Gnomes were local myths in the mid 18th century in Germany. They were first made in Grafenroda, this town was popular for its ceramics. As the peoples enjoyed gnomes stories Philip Gribel first made these. Eventually garden gnomes gained a lot of popularity and became a hobby for passionate gardeners from Germany to France and also England.
Germany soon had many manufacturers of garden gnomes and each had a different way to make these. Today Germany is said to have about 25 million garden gnomes. However after the second world war many manufacturers stopped production. These are still being produced by descendants of Philip Griel.
In the UK, they were introduced by Sir Charles Isham in the yr 1847 after he returned from his trip to Germany, he brought 21 terracotta figures along with him. Out of the entire batch of the original gnomes, only one survives. It is on display at the Lamport Hall and is known as Lampy. It is insured for one million pounds.
Collection of garden gnomes is known as gnoming. It is very popular among many gardens. In the year 2008 a French man was arrested in Brittany as he was the suspect for stealing 170 garden gnomes.
Some say that garden gnome is a descendant of the Greco- Roman god Priapus as his statue was found in many gardens at that time.
Gnomes are usually males with beards wearing a red hat and smoking a pipe. They are made in different poses as doing different pass time activities like napping, fishing, playing golf, dancing etc.
Gnomes are made from clay poured into moulds. Then they are removed from the mould and dried, after drying they are fried in kiln till they become hard. Then they are cooled. After cooling they are painted.
To select a gnome for your garden
Step 1- The first thing to do is to decide on the type of gnome to be selected. Gnomes may be happy or sad. Their poses may vary like napping, fishing, dancing etc
Step 2- Select the material type of your gnome according to your outdoor environment.
Step 3- Choose similar size gnomes with similar colours. Uniformity in gnomes makes the garden more presentable.
Step 4- Placing the gnome is the next thing to do. Gnomes should be placed in natural areas as if it is actually living there. While placing it should be kept in mind that the gnomes should be visible to visitors.
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