I forgot that my puppets are in some more hockey commercials.
The snowman is by furry puppet (or so says the ad agency)
The guy that's a guy & not a monster had his eyes replaced & I couldn't be happier with them It gave me an opportunity to give them a much-needed re-focusing. I'd like to sculpt their hands a bit, but I haven't been asked/paid to do that, so I didn't.
the only actual puppeteer they used (Don Kruszka) is for the Snowman. He funneh.
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Monday, December 8, 2008
Hybrids are the future
So a friend of mine is going to help me & do the costumes. She used to be a costumer at Disneyland, so I have a huge amount of confidence in her! She's actually a librarian/puppeteer. She's the one that's helped me with the library upstairs at the Puppet Theater. She's also developed her own shows to tour at the libraries in her circuit. (I wonder if that's like hitting the night club circuit at all...)
She showed me (in person, finally!) the two puppets she made from the Project Puppet Roly Poly pattern. I'm surprised that they're so small, but they're really nice puppets. Leave it to a seamstress to produce a friggin awesome puppet. Their costumes are all gorgeous too. She's just an amazing talent & awesome person & I wish she didn't live 45 minutes away. (I want to steal her)
It's also very tempting to just get some Project Puppet patterns & do it that way. There are two that I would need & the sizing seems about perfect for the project. Is that giving in? Is using a pattern admitting that I can't do it on my own? Do I throw away all of the awesome advice I was given & take the so very easy route? It just doesn't seem like something I should do.
I can, however, take elements from the super-rad-happy-fun-time-crazy-butt-Stacey puppets and from the super-traditional-build-a-foam-skull-&-face-then-cover-it-with-fleece puppets and make a hybrid. It will run on a charge & then use gas as a last resort. Go green or go home. Yes.
In 'real job' news. I'm learning a new show. I'll perform the show twice. It's a holiday show. Off I go to the theater to rehearse it for the very first time. Hooray!
She showed me (in person, finally!) the two puppets she made from the Project Puppet Roly Poly pattern. I'm surprised that they're so small, but they're really nice puppets. Leave it to a seamstress to produce a friggin awesome puppet. Their costumes are all gorgeous too. She's just an amazing talent & awesome person & I wish she didn't live 45 minutes away. (I want to steal her)
It's also very tempting to just get some Project Puppet patterns & do it that way. There are two that I would need & the sizing seems about perfect for the project. Is that giving in? Is using a pattern admitting that I can't do it on my own? Do I throw away all of the awesome advice I was given & take the so very easy route? It just doesn't seem like something I should do.
I can, however, take elements from the super-rad-happy-fun-time-crazy-butt-Stacey puppets and from the super-traditional-build-a-foam-skull-&-face-then-cover-it-with-fleece puppets and make a hybrid. It will run on a charge & then use gas as a last resort. Go green or go home. Yes.
In 'real job' news. I'm learning a new show. I'll perform the show twice. It's a holiday show. Off I go to the theater to rehearse it for the very first time. Hooray!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Scolding & Stories
Yeah, way to vote guys...way to vote. (I'm entirely disappointed with the views to voting ratio--poop, even the clicks to flickr are higher than voting..man...civic duty guys, civic duty.)
Ok so after a good scolding I thought you deserved a story entirely unrelated to puppetry, but related to my sense of humor.
I have, in the past, spoken of my grandfather. Not the one that carved marionettes (although he was rad), but the one that had an awesome sense of humor. We inherited his car when he passed away, it's the car that was recently murdered by a large Dodge SUV. (blasted American cars)
My grandmother collected many things, which was convenient because my grandfather was an antiques dealer & estate auctioneer. When my grandmother passed away in January of 01, we each took some turtles, some Kewpie dolls and a gnome or 3. (I should photograph them, they're really awesome) 9 months later, my grandfather passed away. He had begun seeing a woman at his Synagogue. We secretly think grandma bumped him off before they got too serious.
My grandfather had an amazing sense of humor. I was told this joke around the age of 8 or 10:
A child on Halloween is out trick-or-treating. He is dressed as a pirate. Knock, Knock, Knock. An older woman answers the door. "Oh, well look at you! Aren't you adorable? But...where are your buccaneers?" The little boy looks at her, rather confused and says "What do you mean, lady? They're under me buckin' hat."
Now, being that my grandfather is from England originally, he had an accent, which make the "me buckin' hat" really adorable. Also, anytime someone asked where he was from due to his accent, he said Oklahoma.
Anyhow, one day, several months after we lost Grandpa, I had been watching Antiques Road Show on PBS. Yes, I watch Antiques Road Show. It keeps me close to my roots, okay? So I was sitting afterward in my quiet apartment, thinking about grandpa & his profession & how people received items from their relatives that they assumed were nothing, they flipped them over to see some amazing marking & find out the item was worth more than what they imagined. Now, I didn't expect anything to be worth thousands of dollars. I didn't even expect things to be worth more than $100, but my curiosity was such that I had to go in & flip over some trinkets from Grandma & Grandpa that were on the shelf.
