Om nom nom

I had the neat experience of setting up as a vendor at the first ever Maker Faire here in Phoenix. In 2008 I participated in the San Mateo Maker Faire & had a super fun time doing it. But as Phoenix usually goes, this was more intimate &...sweatier.

Lots of puppets found new homes, which means I'll be adding lots of new puppets to my shop soon! (I came home & made 36 more!) Before I went, I resolved to make a few puppets that were incredibly rad, (instead of focusing on "what can people afford to spend right now & I'll spend my time accordingly") & I think it was a good decision. I made a crocodile that I so totally want to keep. Then I made an owl & a fox, because I've succumbed to being trendy. Somehow or other it led down the path of "they're all predators...they need prey!" & thus the "Food Chain Friends" series was born.

Keep your eye out for them, & let me know if you think 2-puppet sets would be appealing. Downside: they're elaborate puppets, so they cost a little bit more than the average one. A set could be pricey. Upside: They'll be together! Forever!...unless the person who buys them gives one away.

Also, there's a poll on the facebook fanpage if you want respond to it. It's just one question. Let me just say the business side of running a business is totally all businessy & stuff.

It just occurred to me...

a) Occurred was a vocabulary word in my junior year of High School. I will never forget that.

b) I've done a bucket load's of really rad stuff that I feel compelled to list, but then I feel like that would be bragging, but then I feel like if a blog is for nothing else, it's to feel mildly indulgent, even if it's informative, because really most things people do are indulgent. I really hope I'm spelling Indulgent right....

c) I really like run-on sentences. although that didn't just occur to me. I've known this.

d) I really don't think I'm bragging. I'm just being self-indulgent to see every awesome thing that has happened to me in one place. I'm not looking for a pat on the back, because really all of this stuff is a pat on the back in and of itself (however I won't stop you) And they're not in choronological order. They're reasons I'm proud of myself at 2am.

• Etsy made a video about me. FREAKING WOW!
• I was in a Barenaked Ladies video for which my friend Noah Ginex did all his fancy-pants stuff (but he still credited me as a co-concept, set designer, assistant puppet builder, and puppeteer. I did do those things, and feel as though my roles were very minor, but it's really nice to actually be recognized for what I did do)
• I've taught at-risk youth for 4 years the art of puppetry. That right there is something big because someone trusted me enough to do that. And man, kids are really great at writing scripts.
• I was asked to make some last-minute puppets that were in two Phoenix Coyotes commercials. One with Wayne Gretzky (yeah, take that, Canada! I totally got to them before you did!)
• I was commissioned to make 5 puppets of and for 5 famous people (2 of them are legends...one has her own Webster's Dictionary entry) and they now own those puppets. What a kick-tuchus privilege.
• I've won awards for my film-making & writing with puppetry, and have shared those proudly with my friend Mack.
• I've sustained performing puppet shows for grown-ups in Phoenix for 7 years.
• I've managed to send my puppets to people in more than 10 different countries. (like..they even asked for them)
• I was asked to be an artist for The NewTimes Best of Phoenix edition.
• I've managed to titilate more than 3650 people on Etsy.com enough that they've added my shop as a favorite. (freakin' a!)
• People like what I write. (well, up until now, anyway)
• I'm pursuing something that I've loved since I was a toddler. I feel connected to my grandfather, who--even though he died when I was very young, I admired greatly.
• I was asked to make finger puppet kits for the MakerShed (Craft Magazine's online store) & even saw my finger puppets printed in their magazine in an ad for the store! &
• I was invited to be a demonstrator at the MakerFaire
• I've been to Toronto to "work" with awesome puppeteers
• I've received scholarships to puppetry festivals...People want me to learn, grow, and succeed!

I think of myself as this kid who is still trying to find her place (with her puppets) in the arts world....I forget that I've been recognized. I don't forget that my life is really rad & that really awesome stuff has happened to me (well, I forget some of the things)...but I do forget to see the big picture of it all. So here, now at 2:15am, I can see that I don't need to search for my place. I have my place. I've got this nice little plot of land. Now I get to lay down some irrigation & watch my seedlings grow into something even more amazing. Or are my plants already growing and I just need to sit back & enjoy each step of seeing the fruit form? Or is the fruit already there & all I need to do is harvest and eat it? Either way, something needs to be enjoyed.

