An epic guitar for an epic tale. Vivian Xiao, artist, graphic designer, and illustrator, transformed a humble acoustic guitar into an awesome Lord of the Rings Guitar using sharpie markers. She spent 25 hours working on this beautiful piece.

If you’re familiar with world of J.R.R. Tolkien, you may recognize Bag End (Bilbo’s house), The Gates of Argonath (The Pillars of Kings), a Great Eagle, Rivendell, one of the Nazgûl, Isengard, Arwen’s water elemental horses, Minas Tirith, an Oliphaunt, and of course Barad-dûr with the dreaded Eye of Sauron, and more. Awesome.

[via Obvious Winner]

We’ve seen meat made out of balloons, Doctor Who’s TARDIS made out of balloons, and even a record-breaking giant spider made out of balloons, and now this, an entire room constructed using balloons. But wait, it’s not just any room. It’s the one and only Bag End, Bilbo Baggins’ cozy Hobbit Smial nestled into the side of a hill on the north side of Hobbiton.

“Balloon Bag End” was created by Jeremy Telford of Balloon Guy Entertainment. Jeremy spent one weekend inflating, twisting, and tying together 2600 balloons in order to transform his own living room into a unique replica of the famous Baggins’ residence, featured in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit as well as The Lord of the Rings books.

Paying great attention to details, Telford created the actual Hobbiton smial, as well as interior accessories like the small candle chandelier, a cozy fireplace and all the furniture described by Tolkien in his books. In a comment left on The One Ring community website, Jeremy said: “I planned it out a little bit. I googled 18th English furniture styles to give me a platform to jump from. I read the Hobbit again (not a chore!) to gleen what I could of the description of Bag End. Then I did some initial sketches before starting the big build.”

Jeremy filmed the entire undertaking and then put together a time-lapse video of the 40-hour long construction process. Jeremy’s talent, patience, and enthusiasm are, as far as we’re concerned, pretty awesome. Make sure to watch the video all the way through to the end to catch “the cutest demolition crew ever.”

For even more fantastic balloon creations by Telford and other talented artists, check out Balloon Guy Entertainment.

[via Oddity Central]

“Our only wish, to catch a fish, so juicy sweet!” 

New Zealand-based special effects wizards from Weta Workshop installed this incredibly awesome 13 meter (43 foot) Gollum statue inside Wellington Airport in New Zealand to promote the upcoming release of the first installment of Peter Jackson’s film trilogy of The Hobbit.

Gollum appears to be smiling as he attempts to catch himself a tasty fish while looming over travelers who are themselves having a bite to eat. You can even see a few bubbles emerging from Gollum’s mouth, which can only mean one thing: Surprise travelers! Your airport is underwater and you didn’t even know it.

Watch video of the installation of one of J. R. R. Tolkien’s most memorable characters here.

[via Geekologie]

It’s an Ent! 

Artist Kim Graham creates awesome one-of-a-kind sculptures. This particular piece is called The Troll and it’s our favourite.

[via Dark Roasted Blend]

We love this awesome Nazgul origami creation made by Jason Ku and we can’t help but think that J.R.R. Tolkien would be delighted by it too. 

Jason Ku has been folding paper since the age of five and began designing origami in high school. Since 2005, he has been the president of MIT’s origami club OrigaMIT and teaches regular Workshops on MIT’s campus. He is also currently the managing editor for OrigamiUSA’s online magazine, The Fold.

[via My Modern Metropolis]