I looked to the Turtles. The brass turtles. I grabbed them both in my hands & flipped them over at the same time. I found not a marking of "hey I'm super-valuable" or even a sticker that said "made in Japan" instead I found a set of shiny titties & a va-jay-jay on one turtle, and a little brass weenis on the other. Secretly (on a blog that at least 14 people read--Hi Irene), just as I think Grandma took out Grandpa, I'd like to think that Grandpa & Grandma finally accepted my adulthood & hazed me from beyond.
I got my warped sense of humor from them & I love that it's something that can be inherited. Like well endowed turtles.
I should note that my grandmother, too, was a crafty lady, having crocheted a schmeckle warmer for her little brother to give to him as a gift on his wedding day. Presumably unused (Oh man I hope so), her brother be-gifted it to my dad at his wedding. Then, (Please, oh please) unused, my father gave it to my dear husband at our wedding. Thankfully just at the rehearsal dinner when only families from both sides were there to enjoy the experience. We certainly left the darn thing in its box because "presumably" doesn't mean "definitely". It was blue & had a pink bow at the top. Cute. When my brother got married, we sent it to Australia with my parents (which is where my brother lives--we didn't randomly send it to Australia for giggles) to give to him. The next boy in the family will get it & thankfully it is my brother's responisbility to make sure that happens...assuming it remains unused.
Ok so after a good scolding I thought you deserved a story entirely unrelated to puppetry, but related to my sense of humor.
I have, in the past, spoken of my grandfather. Not the one that carved marionettes (although he was rad), but the one that had an awesome sense of humor. We inherited his car when he passed away, it's the car that was recently murdered by a large Dodge SUV. (blasted American cars)
My grandmother collected many things, which was convenient because my grandfather was an antiques dealer & estate auctioneer. When my grandmother passed away in January of 01, we each took some turtles, some Kewpie dolls and a gnome or 3. (I should photograph them, they're really awesome) 9 months later, my grandfather passed away. He had begun seeing a woman at his Synagogue. We secretly think grandma bumped him off before they got too serious.
My grandfather had an amazing sense of humor. I was told this joke around the age of 8 or 10:
A child on Halloween is out trick-or-treating. He is dressed as a pirate. Knock, Knock, Knock. An older woman answers the door. "Oh, well look at you! Aren't you adorable? But...where are your buccaneers?" The little boy looks at her, rather confused and says "What do you mean, lady? They're under me buckin' hat."
Now, being that my grandfather is from England originally, he had an accent, which make the "me buckin' hat" really adorable. Also, anytime someone asked where he was from due to his accent, he said Oklahoma.
Anyhow, one day, several months after we lost Grandpa, I had been watching Antiques Road Show on PBS. Yes, I watch Antiques Road Show. It keeps me close to my roots, okay? So I was sitting afterward in my quiet apartment, thinking about grandpa & his profession & how people received items from their relatives that they assumed were nothing, they flipped them over to see some amazing marking & find out the item was worth more than what they imagined. Now, I didn't expect anything to be worth thousands of dollars. I didn't even expect things to be worth more than $100, but my curiosity was such that I had to go in & flip over some trinkets from Grandma & Grandpa that were on the shelf.
I looked to the Turtles. The brass turtles. I grabbed them both in my hands & flipped them over at the same time. I found not a marking of "hey I'm super-valuable" or even a sticker that said "made in Japan" instead I found a set of shiny titties & a va-jay-jay on one turtle, and a little brass weenis on the other. Secretly (on a blog that at least 14 people read--Hi Irene), just as I think Grandma took out Grandpa, I'd like to think that Grandpa & Grandma finally accepted my adulthood & hazed me from beyond.
I got my warped sense of humor from them & I love that it's something that can be inherited. Like well endowed turtles.
I should note that my grandmother, too, was a crafty lady, having crocheted a schmeckle warmer for her little brother to give to him as a gift on his wedding day. Presumably unused (Oh man I hope so), her brother be-gifted it to my dad at his wedding. Then, (Please, oh please) unused, my father gave it to my dear husband at our wedding. Thankfully just at the rehearsal dinner when only families from both sides were there to enjoy the experience. We certainly left the darn thing in its box because "presumably" doesn't mean "definitely". It was blue & had a pink bow at the top. Cute. When my brother got married, we sent it to Australia with my parents (which is where my brother lives--we didn't randomly send it to Australia for giggles) to give to him. The next boy in the family will get it & thankfully it is my brother's responisbility to make sure that happens...assuming it remains unused.
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Blast this project!
Here's my dilemma: I've got this project to complete by mid-December. It's a big & scary one. I can take this big scary project down two routes.
Route One:
I can go the "look, I'm a professional puppet-builder, look at how my puppets fall in line with most other puppet builders' style of building!" Not the finished look of the puppet, but the building style, the process if you will--built up with foam underneath, covered in antron fleece, made in the same way & eventually similar to looking like a "professional" puppet.