Mmmm delicious, delicious puppet pie!

Hey look, embedment!

So...Found a way to embed it. I think.



You can embed it too. just uh...go to

http://www.etsy.tv/video/Mister-Donuts-Handmade-Moment-2

and copy the embedding code to the right. then embed it somewhere. Like your lawn. But somewhere a lot of people will see it--so like the lawn in your front yard, not the back...my husband suggested the White House's lawn--because he thinks he's funny.

Why I've not been making finger puppets: an excuse in more than 140 characters

I checked how many puppets I'd made in June. only 21. That's a far cry from my goal of 60 finger puppets/month. like...a really far cry. But I have a good excuse! My dog ate my--er..no...my friggin FIVE cats made me play with them.

Slight detour: We have 5 cats. 3 are 3 months old. We decided about 3 months ago that we'd probably keep them all. However, I do really enjoy seeing the exact same set of worried eyebrows on my friends' faces when they, for the 7th time, ask me, "So have you decided whether or not you're going to keep them?" My husband (yes, I'll blame him) had pretty much declared that we'd keep them all the moment we found out there were only 3. Still, each time the kittens are brought up, someone will ask, "So have you decided to keep all of them?" And they look at me like--if I do, I run the risk of donning a large, floral-print, over-sized mu'umu'u and chasing children down the street shaking a broom at them. To which I say, I don't even know where to buy a mu'umu'u. I do have a husband and a child...hopefully that will keep me from turning into an old cat-lady. And I go back to the husband-blaming I mentioned earlier. Totally his fault. He was allergic for so many years, I think this is his way of falling off the wagon.

Back to the road.
So I really do have a good excuse. I've been working on a very short (30 seconds) video for Etsy.com. They're having a "make us a commercial & you can win some $" contest. So I did. I'm hoping it wins. But I suppose everyone who enters a video into the contest hopes it wins. If they didn't I'd be surprised.

Ok here's where it gets a little "uh oh": They choose the top 25 videos that go to the finals based on the number of views they get! (see? Uh oh.) I'm not sure if it's individual ISP views (meaning that you can view it once from your computer) or if it's the total number of views (meaning you can watch it a few times from your computer). So here's what I ask the 12 of you who read my blog to do: I need you to watch it. And! If you like it, send it to your friends, have them watch it too & tell them that your weirdo-friend made it. If you don't like it, send it to all of your enemies as punishment for being your enemy. Or if you're ambivalent about it, you can send it to your friends as punishment--or to your enemies as a reward.

I've gone on and on about watching it and I've provided you no link by which to see. I'm terrible.
http://www.etsy.tv/video/Mister-Donuts-Handmade-Moment-2
Hooray! I'm not terrible anymore!

Alright then. World: do me proud. pretty please.

Where is summer going?

At the beginning of the summer I had several projects laid out for me.

1) make a few videos
2) make some more hand puppets
3) animate *something*
4) finger puppets galores
5) maybe enroll the boy-child into swim lessons

I thought, Wow, I've got a lot of time to kill this summer!

Now its June 7th. Officially 1 week into June. We leave for vacations (and puppetry festivals!) for most of July (anyone want to cat-sit?). That means I only have three weeks left before my time to work on projects comes to an end! Yikes? Yikes, indeed.

First priority- Custom orders. I've got two to finish by the end of June. Totally doable.

Second Priority- Etsy video. To be honest, I'll likely do this sometime this week--before the two custom orders are done. I need to get it up as soon as possible--it's just a matter of writing out an acceptable dialog and then turning on the camera. Writing the acceptable dialog is the difficult part.

Third Priority- Make hand puppets! I've been stalling on making more hand puppets for my etsy shop for a long time, now. It probably has something to do with the fact that I need to clean my craft space.

Fourth Priority- I've been wanting to make some videos with my finger puppets. I want to make them elaborate, but I don't know where to go from there. I just know: Elaborate.

Throughout everything- Finger puppets. This is something I can do every day. I could probably make gazillions of these in a month, but to be honest, it's a matter of not knowing what to make sometimes. I mostly rely on my friends to tell me what they want me to make--if I get inspired from that, usually it's a winner (i.e. safety cone). But if I could, my brain would just make bunnies and puppies and kittens and mice (that, let's be honest, all look roughly the same when I make them). So if you have ideas, go ahead and leave them in the comments. I might make it. I'm trying not to make too many elaborate finger puppets right now, mostly because the price-points are more than anyone is really willing to pay for 2" of felt right now. And hey, I still might make it if it's a completely awesome idea.

