Bad Taste Bears Roadshow August 2003 Bad Taste Bears Roadshow I arrived at the shop at 9.15 to be met by the motley crew who go under the guise of 'The Bears Nuts'. They had been patiently waiting and surprisingly, had managed to form a reasonably orderly queue. We exchanged banter which went along the lines of "I like the huge poster you have in the mall window", and " steal that and you die", so with the pleasantries out of the way I proceeded to open the shop. There was soon a stream of collectors filing through the doors to collect their numbered ticket for the'TUG' print. These numbered tickets enabled the collectors to pay for their print and then this left them free to go and grab breakfasts and coffees and do a bit of shopping before Peter arrived. (Big thank you to the girls at BB's for feeding and watering the collectors) The staff were all looking forward to a fun day and they weren't disappointed. There was lots of sales to keep them busy. 'TUG' arrived with Sue and Hazel from Piranha Studios and these began selling very quickly. We had great fun with the collectors, and the queue began to grow steadily as the time ticked by. By 11.30 it had grown somewhat and wound its way down the shop, through the front door and into the shopping mall. It soon became apparent that although the air-conditioning was firing on all 4's, it was beginning to get a little warm. So before people fidgeted too much, I sent out for iced water, which was then distributed down the line, much to the delight of all. (one collector in particular, who shall remain nameless, even had assistance with me holding her cup. The things I do to please my collectors.) Signings began and Peter was soon very busy. Collectors were buying everything they could get their hands on. There was even some swapping and dealing going on in the queue. We then became aware of a plot being hatched to steal my huge poster from the window, so Stuart was sent to remove it and bring it into a safe haven. As the afternoon wore on there was a lot of interest in the free draw and the raffles. Peter had created another original sketch which was up for grabs and raffle tickets for this flew out. The hour of 3 o'clock was nigh, and time for the winners to be drawn. The 1st ticket drawn was for a signed 'Roger', this was scooped by 'Bod', who then drew his Mum's ticket for the signed original drawing. There were several happy winners. Just when Peter thought his job was finished, we bullied him into becoming an auctioneer for the giant poster and a signed Walsall 'Nobby'. These were both won by a 'NUTTER' (Tonka) from 'Bears Nuts fame'. (Note to Pete! The squashy bumps did disappear from the giant poster once it was rolled up). And so the day came to an end and once everything that closely resembled a Bad Taste Bear had been purchased, begged, swapped, borrowed, or stolen, we finally shut up shop. It had been a fun-filled and exhausting day but everyone at Arcana-Arcana had thoroughly enjoyed it, so we'd like to thank all the collectors, both old and new, for making it such a huge success. Here's to the next one. (and Pete, we promise no more auctioneer duty). Lord of the Rings Signing Dr. Graeme Anthony is a chiropractor by profession and lives in Melbourne. He is responsible for the design and sculpturing of the Royal Selangor Lord of The Rings collection. He has had no formal training in sculpting, beginning it as a hobby which quickly grew into a passion. Through a joint venture with Royal Selangor Pewter, one of the oldest and largest pewter brands in the world, most of Dr. Anthony's Lord of The Rings creations have found life and a place on collector's shelves around the world. Bad Taste Bears Roadshow Peter Underhill, well what can we say?, it was such a delight to have him within our store last November (2002) From the moment he arrived everyone was laughing. He took the opportunity to show what a talented and creative person he is. Our first customers through the door on the day had travelled all the way from West London, and their long journey certainly paid off as they were the first to purchase Peters' print of Singeon. He happily signed this print for them and they were rewarded with the added bonus of it being numbered 1 of 100. Needless to say they were delighted. The day progressed with Peter entertaining the crowds with his quick wit and even quicker scribbles of all sorts of things requested by the collectors. His portfolio that was chained to him, proved to be a big hit as it contained pictures of ideas he has had for several bears, some of which we hasten to add, would quite possibly land him a BAD TASTE award of his own. We must admit they had us crying with laughter especially listening to the tales that accompanied the pictures. (for those reading this that attended, who'd have thought there was such an aptly named place to have your photo taken). There were a lot of questions for the staff from Piranha Studios and they were only too happy to answer collectors' questions. Everyone rolled up their sleeves and got stuck in to make sure that the collectors had a good time. The day passed really quickly and soon it was time for him to leave. So before we let him out, we got him to draw the winning tickets for prize draw. . This was also done with lots of giggling. Lynne-Marie had drawn the logo on the prize draw ticket box, and he even signed that, after one or two tweeks to detail of course. Our 2nd prize winner was the only winner