What the heck is this?

A fair question. To begin answering it, let me quote a passage that has haunted me since I was fifteen years old:

"Within the pages of this book, there is a story told
Of love, adventure, fortunes lost, and a jewel of solid gold"

This was the opening of Kit Williams epic puzzle book, Masquerade. I'm almost embarrassed to link it here since his accomplishment so utterly overshadows my little idea, but I felt it was important to explain where this came from. Masquerade was a book that told a children's story accompanied by original paintings, with a complex riddle woven through the design of the package. Solve the riddle, win a golden hare! This fixated me when I was young, and I produced scores of pages of notes attempting to decode the cryptography, follow Jack Hare, decipher star alignments, and all manner of odd theories. Time passed, the hare was found, and over the years Masquerade slipped from my mind.

I'd been thinking for some time about new ideas for pipes. The Halloween Pipes had gotten old to me - They were still fun to do, but there was such an expectation and weight building on each set year after year that I wanted to try something different. But what? Then, in the summer of 2005, Emily and I were lying on our backs at Herbignac's July 14th fireworks festival, out in the middle of a huge park, watching colored lights burst overhead, and this entire concept hit me all at once. It might be possible to make a pipe - no, a series of pipes - that connected with and unraveled hidden clues in some original paintings and stories. The pipe version of Masquerade, with the clues to any prizes hinted at in the designs of the pipes themselves, and in how they would connect to each piece of artwork. It would be an interactive experience, a chance for the pipe buyer to test his wits and deductive prowess and see if he could win himself something nice. Sharp-eyed readers of my blog(s) may have picked up references to this project here and there over the past year.

The idea posed immediate horrendous challenges. I hadn't painted in ten years, and when I stopped I was so annoyed with painting and disappointed in my own work that I'd never wanted to paint again. It was a weird idea, and there was no telling if anyone would like it. Anything that asks a potential buyer to exercise his mind instead of just his pocketbook would be likely to lose 90% of the potential market, said my cynical side. Worse, the work involved in starting up such a project was horrendous - I'd have to get fluent in painting again, the pipes would have to be made, elaborate riddles and stories drawn up and plotted, the intersections of the three media solidly designed, and all this with no paychecks coming in for any of this work.

Ergo, the project progressed glacially.

I did manage to get a tiny art studio set up, and found that I really enjoyed my return to illustration, largely because I was doing what I wanted to do instead of an editor or client's demands, and also that I very quickly slipped into a style of work that.. well, worked. But, the problem of tackling the full-scale project remained insurmountable with no way of guessing if the market would like the idea, and that brings us tidily to this October's goblin surprise - The Korrigan's Riddle. This is a sort of miniaturized trial run of my concept, which I've dubbed the Pfeifenigma, a hybrid term to describe these mixed-media art/literary/riddle projects. This is Pfeifenigma #1... quite humble overall compared to some of the bigger Pfeifenigmas I've sketched and mapped out, but one has to start somewhere.

I've many ideas for future Pfeifenigmas. Two predominant ones are to create a series of pipes, paintings, and story/riddles to tell an ongoing mystery, with small prizes winnable at each chapter and all connecting to provide one large mystery - the solution of which would likely win one a free example of that virtually-unknown Talbert Briar grade, the Minaria. Another idea that's quite tempting is to create a printed book comprising story, riddles, and artwork, for sale to the general public via Amazon and such, the solving of which would win one an equally excellent pipe prize. This obviously begs the question of, would it be possible to make enough in royalties on book sales to compensate for the work and costs of the prize pipe(s), writing, and artwork involved?

And this brings us to you, dear reader. "The Korrigan's Riddle" is a test-of-concept - Will anyone actually buy this? Will people think it's too much work? Too expensive? The dumbest idea they've ever heard? (I do predict a certain amount of, "Get back to just making pipes!" reactions) We'll see how it goes. The good thing is that, whether the idea is a hit or not, I had a wonderful time putting it all together so I won't feel I've really lost anything if the concept goes THUNK.

I'll leave off with Kit William's closing words from Masquerade:

"Remember, the best of men is only a man at best,
and a hare, as everyone knows, is only a hare."