Attention!

I'm the youngest child in my family. I also have red hair. Both of these things combined have made me into the lovely attention whore I am today...although whore is such a "negative" word....Or is it?

You may question the red hair thing, but when you're a member of just 2% of the population on Earth, people comment on your hair.... a lot. Especially when you were such a cute little bugger. (See above.)

Attention seems to go in waves. Particularly when it comes to my Etsy shop. Sometimes things are all a flurry, and sometimes not so much. Right now it's certainly a-flurry! Hooray!

I've had the lucky-luck of having been featured in an Etsy-wide (subscribers at least) email by Tina seamonster, who is everywhere and is super-awesome-wacky-fun. I've also been on the homepage of Etsy.com a couple of times within the last month or so.... And 1000 Markets featured my bacon puppet--and then a pretty snarky twitter account who can get downright mean sometimes (I won't mention who...) featured me as well! Wheee!

So I've been getting lots and lots of "hooray me" time. Isn't that fun?

There's more, world. There's more....

Not only is this a feature, this is a call to duty for you good people...all 27 of you. It's time to stand up for your country--whichever country that may be--and vote for my wonky finger puppet! I know you may be tempted to vote for something better or more adorable, or better made, or funnier...but resist those urges that cause you to be honest in your voting and vote for me! This is a friggin popularity contest here and won't I be so sad when I only have 2 votes at the finish line. So yes, I'm asking for your pity-vote. Hooray pity votes!

The sad thing here is that I'm "competing" against some of my favorite people--totally unfair...and I'm finding new favorite people, too...I mean, c'mon, pizza cake? Total winner!

So yeah...uhhh vote for my finger. please.

That's the entire point of this blog post.

I'm getting all serious about poop

As the title would suggest, I'm getting serious about poop. And I don't mean I'm making more toilet paper finger puppets. Not until the first one sells, anyway. I mean that I'm setting up goals! I'm asking myself if I'm successful. I'm pursuing talking about success so I can avoid actually taking action on that success. (I'm honest, right?)

So I set out some goals for myself. As I mentioned...yeah. I'm on codeine (legally). Give a girl a break.

I often get a bug in my butt to go posting to Etsy.com's forums about how to succeed in life. And I give amazingly good advice. Such good advice that I actually sell it. And people actually buy it (crazy, right?). So this is a refined post to the forums that got ignored, but I don't want myself to forget it. So I'm posting it here so I can go back and read it like a narcissist.

Some of them are pretty darn generic. OK, most of them are. It's like they don't really tell me anything, but it sounds pretty.

Ready? Are you? You don't care, do you, you just want to see pictures of puppets. I made dead jam the other night. It's nice. I'll get photographs up once my ruptured eardrum (yes, ouch) allows me to get up and do things. like shower. (I know).

OK so some of these things have already happened, so that's awesome. Some I'm still waiting on. That's okay. In fact, I think it's good.

Artistically I'll know I'm succeeding if:
1. People all over the world are viewing my work. And smiling.
2. I get compliments on my work.
3. I'm creating new work that isn't forced.
4. My work is represented in multiple cultures/countries and speaks to a broad population.
5. I gain recognition among peers in my field.

Businessly(totally a word, I did not just make up that word):
1. People buy my work.
2. Enough people buy my work that I survive.
3. I have 1000 fans that spend at least $10 each year.
4. I gain at least 100 hearts/month*


Ways to make it happen:
1. Not treating it like a job, but rather treating it as though I'm positively surviving on loving what I do./Focus deeply on loving what I do.
2. Seeking out avenues locally to display and showcase my work.
3. Pursuing education in my art form so I don't become stagnant.
4. Introducing my work to people outside of my selling venues.
5. Establish meaningful connections with fans. But not in a whore-y way.
6. Seeking out support from other artists, both in my field and elsewhere.
7. Not allowing myself to not create. Pushing past the runner's wall.