Route Two:
Or do I do the crazy-butt-stacey way of doing things where they look as though they've had a stroke (see Little Red Riding Hood or the Coyote's fan as an example).
I have been asked by some awesome people to make some awesome puppets for them & I frankly don't know if they asked me because they kinda know me, or because they like the style of puppets that I make, or if they just asked me because I'm their "best" option (i.e. they don't really know of any other puppet-builders). Seriously, if you were getting a staceyrebecca hand puppet & it was not all wonky down by the mouth & had a foam head etc, etc, would you be upset? Would you go "oh, well this is good, but where is the campy quirkiness that she's had going on for the last 6-7 years?" Would you say "Oh wow, she actually made this one look really, really nice!"
A related story: I started making WAY less craptastical puppets than I had been for puppet slams. We asked for feedback at a slam like a year ago & they said "what ever happened to that really funny puppetry group with the crappy puppets? We liked those puppets." Well..they did see them. They just saw the really funny puppetry group with the not-as-crappy puppets. So..I mean, I can't make everyone happy, that's for darn sure, but..blast, I just don't know what to do.
These puppets are going to be given to some pretty well known & rad people. Like... I think a lot of humans on the earth know who these people are. And the people receiving the puppets don't necessarily know me or my style of building, so they might be really, I dunno...unimpressed with them.
I guess I can toss a poll up about it..But you'd better hurry up & answer the poll because, dude, I should start on these like hopefully tomorrow, but in all honesty it may not happen until Friday.
Blaaarrrgh in a bucket of wet apples! Me & my "Hey, can you hold my hand while I pee for a sec?" mentality about this whole thing! This is what holds people back. Fear is a nasty old lady with a cane & she makes you eat candy that tastes like canola oil that went bad like a month ago. Yeah. Her. She also has like 15 cats.
A friend suggested I use elves. I think my next slam piece will be called "The Elves & The Puppet Maker" which will be based on a true story, except the bit about the elves existing. And stuff.
After that's all done, I get to work on my slam piece. Wheee!
I suppose we could reprise Big Benevolent Wolf....hmm...I'll have to un-cross-dress-ify him.
Ok Vote...Also, select TWO choices & tell me if you build puppets or not. Not that I can see what you said, (unless you comment)...bah, yeah, just select two for giggles, then.
Route One:
I can go the "look, I'm a professional puppet-builder, look at how my puppets fall in line with most other puppet builders' style of building!" Not the finished look of the puppet, but the building style, the process if you will--built up with foam underneath, covered in antron fleece, made in the same way & eventually similar to looking like a "professional" puppet.
Route Two:
Or do I do the crazy-butt-stacey way of doing things where they look as though they've had a stroke (see Little Red Riding Hood or the Coyote's fan as an example).
I have been asked by some awesome people to make some awesome puppets for them & I frankly don't know if they asked me because they kinda know me, or because they like the style of puppets that I make, or if they just asked me because I'm their "best" option (i.e. they don't really know of any other puppet-builders). Seriously, if you were getting a staceyrebecca hand puppet & it was not all wonky down by the mouth & had a foam head etc, etc, would you be upset? Would you go "oh, well this is good, but where is the campy quirkiness that she's had going on for the last 6-7 years?" Would you say "Oh wow, she actually made this one look really, really nice!"
A related story: I started making WAY less craptastical puppets than I had been for puppet slams. We asked for feedback at a slam like a year ago & they said "what ever happened to that really funny puppetry group with the crappy puppets? We liked those puppets." Well..they did see them. They just saw the really funny puppetry group with the not-as-crappy puppets. So..I mean, I can't make everyone happy, that's for darn sure, but..blast, I just don't know what to do.
These puppets are going to be given to some pretty well known & rad people. Like... I think a lot of humans on the earth know who these people are. And the people receiving the puppets don't necessarily know me or my style of building, so they might be really, I dunno...unimpressed with them.
I guess I can toss a poll up about it..But you'd better hurry up & answer the poll because, dude, I should start on these like hopefully tomorrow, but in all honesty it may not happen until Friday.
Blaaarrrgh in a bucket of wet apples! Me & my "Hey, can you hold my hand while I pee for a sec?" mentality about this whole thing! This is what holds people back. Fear is a nasty old lady with a cane & she makes you eat candy that tastes like canola oil that went bad like a month ago. Yeah. Her. She also has like 15 cats.
A friend suggested I use elves. I think my next slam piece will be called "The Elves & The Puppet Maker" which will be based on a true story, except the bit about the elves existing. And stuff.
After that's all done, I get to work on my slam piece. Wheee!
I suppose we could reprise Big Benevolent Wolf....hmm...I'll have to un-cross-dress-ify him.
Ok Vote...Also, select TWO choices & tell me if you build puppets or not. Not that I can see what you said, (unless you comment)...bah, yeah, just select two for giggles, then.
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