with an e-mail address so when he heard that he'd won a signed 'Pete' he was gob-smacked. He'd never won anything before so we were all really pleased for him. We bid our farewells to Peter at 4pm and look forward to having him back with us next year for an even better roadshow. We'd like to thank Peter and Sue and Paul from Piranha Studios for allowing us to be the first in line for an event, but more importantly we want to thank all the collectors for supporting the event and we hope that they had a really enjoyable day. ITS LATE AND IM TIRED... ... SO HERE'S AN ARTICLE I DIDNT WRITE! DISCWORLD ROADSHOW - WALSALL This article was sent in by Guild member Roger Clark and concerns the shop promotion recently held at Arcana-Arcana in"Walsall. So, over to Roger... When I first heard that the Clarecraft Roadshow was heading to my neck of the woods, I didn't really know what to expect. I had these visions of long tables packed with stuff you had to buy and displays and talks which would be hard to get to and about as interesting as a new episode of Neighbours, Needless to say I was wrong.Far from being inaccessible, the whole gathering had a very friendly feel, from the hosts (Arcana in the Quasar Centre, Walsall) to the artists and other representatives in attendance.The first thing that strikes you, besides the atmosphere, is the amount of things to have a look at and get your grubby (or meticulously clean) little paws on,There was a queue to get hold of the unpainted Death's Head 'bust' piece, on offer free to members of the Guild. This piece is really worth having, You might think that anything free is worth having but might turn out to be a little 'suspect'. In this case, the piece is a real gem.Rosie was there showing people how to paint this and other pieces. Many took the opportunity to paint their freebies and one attendee went home with a superb Death as the Hogfather piece and an offer of a possible job at Clarecraft!! Another highly skilled person on hand was Bernard of Waxworks, who has sculpted many pieces and is currently working on various buildings. On show was the new Watch House with some incredible details. It was nice to have a chance to meet someone who could go through the history of a piece, I found out that the Watch House had been chosen next after a special request by Mr Pratchett. As a sideline, my sister was pleased to speak to someone who did some of the early Pocket Dragons, which she collects, Next came a chance to meet CMOT Dibbler himself, Eric, and his brother, Arthur, who had some retired and retiring pieces that they were selling for Arcana. They were also providing information of upcoming events and releases, such as their Hogswatch elebrations. Along with EIton (representing the Guild), they were a mine of information on retired pieces. Luckily, the shop staging the event had a couple of retired pieces and some that were retiring - needless to say, these were scooped up. Wallbro. (Dibblers' company!) were also looking after the two draws. The first was a free draw for everyone attending and so both my sister and I got our tickets. There was also a chance to buy tickets for another draw, this one being rather special. The prize was the paint proof of the new limited edition Granny Weatherwax and Death piece. On initial inspection, I can't say I was taken with this scene, it just didn't seem right and the two characters' expressions were wrong. It also eemed to be the wrong choice for a collectors' piece, it being a scene and not one particular character or object. I was definitely in the minority though - everyone else loved the piece and it was something people kept going back to all the while. Anyway, after entering the draws and having a browse at the book table set up by another local shop, it was time to treat myself to a few pieces and in particular the Roadshow Piece, This time round, it's Death as Beau Nidle. It's also great! It's fun, well designed and realised and in most peoples' price range. I'm sure there will be pictures floating around but it's basically Death buried in sand. On top of the 'base' of sand. Death's head is showing - complete with Foreign Legion hat (I'm sure there's a special name for it but I'm blowed if I know what it is). Suffice to cliche, it makes a superb addition to any collection. Earlier, I had noticed that Arcana had got only two of the small Discworld figures left and since then one had gone so I thought I'd treat myself, Imagine, then, both my sisters' surprise and mine when we won first prize in the free draw and it was the piece we had just bought, Firstly, we were staggered that we'd actually won something - we're the sort of people that it just doesn't happen to. Anyway, the shop let us exchange the piece (much to EIton's delight - he immediately took it off to auction as it was the £74.99 retired piece) and we went home more than happy! We'd won first prize, picked up a free piece, some retired pieces and the Roadshow piece. On top of this, we'd met some great people and got lots of info on all manner of things Discworld. Definitely a good day, If you are thinking of missing the Roadshow if it's coming near you, you must be mad. At least go and have a look and pick up your free piece and enter the prize draws! I was hesitant and look what we ended up coming away with! As they say, it's highly recommended," Thanks, Roger, that saved me a job!! EIton, This came out of the DISCWORLD COLLECTORS' NEWSLETTER (Vol 5 No. 4 )