OK so some of those sound a little gay. (Pause--I tried to think of a synonym for this that would still convey the fact that I understand that I know I'm being really....uh..gay about it all, that wasn't offensive, but I'm taking codeine and my brain-thesaurus isn't working properly, so gay it is!--Unpause) But that's what I came up with for goals. I have a few specific goals that I didn't put here because I just didn't. I don't need to justify to you people!........Ok so it's because it's just businessy stuff that probably isn't useful to anyone but me. A laundry list, if you will.

*For those of you who don't know, "hearts" on Etsy.com are given to you when someone adds your shop or item to their favorite bookmarks to their profile. So the goal here is to have 100 people add my shop to their favorites per month. I could just say that, but hearts sounds more cutesy. And if I'm all about anything, it's cutesy. Hence the bloody tampon. Schmadorable.

Oh, and somewhere in the middle, I threw in a picture of a daisy in a jar. I've decided that jars are the way to go when packaging my finger puppets for in-person shops. I suppose if people want, they can have jars in the mail. I'm sorry Amanda, but I really, really like it. Thems is funny to me.

On that note, you should come watch me every Tuesday night at 11pm EST on blogtv. because you need further proof that I'm a dork. Yes, watch me make finger puppets and chat with the people. My good friend and fellow puppeteer, Mack Duncan usually co-hosts with me.

Two days & broken promises

I'm totally writing something today even though I wrote something yesterday. If I keep this up, you people are going to think I'm a whore for blogging. So maybe I am? What of it?

Thanks to the schmancy Google Analytics, I found out that the average time someone spends here is just under a minute. 53 seconds to be exact. So to help out with the necessity of the peek & dash, I'm going to not write an epic novel today. Or maybe I am, who knows, its like 1am, I could do something incredibly crazy like that! Wheee!

I have some kind of exciting secret thing coming up tomorrow that I'm excited and secretive about. Let's just say I'd rather not have broken out with bad acne tonight. That shouldn't give you any real kinds of hints, but...yeah. I'd just rather not have it. Not like there's a good time for a break-out, there are just more inopportune times than others.

Did I mention that I participated in a 24-hour film challenge that the IFP in Phoenix put on? I'm not linking anything because I'm terribly lazy. Google is your friend if you want to visit the site. You're lucky I'm even backspacing for typos at this point. Anyhow, IFP stands for Independent Film Project. I've done two of these before, both with puppets. This time we got our film in on time. The idea is to create a film in 24 hours. I've been sick for nigh on a crow's age, so I didn't participate in the entire 24, so I haven't watched it yet. All I will say is that it's done in stop-motion animation, which pleases me to no end. I will do more of these. I will.

We also tossed around one idea that we didn't use that I'm bent on using. I'll use it! I will!

Hey you should go look at the naughty puppet in my etsy shop. Again, not linking...I think its off to the right if you really want to look. scroll down a little. pictures of puppets--that's my shop. I think I'm funny sometimes.

take the poll. please.

I'm not sure what this post had to do with puppetry. Hey look at the top! Its a puppet! There. worked that in. Smooth, aren't I?

I'm not a promise-keeper.

Two days in a row? I'm craaazy.

No really, I'm crazy. I've been told...by people.

I wanted to share some of the puppets that I made recently. Hooray! I'm really excited to love finger puppets again. For awhile I was feeling as though that was a sub-par type of puppet to make. Now, honestly, I think--for me--it's better. I'm a tiny girl and I like tiny things. I'm embracing just how awesome something little and made of felt can be. I think I struggle with believing this is a skill anyone can do (which I still mostly believe) and they can make it look the same if not better than what I do. And I see tons of handmade artful finger puppets that go beyond the flat"oh look I'm a monster with one eye, Whooohoo!" that I see a lot of. (No offense if you make those--the world needs that kind of puppet as well.) So maybe not everyone can make anthropomorphic garbage cans and dapper mustachioed bacon. Maybe it takes my odd little brain to come up with a happy little piece of feminine hygiene, emo pancakes, or conjoined bunnies. And don't worry, I know, the over-use of bacon is waning on all of us, however I've been doing bacon for years now and I'm not about to give it up because its gone all mainstream. I commit to making my bacon weirder and googley-eyed-er than any other bacon out there. I pledge this to you, America. (Sorry, Canada.)
Anyway, enough with the talking words.

