Most Prized/Interesting TP/DW related offerings?

[Jan Van Quirm]

I'm with Dotsie and Chuckie - I just collect the books and not so many of those these last few years and some of them have gone missing too *makes note to ferret them out of wherever they're hiding from when we moved in 5 years ago!*

However I do have one Discworld-related item that isn't a book and that I love, love, love - it was a custom-made pressy from my dad and so I know this is the one and only item of it's kind as it cost a fortune to get the materials and was a bugger to make as well...



isn't that a lovely coffee table? I'm afraid the top didn't come out at all well 'cos of the glass but of course it's got the gorgeous map of the discworld in there...



It should probably be a round table I know but the map is so lovely I didn't want to cut it up - regrettably it's faded very badly from being in the conservatory, but luckily dad's made it so we can take the glass out and so we'll replace the map if does get too faded - I'm not going to be selling it so I don't care about that effecting the value since there is none.

[Tonyblack]

No, no, don't get a round top - it's just perfect as it is.

That's amazing Jan.

[chris.ph]

thats really good,bet he worked really hard on that. what is the base made of?

[The_Discworldaholic]

now i can see why this is a prized possession, very very nice indeed, now maybe one day i'll have a go and try to make something like that.

[Jan Van Quirm]

I know the turtle's shell/body is more or less solid wood as it weighs a ton - it's oak I think, although I'd have to check with dad. He's into carving big time and has done much more elaborate though smaller pieces, but regrettably this was his last piece until very recently due to failing health.

It wasn't so much the detail, as figuring out how to mitigate the weight of it, so he made it in two halves that slot together so the table top/Disc can be lifted off to transport or just move around without giving yourself a hernia. One of the elephants has lost a tusk too - our dog's waggy tail did for it but we'll get around to gluing that back in again.

I was slightly disappointed with the paint job on A'tuin and the elephants when I first got it, as I'd have preferred to have used coloured stains on the wood for a more subtle effect, but dad's the expert and so I'm very happy with it as is - and of course it's crazily unique and true to the original visual on the map, which it wouldn't be with the staining!

[Tonyblack]

The turtle looks like it's based on the turtle at the top of our page here.

It really is incredible.

[Jan Van Quirm]

It is - that's the same pic that on the Map of the Discworld

[Tonyblack]

I'll bet Stephen Player, the original artist would be impressed.

[Tiffany]

Jan, your table is amazing. You do have a very clever Dad to have made that.

I've got the books of course, the maps & dvd's & audio books, I haven't collected anything else, but looking at the link on another thread I would quite like a silver horse pendant like Tiffanys. Birthday maybe......

[Tonyblack]

Sharlene has the silver horse. Barrie the most excellent Discworld jeweller heard about our story of meeting through Hat Full of Sky and he sent it to her.

It really is something quite special.

[Dotsie]

Aaww that's lovely!

Jan - I'm phoning my Dad!

[Catch-up]

Jan, that table is incredible! I love it! What a great gift.

[Jan Van Quirm]

Thanks all - my father's a genius with wood. He's made gypsy caravans - with wheel trims, little pots and even tiny chains in copper and leather harnes; viking longships; an American civil war cannon; mini wheelbarrow fruitbowls - they were really neat but didn't hold enough fruit! a full-size victorian style rocking horse again with the leather and copper/brass harness; American Bison, Giraffes, several Elephants - I have a set of a family of 8 he made for us (again on commission), the largest of which is just 3 inches high on a river bank, all in polished natural wood which is my favourite thing really so far as the craftsmanship goes, as they are wonderfully detailed.

He was a signwriter/maker which is partly how I got into doing graphic design, but what he really wanted to do was cabinetmaking as a career only he couldn't get an apprenticeship for that at the Dockyards in Plymouth. Only 1 of us daughters had the sense to find a guy as clever as Dad - Ian works as a cabinet/outfitter for a posh luxury shipbuilders in Plymouth - but he's a typical artisan and getting him to do domestic stuff for home is like asking for the moon and takes about 10 times longer to do it than a mission to Mars lasts! So really my Mum's the truly lucky one

[Norris]

We used to have a goat that I bought off Terry in about 1981. It was a Togganberg cross Nubian I think, and because it didn't have any other goats to play with I taught it to butt by wearing a crash helmet and going on all fours and head butting it. My daughters insisted on calling it Bambi. It still had its horns as Terry advised against dehorning it, so eventually it started to win the headbutting. It once ate one of my cannabis plants and then slept all day.

[Tonyblack]

Welcome Norris - you'll fit in here just fine.