If you’re in the mood to spend some serious Black Friday money this year, one Finnish craftsman is ready to sell you something you might have always thought your home was lacking: a giant wooden dragon called Teppo.
It took Jarkko Pilvinen more than 300 hours to build the beast at his workshop in Tikkakoski north of Jyväskylä, and the dragon has been a hit with the public when he’s appeared at Hämeenlina Medieval Fair.
“Most of the kids who seem him, their first idea is that they think he’s alive and kids are a bit scared of him. But then when you tell them it’s made out of wood, then they have the courage to get close and pet him” says Pilvinen.
Teppo stands 2.2 metres tall and is 5 metres long from the tip of his nose to the end of his tail. His body is made from pine and birch, and leather wings with iron ‘fingers’ in them which can be posed in different positions. He weighs around 300kg.
Jarkko Pilvinen says it will be tough to part company with Teppo, but he should find a new home now.
“Of course I love him, and it’s hard to explain because I know I could build a new one if I wanted. It’s also a bit sad but Teppo will still always be the number one dragon for me” he tells News Now Finland.
“I think Teppo deserves a new home. Right now he stays in our workshop in the middle of wood and dust and we want him to have a home where is much better displayed than he is now.”
The price tag for having your own dragon? A cool €5000 - heavily discounted from the usual €25,000 price tag just in time for Black Friday shoppers.