Ok so because blogger seems to lack the wonderful formatting previewerage that would be so helpful in times like this...I'll say what the puppet is, and you can guess which title goes with which puppet. It will be a great challenge. Alright here we go.
*Mustachioed Rain Cloud....see, I didn't realize the felt was green until I got it into better lighting....when it was finished. Ah well, acid rain it is.
*Mustachioed bacon. I actually made this puppet on the plane going into Missouri. I just haven't photographed it until now. I really like it. A lot. I think this is one that will stay in my own personal collection.
*Rabbit of Makershed fame. Yet another bunny that I made back in May at the Maker Faire in San Fran (I can call it San Fran because I'm native to California and it makes me sound cool). I'll remind you now that the kits are available at the makershed online. I hand wound each spool of thread that's in those kits (No really, I did). Indie kit all the way, baby! Support the indie artist! Or don't, it's cool. (I can say indie because I'm on the tail end of gen-x and it makes me sound cool.)
*Googly Eyed Strawberry. I was at my friend's house while she was making dough on Saturday and she gave me a pile of felt, a needle, thread and scissors. Also she gave me a straw for my drink. Wendy's failed. This (and the acid rain) came out of the felt. With my help.

Side story: our children (age 4--but collective age of 8, so they should have known better!) were hanging out in her backyard unsupervised, because really, what harm can two four-year-olds do to a backyard with a playhouse and a swing-set? Let me answer: They threw rocks over my friend's fence, apparently hitting her car, putting dings in the paint as well as breaking the windshield. That's right, my son is a vandal. Hooligan. (I feel terrible about that, by the way.) When asked if there were things on the other side of the fence that could get broken, his response was, "No. We couldn't see what was on the other side of the fence."
So you know how when you go out of a baby's line of vision, they freak out because to them you don't exist anymore? Apparently fences have the same effect on four-year-olds.

Ok, finally I have to tell you about an artist whom I stumbled across today on Etsy. His name is Dean Kendrick and he does amazing shadow boxes and has some beautiful hand-drawn and stop-motion animation on his website. I dig.

dude, don't forget to vote.

I went to New York for 5 days and this is the only proof that I have that I was ever there. It's me and Mr. Craig Hunter from Cubistliterature. We were in Red Hook, Brooklyn, which is really pretty darn awesome. Anytime I visit Brooklyn, it makes me wish I lived there. Granted, it's pretty darn smelly...I couldn't quite get over that part. And there are many other reasons I'm glad I live where I live, but for the social aspect I wish I lived there. Craig and I went out to lunch & it was lovely.

I stayed with Jen from Sweetestpea and Goobeetsa from Goobeetsa while I was out there. They were such kind hosts! Their apartment, the largest in Brooklyn, is adorable! They're also both really great artists.

The improv festival prior to my goings-outs-to-lunch went pretty well. Our show was okay, but eh, it's improv--at a marathon-style festival, sometimes you're not going to have your best show. I totally missed Josh and Tamra's improvised puppet show! I caught bits and pieces of another improvised puppet show out there that was done with Sunny puppets...The humor was there, but the puppetry made my tummy feel icky. Like..ugh. eating words, no focus (really how much can you get out of a Sunny puppet anyway?). standing there looking at the ceiling, as talking heads and biting words. It was not done by puppeteers...

Am I being harsh? Of course I am! If an improviser watches non-improvisers do improv--and do it badly-- they cringe and ask why in the world would someone just pick-up and try to do an art-form without any training? You're telling people that that's what improv is? You're lying to people and they're just believing you. You're hurting the artform! You must hate your audience and improv! Go take a workshop, foo'! (Which I hear a lot from improvisers) So yeah, I don't feel bad calling improvisers out on botching another performance art. Yah--eat it. With a spoon.

I really really want to get this longform puppetry troupe up and running. I want it to be GOOD improvised puppetry! Not the stacey-drunk-em-ups style, but involve thoughtfully good scenes. It will happen. I hope.

All summer my creating of things has been down a lot. I'm driving 2.5 hours every day, which eats into creating...a lot. I listed a puppet on Etsy that I made in June..which weirdly helps put the creative bug back into me. I finished two finger puppets this morning. My son is helping me price things. "$1,000 for a raincloud." DEAL. "$20 for a raincloud getting a strawberry fresh. $13 for a raincloud lifting a car up." I think I need a better agent. Prices are only going down at this point. Hopefully I'll take pictures of the $.02 puppets today and get them posted to flickr so your magical eyes can see my magical puppets. Magical.

