Gnomeland

July 25, 2013 7:34 AM

Gnomeland "New Hampshire's Premiere Gnome Destination!" Also known as, what happens when friends play a prank on you and install 500 handpainted gnomes in and around your house. Full Flickr set [via mefi projects]
posted by ThePinkSuperhero (29 comments total)

Every gnome has a name! So cute.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 7:37 AM on July 25, 2013

This made me applaud at my desk just reading the description. And then the pictures!

It's like the Terracotta Army of cute.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 7:39 AM on July 25, 2013 [2 favorites]

I need friends like these. Hell, I'd take enemies like these.
posted by cjorgensen at 7:46 AM on July 25, 2013 [3 favorites]

General Eisenhower was the first ashore at Gnomaha Beach, and directed the Gnormandy Invasion.


Oh yes, very good.


Poor Koehler
posted by louche mustachio at 7:59 AM on July 25, 2013

Whoa, my library had a "build your own garden gnome" thing recently but it was full. I didn't know you could buy molds. I'ma have to try this.
posted by DU at 8:02 AM on July 25, 2013

@DU I'm planning on a "The Making of Gnomeland" set of instructions. And if you were willing to be an accomplice in continuing gnome hijinks, I could loan you a few of the molds.
posted by kaszeta at 8:10 AM on July 25, 2013

As an avid gnome collector, especially of the outdoor variety, this made me weepy with glee. How totally and completely AWESOME.
posted by VioletU at 8:15 AM on July 25, 2013 [2 favorites]

Kaszeta, you're my new hero. 500 gnomes. Excellent.
posted by theora55 at 8:16 AM on July 25, 2013 [2 favorites]

Until today I assumed "New Hampshire's Premiere Gnome Destination!" was the roof outside the Coat of Arms pub. The pub and an apartment owner that shares the roof have an ongoing war, trying to creep each other out.
posted by yerfatma at 8:41 AM on July 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

@verfatma: Now that I've seen that bit about the Coat of Arms, I may have to add a gnome to the collection.
posted by kaszeta at 8:47 AM on July 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

This is fantastic and very relevant to my interests:
I'm in a scooter club here in Calgary and I was asked to come up with a design for this year's rally theme: Global Gnoming.

Gnomeland is going on my bucket list.
posted by isopraxis at 9:15 AM on July 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

FUCK YES
posted by gnomeloaf at 9:17 AM on July 25, 2013 [4 favorites]

I see one of the gnomes is missing, and I would urge anyone who has any information on his whereabouts to contact Gnomeland Security immediately.
posted by Jon Mitchell at 9:23 AM on July 25, 2013 [2 favorites]

This is fabulous. Is it the pranksters who have the blog or is the recipient maintaining that?
posted by Karmakaze at 9:30 AM on July 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

The pranksters are maintaining the blog (having an already running website was part of the gag)
posted by kaszeta at 9:37 AM on July 25, 2013

Kaszeta, you're my new hero. 500 gnomes. Excellent.

Nothing more to be said, this is a wonderful thing.
posted by jessamyn at 11:01 AM on July 25, 2013 [3 favorites]

Best of the web, indeed. This is fantastic! The font on the Gnomeland banner is perfect and the detail on each hand-painted gnome is amazing. If someone did something like this for me, I would feel so loved. What a delightful prank, thank you for sharing it.

Some favorites:
Schwarz
Frösti
Monochröm
Papa Smürf
Merlin
Yöda
Ike
Gnome Trek

(Is there a David in the house?)
posted by divined by radio at 12:15 PM on July 25, 2013

There wasn't a David, I didn't become aware of that series until too late in the process. For the record, Cloudi is my favorite, we carefully tinted him and painted clouds on him in an attempt to duplicate the clouds the target had painted on her skylight weeks before.

She was indeed delighted by the prank, at times to the verge of tears. Apparently, to gnome her is to love her.
posted by kaszeta at 12:24 PM on July 25, 2013

Once you go Gnome, you never go home, baby.
posted by mrbill at 1:16 PM on July 25, 2013 [2 favorites]

This is fantastic beyond words. Really, the best thing I've seen in a good, long time. The attention to detail! The commitment to scale! And, m'god, the cost. Those molds alone were not cheap. Amazing.
posted by houseofdanie at 2:54 PM on July 25, 2013 [1 favorite]

@houseofdanie: Yeah, it was elaborate, and the costs were non-trivial, but it wasn't as bad as you'd think. Materials were only about $0.70 a gnome. The molds we worked a deal for. The paint, similar. And we've got a lot of people that contributed small donations to make this happen. I'm pretty sure my number one expenditure during this project was.... beer. We drank a *lot* of beer. We're likely going to retrieve some of the gnomes from Gnomeland (while she's getting attached to them, she's not attached to all 1680 lbs of them...) and sell them, and split the proceeds between contributors, the gnome-production team, and the target.
posted by kaszeta at 5:46 PM on July 25, 2013

Our place totally gneeds a few gnomes, dude. They'd make great thanksgiving table centerpieces.
posted by terrapin at 7:24 PM on July 25, 2013

I have space for a few gnomes....
posted by jessamyn at 7:30 PM on July 25, 2013

Terrapin, jessamyn: Noted. At least y'all are local.
posted by kaszeta at 7:50 PM on July 25, 2013

A bit rural for my tastes...
posted by Metro Gnome at 1:13 AM on July 26, 2013 [4 favorites]

A bit rural for my tastes...
posted by Metro Gnome

Eponysterical!

Also: Feel like going gnome. There's no place like gnome. Gnome is where the heart is.
posted by Nat "King" Cole Porter Wagoner at 1:55 AM on July 26, 2013

I love it. I collect gnomes and this is awesome. I would love a yard full of them like this.
posted by SuzySmith at 2:39 AM on July 26, 2013

I was already digging this and then I came upon the Gnantt chart. I actually cheered.

Plus: since it looked very official, no one doubted why their PM-centric co-worker was so happy about a chart!

What a delightfully thoughtful, hilarious, creative prank. Really splendid.
posted by batmonkey at 1:09 PM on July 26, 2013 [1 favorite]

Gnomehenge is my favorite.
posted by vegartanipla at 3:05 PM on July 30, 2013