased to to help ease your journey in by narrowing down what we feel are the top 10 Middle-earth related collectibles that fans can easily swing on a holiday budget. You can get any of these amazing collectibles from our friends at Weta Workshop, Artist Jerry Vanderstelt, Sideshow Collectibles, and The Noble Collection. These collectibles range from mini-sword letter openers to giant premium formats all of which help cover any Tolkien Collector in your family.
Here’s our Top 10 List: (In No Particular Order)
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition with Limited Edition Amazon Exclusive Bilbo/Gollum Statue (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + UltraViolet)
- One Ring – Tungsten – Gold plated (with or without script) Weta Workshop
- Tauriel Necklace (Weta and Noble)
- King Thranduil Statue
- The Key to Erebor Weta Workshop
- Mini-sword letter openers from Noble – Narsil, LOTR Sting, The Hobbit Sword Set, Thranduil’s Sword, Tauriel’s Dagger, Morgul Dagger
- Barrel-riders Weta Workshop – Bilbo Baggins & Bombur the Dwarf
- Jerry Vanderstelt’s Middle-earth prints
- Sauron Premium Format
- Ringwraith on Steed Premium Format
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As we march closer to the Holiday shopping season, we need ideas as to what we may want to buy our loved ones. Well, our friends at Weta Workshop in their most recent newsletter have given us several ideas on what from Middle-earth we can get.
Two new items were unvelied in this group with a huge yet cool looking Gollum 1:1 statue and some beautiful Elven Earrings for only $75.
If you’ve been waiting on some good deals on previously released items you can get Balin’s Mace for $150 (only 10 available for this price), Dwalin’s Axes $199.50 (Only 5 available at this price), free shipping on The Hobbit/The Lord of the Rings Art Prints, and The One Ring for $85. These deals are good while these limited supplies last or until November 17th whichever comes first.
You can get the full run down of all the fantastic items Weta has on special right now on their Christmas Specials Page.
As we march closer to The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug more and more products will be announced. Today, our friends at Weta Workshop announced three new products all tied to the character Tauriel. Fans can now pre-order Tauriel’s Bow & Arrow, Tauriel’s Pendant, and the fabulous looking 1:6 statue of Tauriel.
The Bow & Arrow of Tauriel is an awesome looking prop replica of the weapon you will see her carry during the rest of the trilogy. Fans can get this right now for only $350 with an edition size of just 1,000 pieces worldwide. If you order this early you can get in on the partial shipment that is due to arrive in early November.
Continue reading “Collecting The Precious – Weta Workshop’s Tauriel Pre-Order Extravaganza”
We recently interviewed Steven Saunders of Weta Workshop who as you know has been responsible for several of the awesome collectibles that Weta Workshop has been turning out. Today, we bring you an interview with another very talented artist who makes her living by helping bring Middle-earth to life. Lindsey Crummett is new to creating collectibles for Weta Workshop but if what we’ve gotten already or saw at Comic-Con is any clue of what’s to come we’re in for a real treat. Some of the pieces Lindsey has sculpted are the Balin Statue, Kili Statue, Bofur Statue, and the statue that stole the show at the Weta booth during Comic-Con Azog the Defiler on Warg.
1. What sparked your interest in art?
I’ve loved drawing since I could hold a pencil. There are some talented artists in my family, so when I saw pictures being drawn in front of me, I became determined to create art as well. I continued to draw from the time I was little, throughout high school, and eventually on into University where I majored in Fine Arts. In University I branched out and began sculpting as well as drawing and painting. I have always been fascinated about becoming better at bringing what’s in my head out into the real world.
2. What medium do you like to work in best (paint, pencil, sculpting, electronic, etc.)?
That is a very difficult question! I have a real soft spot for where I began; simply pencil and paper. As I learned more about sculpting prosthetics I also began to really love learning techniques for creating skin textures through layer upon layer. I came into digital sculpting and painting very late in my art career, but it gives me amazing freedom to be bold like never before in other mediums. So I have favourite aspects to all mediums, but at the moment I am really loving the endless possibilities of digital programs like Z-brush and Photoshop.
3. Can you pinpoint for us any of your work we may have seen in past films or those coming up? Any character or creature design or landscape we might recognize?
Some of my design work can be seen in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey in characters like Bofur, Kili, Fili, and Oin. Many characters and creatures have several talented individuals that contribute to the final look of a character. For these dwarves I was involved in the design of their Hair, beards, and prosthetics. I was also involved in prosthetic sculpting for scale doubles, prosthetic hands for the dwarves, Orc Prosthetics, and maquettes for early designs of the dwarven collumns in Erebor to name a few things.
I also had the pleasure to work on District 9. I sculpted on prosthetics for Wikus’s transformation and model made, moulded, and cast the Gas Projector gun. I also helped with model making, moulding and casting of guns in Avatar.
4. What project (book, film, poem, song, etc.) would you most want to help bring to life with your art?
My all time favourite novels are Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles. The film Interview With the Vampire did an absolutely amazing job and captured my imagination when I was little it still remains in my top 3 favourite films. In the series, I’ve always wanted to see the second book, The Vampire Lestat turned into a film. It is incredibly epic and spans over centuries- I would LOVE to help bring that to the screen.
5. What tends to be your favorite subject to draw? In other words, if you were offered a million dollars to create a piece of artwork on whatever *you* wanted it to be, what would you create?