A 2nd bird today has just hit my dining-room window.

Caution: Spoilers

This is Larry Bignose. The Larry on the left was created by a 9-year-old boy who shall remain nameless for awesome's sake. The Larry on the right was adapted to puppet by me. I have had the extremely good pleasure of adapting four more of his designs into finger puppets. Keeping in mind that I'm plunking these guys down into under 3" of felt, it's not exactly easy. Larry's biggest challenges were in making his hands and his hat. I made the hat separately, and now I think I should have made it bigger...at least the brim. To get the full-on excitement of the hat, you'd have to look at the side view. Nothing will ever be perfect, right? If you know the recipient of this puppet...SHHHH.

We got home last night to find nothing stolen. I'm only mildly disappointed, although I know many of you are very busy with the end of the school-year and all. The only thing missing was our mail, but we knew about that so it doesn't count. A good friend stopped by to get our mail for us while we were out of town & we went by his place on our way home to pick it up. We only had him get our mail after hearing that another friend got a scholarship to PuppetFest Midwest in Trenton, MO* this summer. I also applied for a scholarship, so I was really anxious to find out. I called Bill to see if the letter was there and if so, in what type of envelope, and whether or not it was thick, etc. I had him open it over the phone and read it to me. I got the scholarship! Hooray!

For those of you who don't know, puppet festivals (unlike a lot of improv festivals) cost several hundreds of dollars just to attend. There's no taking just one workshop or going to just one show. It's either all or nothing. So with transportation, I think it bumped this festival up over $1,000 for me...which is completely not-doable. They scholarship pays for the festival, room and board for the week and the workshops. I have to cover transportation, but I can do that!

I only get one real week out of the year to learn from other people and this is it. This festival is unlike a lot of others, in that it offers a full week of classes with only one instructor (most festivals offer that as an option, but not as the only option). And then there are shows in the evenings, and dinners together. You stay in dorm rooms with other puppeteers and it's pretty okay to geek out over something like an arm-rod or a ladder stitch. For my some of my other crafting friends, consider it like going to the bead store with someone who knows what a crimping thingie-doodle is, or to a knitting store where they have bamboo fiber to spin. The nice thing is that all craftsmen are brought together under the love of a dremel. (yes..all)

I still can't believe Maker Faire was only a month ago and that the music video was only 2 and a half weeks ago? wow. A lot has happened recently. Thankfully it's not going to slow down! I have a workshop that I'll give at a Library toward the end of June, and lots of puppets I'm making for people who want puppets. And not to mention that I get to go on vacation next weekend for 8 days at the beach starting next weekend. And thrown in there is Disneyland! Yay!

*Trenton claims to be the world's largest producer of Vienna sausages. World..You have NO idea! None! I will gain 47 pounds in sausages. 45% of those pounds will be sodium. Oh sweet baby hot dogs that come in a can, you will be in my belly. Soon.

Frogs & San Francisco

On the day before yesterday, I was asked by the good people at Make:/Craft: Magazine to go to the Maker Faire to be a demonstrator & possibly speak. Wow, what an incredibly awesome honor & opportunity! I bought my plane tickets yesterday and will go have a weekend on the town in San Francisco. Hooray! I also got the most amazing amigurumi frog in the mail from Italy yesterday. It was a little birthday gift to myself. I love it. WOW. Rosy LaWood is the artist who made the frog. The card inside the frog's messenger bag says, "please take care of me." Gosh, this frog is just so much fun! She's just begging to go to San Francisco with me!
So, really this week has been pretty darn rad.

Phillip Huber arrives to our theater next week. I think next week will also be rad. I'm in awe of marionettes and particularly his marionettes. He has really worked hard to preserve the history of puppetry. I admire him a lot.

I decided to celebrate all of these things by making myself a Shirley Temple. Mmmm delicious.

Puppet Pie has found a mascot.

I present to you....

PUPPET PIE!

