Available and Coming Soon

Back in April, I announced my line of Undead Gnomes. In the middle of moving, I must have forgotten to tell you that Zombie and Sparkly Vampire Gnomes are available in the shop! Bring home a brain-eating or blood-sucking Gnome today!

My dear friend Laurel noticed a Gnome in the below picture from this post that isn't yet in the shop. He was hinted at way back in November, brought up again in February, but I have not talked about this special kind of Gnome since. Since the observant Laurel pointed him out on the Civilization board, this is a good time to talk about it!

I'm talking about that little blue-robed guy to the right of the Pirate Gnome with the fat book in front of him!


Gnomes with Tomes™

These very special collectible Gnomes are actually quite complicated. As you can see, they wear hooded robes with big bell sleeves. These Gnomes have arms so as to carry their little Gnomish tomes and wear little wire glasses.

These are the scholars, the scribes and monks of the Gnomish world. They are the keepers of the sacred Gnomish Texts and record Gnomish history. The human eye can't see Gnomish writing unless the holder of the Tome wishes it so - even then, it may only appear to us as scribbles!

The Process

Gnomes with Tomes™ are different from their basic Garden Gnome counterparts. They wear slightly pointed hoods instead of the traditional pointy red hats. These Gnomes have arms with sleeves so they can hold their little tomes.

Each miniature book is painstakingly handmade by me. Some tomes are blank, some tomes are written in Gnomish, some tomes have an actual tiny story printed on its pages. Some have even been known to hold a sheet of music! Book covers are made with decorated scrapbooking paper, wall paper scraps, handmade card paper, or leather (sometimes genuine, sometimes synthetic).

Learning to make miniature books has been an incredibly involved but very fun process! Making little books with legible stories is a very long process that takes hours upon hours of re-typing the tale in the correct format page by tiny page. They must be proof-read, and a prototype made to insure the pages print correctly and the story reads as intended in the finished book. Formatting to book completion without revisions takes about ten total hours! Thankfully, the format process only has to be done once.

To show how very special these Gnomes are, they will come in a special collectors display box with a certificate of authenticity. The box is lined in awesome paper printed like a bookshelf. Gnomes may be removed and gently handled, of course, and their little books can be read if those little books have something to read within. The wire glasses, plastic safety eyes, and some book material make them not suitable for children. These Gnomes are designed to be collectible!

Gnomes with Tomes™ are not available in the shop yet. As soon as I locate the necessary materials from my move, I will make them available by custom order. You will be able to specify eye color and robe color and tell me if you want a blank book, a book written in Gnomish, or a tiny story of my choice (note that stories may be one chapter of a larger adventure, subsequent chapters will be available later). Some stories will be printed in limited editions!

I am also looking for writers! If you have a short story that would be Gnome-appropriate and you are willing to grant me a limited license to make it in miniature and include it in a Gnomes with Tomes™ series, I'd be happy to! Short stories are preferred, but I'd be willing to make a chaptered set if it's a longer story (I can't write short stories, you see, all of mine end up epic. That's why most written tomes will come in chapters). You will receive the final prototype miniature book(s) of your story (remember 10+ hours of work per volume to get it there!), get full credit for the story in every issue, retain full rights of future publishing of your work, and you may have me discontinue your series in miniature at any time. The first person to grant me permission to use one of his stories loved his little book so much he has commissioned me to make an entire collection of some of his works in miniature, to include tales I have permission to use with Gnomes and those I don't. I can't wait to get started on that!

Contact me if you just can't wait for me to be ready and want me to start on your special Gnomes with Tomes™ Gnome right away! I hope you can tell I'm very excited about this line of Gnomes. It has been more than nine months in development!