I adore any subject matter where you can see the character or creature’s history in its eyes. Anything with depth. Particularly I love predators… tigers, wolves, dinosaurs, these all make me so inspired. I think my favourite subject would have to be dragons, since in my eyes; they are just the summation of all the cool predators that actually exist.
6. You work in a very competitive industry. What’s one tip you have for those aspiring to be in similar positions as yourselves one day?
Persistence and perseverance, both in your artwork and in your career.
7. Do Weta’s artists get to keep a version of everything they sculpt? Say no.1 of every statue? Or would it feel weird to own and display your own work?
I’d love a copy of the piece’s I’ve sculpted! These statues take a lot of hours and time and money, I don’t think it’d be viable to give a free one away to the sculptors. Then you’d have to give one away to the painters and mould makers for their contribution and the company might go broke! 😉
9. If you could choose only one, who would you say is your favorite middle-earth character? And why is this particular character your favorite.
In all of Middle Earth? Oh man, tough questions! …Smaug! (See above dragon comment)
10. You’ve now done several pieces involving The Hobbit Trilogy. What would you say has been your favorite piece to work on or have we not seen it yet?
So far I really particularly enjoyed sculpting on Azog on the Warg. There was a lot of freedom to find a really unusual pose that would be really captivating for collectors. It was the first piece I’d done with that much movement being conveyed, and I really enjoyed that!
11. Following up with the last question. Is there a something you’ve not worked on yet that you would love to work on be it an environment, statue, shield, etc.
I would be really happy with any of the subject matter that will be done from this next film, seeing as there isn’t really any piece I’ve worked on that I haven’t enjoyed sculpting.
12. Could you tell us how you got your start with Weta and what is been like working there?
I started work at Weta in May 2007 as a huge Rings nerd bearing an elvish tattoo on my arm. I was at University when the Rings trilogy came out, and while I was studying to get my Bachelor of Fine Arts in California in 2003, I took a summer vacation in New Zealand where I got a job as an extra being an Orc on set of pick ups for Return of the King. That solidified my determination to one day finish University, move to New Zealand and get a job at Weta Workshop by the time they began working on the Hobbit (which hadn’t even been confirmed yet). Low and behold here I am! I have learned so much from the multitude of talented individuals that work at Weta, and continue learning from them every day.
13. Can you point to any one particular artist who has most influenced you, or the direction your career has taken? And which of your contemporaries would you list amongst your personal favorites?
I’d say Alan Lee, John Howe, and Wayne Barlowe are all artists that inspired my imagination and career choice. I poured over all of their books from a very young age and can definitely attribute my love of fantasy and Sci-fi art to them. I have the privilige of actually being able to say I’ve met all of them as well, and they’re inspiring people as well as inspiring artists.
14. The Lord of the Rings has been around for over 50 years and The Hobbit has been around for over 75 years. These two stories have become huge in many fans lives. When did you first become familiar with Middle-Earth and what have you taken away from reading or watching the happenings in that world?
I’m the youngest of five siblings, and my parents and older siblings all had a love for The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings trilogy long before the films came out. I’d seen the cartoons and known the story just from hearing my family talk about it when the films came out. After seeing The Fellowship of the Ring, my imagination spun out of control! I don’t know how many times I watched that dvd at home. I loved it so much that it actually motivated me to pursue a career path in art and film. My sister who also lives in New Zealand was on set as an Orc too and met her husband while he covered her costume in mud and fake blood! I met my partner who’s a fellow designer at Weta, whilst working on The Hobbit together. These stories have technically completely changed the course of my life, so they hold a pretty special place in my heart.
15. What is the hardest part for you as a sculptor in order to bring these characters to life? Do you do anything to help make it easier? Say, watch some of the movies to
get things down.
I’d say the hardest thing is capturing the feeling of a character in a pose. If you get the pose wrong, suddenly it doesn’t feel like that character. Yes, absolutely watching the films would help, but at the time of sculpting most of these collectibles, the first film hadn’t come out yet! So I had to go from descriptions of the character and on set photos as they trickled through, taking care not to reference old versions of costume that were outdated. Tricky stuff! In some instances it was very helpful when the actor playing a character would come in to talk about their character and comment on pose ideas.
16. Finally, If you could be any character from within Middle-Earth whom would you choose to be? Following that up why would you choose to be this character?
Well there aren’t a whole lot of female characters to choose from, but I think I’d have to go with Eowyn as I love horses and love that she was a warrior. If I weren’t being gender biased I’d say Aragorn, as being a Ranger he seems to be able to enjoy being apart of several cultures. And he’s just a badass!
Today, marks the day you can start seeing products for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug and our friends from Weta Workshop have released the first of 20 brand new products you will see before the end of the year. These two items were just a couple of the many amazing things that Weta had at their booth during Comic-Con 2013. The first item is a truly elegant and finely detailed statue of the Elven King Thranduil. You can pre-order Thranduil right now for $275 with a limited stock shipping in November with more stock arriving in December. Don’t wait to order your Thranduil as he has an edition size of 1000 pieces worldwide. The other item is the awesome prop replica of the daggers you will see Tauriel carry during the movie. You can snag the Daggers of Tauriel right now for $149 with a limited supply in-stock ready to ship. These daggers also have an edition size of just 1000 pieces so they’re sure to not last long.