It's a finger puppet. Part of Pie-Pact '08, however I decided that since I have so many things actually named Puppet Pie, that maybe I should keep this one. However *ahem* if you would like your own piece of puppet pie in any flavor of your choosing (most taste like felt), then just let me know & maybe I'll invest the time into making more for Etsy.

~

Also....Tonight our short film project for IFP's winter festival took home 3 awards:
1)Best Story.
*ahem* I'd like to thank Mack Duncan for our lovely brainstorming session & a lack of sleep for providing me with lines so hilarious that I shouldn't write them in a public space.
2)Best Use of Puppets
*ahem* I'd like to thank the panel of judges for making up an award specific to our show. I'd like to apologize to each film that did not get an award tailored to their piece. Specifically, I'm sorry film with the fat-suit. I really thought you should have had the best fat-suit award.
3)First Place (and a cash prize!)
*ahem* um..are you sure? You watched it, right? The one we submitted........Really? Wow. um...thank you? I think. Yes. Thank you. Thank you very much.

They took our picture. On the first one I thought, "oh lame, I get my picture taken & I smile like a 3 year old..that's great." On the second I thought "I get a second shot at the photo!" By the third photo I was really just a tad dazed.

The film will be presented at the Phoenix Film Festival on April 7th.

I want to make more films.

being proactive instead of reactive

Of all of the puppets that I've made, I think this frog might be my favorite. I think one of the reasons for that is because I didn't get to keep him for very long. He was shown at a local art gallery in '06 and I wasn't expecting him to sell. I'd made him out of the leftover fabric from a dinosaur costume that I'd made for my son for Halloween that year. At least I think that's where the fabric came from....

I was telling a friend of mine how I am sad that I haven't kept a few key puppets in my building career...the frog, the Phoenix Coyotes Puppets, and a bunny or two. My friend said, "Well, why can't you just recreate the frog?" I thought of a long list of unreasonable reasons to not remake him, one reason being, "I don't have the same fleece." Then thought that I should at least try it no matter what color he is. Green is still the goal, here.

So I've embarked on a make-a-puppet-for-myself adventure. I am not going to post this one to Etsy and I'm not going to use it for any shows (that I know of). I'm taking my time, I'm starting over with things when they don't work right, and I'm allowing myself to put him down without being finished with him. Leaving him alone when he's not finished is actually the hardest part of this project. A) I want to see him done! B) there's a lingering fear that if I put him down, I might never find the time/motivation to pick him up again. So far, I've gone back to him. And, I'm really excited about the whole thing.

I give another workshop to another library for teens & tweens tomorrow..and then again on Thursday & the following Saturday & that ends my library run of workshops. By the way, if you live anywhere near Phoenix, just let me know if you want to know about the workshops in more detail...the Library is paying me to teach, so it's free to anyone ages 12-18.

There. I've updated. Are you happy?

I'm getting around!

I feel like I might be everywhere at once. This is a bit of late-night thought gathering, so it might be disordered & long-winded, but then again, when is my life not that way?

So I was thinking about where my puppets are as of late...
I may or may not be sending puppets to Everette, Washington (just waiting on a contract) to be sold in a bookstore/gift shop there.
My work will be not only seen, but for sale at The Trunk Space's gift art show for the next two months, the opening is this Friday night.
Commercial is still running. That's exciting.
I'm also doing a workshop at the Paramount Theater in Casa Grande, AZ on December 8th! Same as the other one, but further south & $5.00 more (if you want to go, 520-316-9290 or email michelle@paramount-theatre.com).

I feel extremely happy with myself regarding all of these "goings arounds"

Contest Winner Announcement!

I hearby officially declare and decree:
Yesterday, in the midst of trick-or-treaters, a young Godzilla reached into a bowl and pulled out the number 19. What does that mean? Well, the 19th transaction of the 20 transactions eligible to win the puppet from the drawing post in, oh gosh, was that back in August? was the winner!

Who made that transaction you ask? Well by golly it was Megan Mucci of http://muttsywonder.etsy.com! Congratulations Megan! I wish I'd thought of sending your fluffy puppet today when I was at the post office...Oh well, look out for him soon...and by soon I mean sometime before Christmas!

My sad, sweet condolences to everyone else who did not win the puppet. But don't lose hope, there will be more contests like these! Misfit puppets need love and support, and the only way to give them what they need is to have people win them. You love something if you win it, right? So keep your eyes peeled both here and in my shop to see what the next little bundle of fluff might be up for the winning!

