Fantasy fans tend to be quite capable of immersing themselves in whatever it is that they enjoy. Most of the time that’s a book. However, many of us that delve into other genre-related hobbies. For instance, I’ve recently started getting into miniature wargames, like Warmachine. Others may be RPG players, quilters, convention attenders, painters, or maybe just collectors of fantasy related items. Whatever it is you do as a fantasy hobby, I’d like to hear about it.
The nerdier the better. I want links to your blog that hosts archives of your dragon salt and pepper shaker collection. If you’ve got cool crafty things, link them or send me a pic and I’ll post them in the article to share. If your hobby is not quite fantasy related, go ahead and share anyway. If you don’t have links or pics, just tell us about it. I’m genuinely curious about how our readers spend their “me time” when they are not reading.
Steampunk and photography go together like beer and pizza. Here is a link to my blog posting of our recent “steampunk” event: http://deedsandwords.com/?p=3567
I sometimes wish I could do all that artsy-craftsy stuff like quilting, painting fantasy miniatures, making a Tardis for the cat, or even drawing, but I can’t. I’m a writer. I started out writing fan fiction, and now I’m moving on to original stuff. That’s how I like best to spend my “me time,” thinking about characters, settings, and plots.
I like to garden. Unfortunately there isn’t much of it to show in the fall.
Until recently, outside of watching TV science-fiction/fantasy and said reading of it, my hobbies fall outside of the “nerd” world (sigh, unless we’ve reached the point where reading anything is considered “nerdy”). I recently introduced my nine-year-old, however, to my old-school (we’re talking Plato’s Academy old here) D and D and he is eating it up (I confess, somewhat to my wife’s despair). So the inner nerd may be coming back . . . !
One nerdy hobby of mine is jigsaw puzzles. It wouldn’t be quite so nerdy I guess if if weren’t for the subject matter. Lets just say the last one I completed was called “Ancient Dragon Scholar” and I currently am working on “Dragon Lord’s Magic Castle”. I usually listen to fantasy audiobooks while working on them too :D
Sabrina, I do jigsaw puzzles while listening to SFF audiobooks with my kids. My dining room table perpetually has at least one jigsaw puzzle going on. Over the summer we listened to several children’s fantasies while working on puzzles together, but it’s hard to find much time for it during the fall since they’re back to school and have football and soccer practices, too.
My main criterion for a puzzle is the quality. I prefer the Ravensburger puzzles. I have lately been wondering if they had any good fantasy-themed puzzles…
My dining room table is puzzle central as well! And I completely agree that the quality of the puzzle is the most important thing. It is so frustrating when it seems like half the pieces can wrongly fit together. My puzzle maker of choice is Cobble Hill. The pieces are sturdy, the shapes are unique and they have plenty of fantasy themes.
I love jigsaw puzzles! It’s been awhile since we did one, but we have two waiting for our attention. And in our new house, we actually have a “game room” for which we bought a table specifically intended to be used to said puzzles. Guess it’s time to break out the one we have of a fantastic library, or else the one of a famous Impressionist painting. I go for the quality ones, too — Ravensburger are the best, but Springbok aren’t too bad, if you can find one that isn’t boring.
I have all sorts of hobbies I want to develop, like playing the piano (I took lessons as a kid, so I can read music, though the bass notes tend to elude me after years of simply singing soprano); singing; scholarship (specifically, fantasy scholarship — I have a long term project going regarding the Romantic influence on fantasy); taking classes in anything from literature to history to — well, whatever tickles my fancy; cooking and baking; travel; comics (but that’s reading, right?). One lifetime simply isn’t long enough.
I haven’t done a jigsaw puzzle in ages. I’ll have to dig out a couple to do once the weather gets colder.
If anyone was eagerly awaiting the outcome of this contest, I apologize. My internet connection was down last night. In any event…
Some great suggestions, but Melanie’s suggestion of making a Tardis is not only original, but to a Doctor Who fan like myself, laudable in every way.
Melanie, if you live in the USA, you win a book of your choice from our stacks. Please contact me (Tim) with your choice and a US address.
I love that you picked me, but making a Tardis for the cat isn’t my original idea; I saw a picture of it on the web and almost immediately died of jealousy.
I just got a new jigsaw puzzle in the mail. It’s a Ravensburger with 5000 pieces!!:
Oh my goodness! I was JUST oogling that at the store. I think I left drool marks on the box. I don’t think my dining room table is big enough for it though ;)
I hope you enjoy it! I am sure it will be awesomely challenging.