{"id":66498,"date":"2012-12-02T16:55:43","date_gmt":"2012-12-02T21:55:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/?p=66498"},"modified":"2012-12-02T16:55:43","modified_gmt":"2012-12-02T21:55:43","slug":"tireless-artist-sculpts-staffs-of-legend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theonering.net\/torwp\/2012\/12\/02\/66498-tireless-artist-sculpts-staffs-of-legend\/","title":{"rendered":"Tireless artist sculpts staffs of legend"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>
Sculptor Anneke Bester is profiled in the Christchurch Mail for the Hobbit premiere. November 29, 2012.<\/figcaption><\/figure> Ringer Paul sends us this article from the November 29 edition of The Christchurch Mail about the sculpting work of Anneke Bester.<\/p>\n

There and back again<\/h3>\n

Tireless artist sculpts staffs of legend<\/h4>\n

By Abbie Napier<\/b><\/p>\n

Fashioning staffs, moulding sword hilts ad making treasure is nothing out of the ordinary for Christchurch-based sculptor Anneke Bester.<\/p>\n

Having worked on the Chronicles of Narnia, Bester was a shoo-in for a role as props sculptor for The Hobbit.<\/p>\n

She set off for Wellington more than two years ago, tasked with making whatever was needed.<\/p>\n

“It was enormous, and it was basically just me,” she said.<\/p>\n

Holed up in a workroom in Lyall Bay, Bester’s 50-hour weeks were hectic. <\/p>\n

“Someone would rush in with a design and say they needed this detailed piece for a wardrobe scene by the end of the day,” she said.<\/p>\n

She made at least 100 major props in two years, with countless others squeezed in throughout. She finished in May this year.<\/p>\n

Gandalf’s pre-Lord of the Rings staff may be her most famous work.<\/p>\n

She made the staff in three sizes: regular, over-sized and stunt-double size. Having made the first, she then created exact replicas for every imaginable use. <\/p>\n

“It’s one thin to sculpt nature how you think it should be. It’s quite another to sculpt an exact replica of a stick.” <\/p>\n

She also made walking sticks for the dwarves, furniture, decorations, and some of the treasure for Smaug’s (the dragon) cave.<\/p>\n

“That fortune, literally cost a fortune,” she said. “The size of the actual treasure pile was bigger than most people’s homes.”<\/p>\n

Bester went to Wellington yesterday for a cast and crew screening, before the film premiered. Try spotting some of Bester’s work when the movie comes out to the public on December 12.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ringer Paul sends us this article from the November 29 edition of The Christchurch Mail about the sculpting…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":66500,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"A nice little profile of the work of Hobbit props sculptor Anneke Bester.","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[8,4,496,148],"tags":[1795,1797,1796],"class_list":["post-66498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-production-crew-news","category-hobbit-movie","category-production","category-hobbit","tag-anneke-bester","tag-gandalf-staff","tag-sculptor"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t