In mild other news, I have a puppet slam tomorrow night at the Great Arizona Puppet Theater at 8pm. I'm in at least two shows & am pretty darned excited as this will be my first performance venture into shadow puppetry. oooOOoooo

Drawings are for artists.

As much as I love participating in contests, I love holding them, too.

The first contest I held was to explain to me why you deserved a free finger puppet and I'd arbitrarily choose a winner based upon the answer I liked the best. Sort-of like Apples To Apples, where its not necessarily the *right* answer that wins, but rather the answer that appeals to me the most. I think I chose the girl who lied about her grandma and her dog dying in the same week and then quickly admitted that it was a lie and that she really just wanted the finger puppet. I applaud outlandish tales when repentance is so quickly achieved.


So I made a little hand puppet. This shouldn't shock you. I tried lining it. This also shouldn't shock you. I failed at lining it. Now you can be shocked. He turned out pretty good, I just felt like he was worthy of giving away. Not that he's terrible. He has personality. I'm sure he'd make a great friend. And hell, who doesn't want a free puppet, right? I know, I know... that's what they say about having to take the ugly kid to the prom. But, even the ugly kid needs love. I know, I was the ugly kid. I need love, dag nabbit! Love me!

So I have this little drawing going to happen in my shop for the next 20 orders that I get. Their names will get put into a bag, and upon receiving the 20th order, I'll have my (by then) 4-year-old son whip a name out of the bag. Adorable isn't it? We'll make it a big ceremony. Hopefully I'll remember to take pictures and post them to flickr.

I figure if, by having the next 20 orders, rather than the next 20 sales, that guarantees that the odds are 1-20 of winning. Unless, of course you're order #1, 4, 5, 9, 19, & 20. But at that point, seriously, if you're going to buy that many puppets, you're a little more deserving of your odds being increased, right?

I don't exactly expect this to boost my sales any. OK, maybe I expect it to boost them a tiny bit. Maybe someone who wasn't exactly going to get a puppet *right now* would consider getting the puppet they've always dreamed of having a little sooner. (Because the doors are pounding down with people clamoring to get a puppet by Stacey Gordon, right? hehe) AND they'll get a pretty adorable and easy-to-manipulate puppet to boot. If they win, that is. Everyone else will just get the ugly, difficult-to-manipulate puppet that they ordered. (muhahaha)

Right now I'm just wondering how long it will be by the time I get my 20th order in this little race to win a puppet...

I make puppets.

It's true. I make them. Now, I make blog posts, too.

This is one of the first finger puppets I made. Super Chicken.

It started when I was asked to put my hand puppets into The Trunk Space, a local art gallery here in Phoenix. I had mono and couldn't get up to the sewing machine to make any more hand puppets, so I grabbed my piles of fleece and started making finger puppets. Hamburgers, penguins, whales, mushrooms, lions, cats, dogs, giraffes, monsters, ladybugs, etc. all made it over there. I think I gave them about 35 of them.

I discovered making finger puppets was addictive. Instant gratification. Unlike a hand puppet which takes a lot of time before you get to the fun part of giving it a face, hands, tongues and the what-have-you, with a finger puppet you can add all of those things in about an hour! My living room was covered in thread and fleece. My bedroom was covered in thread and fleece. I think I actually broke our vacuum cleaner because of all the thread that wound around the brushes (really, it was on it's way out anyway...I just finished it off).

A friend of mine was urging me to join a website called Etsy. I figured I had my hands full enough with trying to keep the Trunk Space supplied, so I didn't do it for several months. She finally came over to my house and set up my shop for me. She took me outside to take pictures of my puppets (that picture there is one we took that day) and then we came inside to list them. That was about a year and a half ago. If Etsy has done one thing for me (other than give me some money to fund my puppetry habit), it has been to force me to better my artwork.

By no means do I know a lot about puppetry or puppet building. I have been fortunate enough to work with and for the Great Arizona Puppet Theater, who has one of the most kind directors you'll ever meet. They have done nothing but encourage me and guide me in my less than mediocre puppet building over the last 5-and-a-half years. Because of them, I'm doing what I dreamed of doing as a child. I only regret not having done it sooner.