Crafty Tuesday: A Few Answers to a Couple of Questions

I am taking this from questions that I got at the blogs, by e-mail, and from a conversation I had the other day with my bowling league. 1) Why do you share so much of your work? Probably because I was raised by teachers who believe that teaching others is a calling and I have that calling. I know there are people who carry how they do something close to the vest. I figure, especially for the puppets, that I would rather have that knowledge out there and growing rather than all to myself. I have learned so much from so many and I want to share that knowledge with others. I think the only things I don’t show are things that I learned that I promised not to show and I respect the people who taught me to keep their trust by not telling. I figure if what I do inspires someone else, then I have done something good in the world. 2) Have you ever built a full-body puppet (like Sweetums)? And how long did it take? Yes I have several times. Most of them are for costume calls at various conventions. I made a Stitch in an Elvis costume for a Buffy sketch. I made a Disney Beast for Beauty and the Beasts. I built a dinosaur and rebuilt some full body dino puppets. How long did it take? Well depends on when it was in my build career. I have learned tricks that over time makes it easier to construct. But I would say a couple of days if that is all that I am doing. 3) How do you decide what to work on next? It starts with the most pressing deadline and goes from there. If there isn’t a pressing deadline then it is whatever won’t go away from my head. This past year I made the Chuck and Eric puppets because they wouldn’t go away. Sometimes something just strikes my fancy and it gets made. Other times I try things I haven’t done before just to see if I can do them. 4) What do you make your puppets out of like the Purple People Eater? The puppet I am talking about I use fleece over ¼ to ½ inch foam. The foam allows me to create a structure to put the fleece over that maintains the shape of the puppet. I used pretty much the standard fleece that you can get at just about any fabric store. The holy grail of puppet fleece is Antron Fleece which can be dyed just about any color you want and hides the seams beautifully. However it is very expensive about 25 a yard rather than from 8 to 3 a yard depending if you have a coupon. I love it but it puts too much cost to a puppet that I am selling to the general public. It is a little different on the commissioned pieces. The horn was made out of white Crayola model magic which I then painted to make it look more like bone (picked that trick up at the Crayola Factory in Easton, PA) and refined the trick due to things I learned from the Frouds. The “fur” is a feather boa which has made my life so much easier in terms of puppet hair. The mouth is thick cardboard covered by red cloth. The one eye is a piece of craft foam and a black sharpie with a piece of purple fabric for the eyelid. 5) What did you learn over time that you wished you had known when you started? For the puppets it was that unless I was going to redress the puppet, I didn’t have to make all the buttonholes for the clothing. That took a long time and really don’t add anything to the look of the finished puppet. Most of the rest have been things that were more valuable because I learned from them so I know why I don’t do it another way. 6) How long does it take you to make a puppet? Well the Purple People Eater was done in less than 8 hours and I had to pattern part of him. But that was an extreme example. For a basic puppet including a t-shirt and the hand rods, I have it down to 4 hours but that is after a lot of practice. Things that can slow me down are having to create patterns from scratch, having to go get more fabric to finish up, or not being able to find that one thing I need to finish the puppet properly. So I don’t start until I have all my pieces that I need to do the whole project so I don’t get frustrated half way through. 7) Which is easier, costumes for puppets or people? For me it has to be puppets but then I was building clothing for puppets way before I made anything for people. There is the matter of scale and puppet details can be very very tiny but it is worth it for the whole effect. I have gotten good at people sized clothing but it takes a lot longer to do a shirt for a human than it does for a puppet. I do enjoy the challenge of making a costume and figuring out ways to recreate the look of something. 8) What are you working on next? This would have been a different answer a week ago but right now it is puppets for Field Day where we are doing a show that takes place under the sea. I need to make and refurbish a number of puppets for it. Fortunately I had done a show like it many moons ago so I know how I am going to build everything. Two weeks for all that. So that is going to be my next couple of Crafty Tuesdays. I am grateful for all the questions I was asked. It gave me things to think about. (I am still taking questions if you got them)

Crafty Tuesday: Ask Me a Question

What do you want to know about my work? I really am interested in what people find interesting about crafty Tuesday (or if anyone is reading this at all) So ask me a question and I will, if I can, answer it. I am grateful for growing plants.

Crafty Tuesday: Musing on Tabling Things

DragonCon is 114 days away. Yikes! There are things before that including Shore leave which is August 3-5th this year because San Diego Comic Con moved its dates. Now in thinking my way through what I am going to bring I also have to start thinking about displaying the objects I am going to be selling. Presentation is important in an art show as the objects themselves as I have learned over the years. The customer has to be able to see what they are buying clearly. And tables are not exactly set up for that. This is something that I have learned over the years. When you get a table at most Art Show at Science Fiction Conventions, it is 6 ft. x 30" with a white table cloth or possibly a plastic table cloth with some form of cover all around the table(s). There are variations and it is good to consult your Art Show Director as to the size of the table you are getting so you can plan. A trick I learned a while back was to measure out with masking tape the area I was going to be putting my objects d’art. Then try to put them all in there and see if it works. Too crowded can be as bad as too few items. Also remember that you need room for the bid sheets and for the customers to be able to mark the bid sheets. If they are so smack against the front of the table, it makes it hard to bid. Also makes sure that it is very clear which bid sheet goes with which object. I had a problem one year in that I was not clear which Phluzzie went with which bid sheet. Now I tend to put the number on the puppet so it is pretty clear which sheet they go with. There are ways of getting more out of your table. You can choose the cloth that you put your art on and use that. You can have stands that allow you to present the objects at different heights so it is visually more interesting at a casual glance. You need that first look to make the person want to take a closer look. I tend to do that by having something that people find amusing so they have to take a closer look. It is one of the reasons I put the Phluzzies in every year. One caveat I would put on the display, remember that it is traveling with you or your art and it is returning unless you are selling the display with the objects. So think about weight and packing when piecing it together. I have found the cardboard can be your friend in this and you either take it back home or recycle it at the convention. Assume at some point your table is going to get bumped into and make sure that nothing topples over. Also assume breezes as people walk by. It is good to have a business card available for people who might not buy right then but down the road they might want to get in touch with you. I need to redo mine since some phone numbers have changed as has some of the other contact information. The presentation is important but one needs to create the objects to show first. I am grateful for what I have learned over the years about presenting my work to the public. And since I am still learning, any clever ideas I should think about?

Crafty Tuesday: The Rainy Day and My Brain is Dead Edition

So here is a picture of Fig in her Ennui pose to make up for it. (for the VI: This is my black and white cat stretched out on the sofa. At her head you can see the backside of Caroline’s stuff moose. She has a blue pillow behind her that she is using for support. On the pillow is Caroline’s copy of the graphic novel of “the Last Unicorn”. Her front right paw is across her face.) Maybe it is the rain, which I am not complaining about because we really need it, but I have been staring at a blank screen for a while now. I did my usual tricks of poking around the internet to see if something causes me to come up with a topic. Nada. I have two projects in the hopper right now that I am hoping to have done by the end of the week. First one is replacement ATC dolls for the ones that I got half the envelope back but no dolls from the post office. Looks like it got caught in something. Then I am doing a dolly round-robin so I need to get my blank doll ready to rock and roll. And onto either dolls or puppets. Part of it is that I have too many ideas and but at the same time my mind is a blank. I think I need to just sit down and sort out my ideas. I do want to stretch myself as an artist but I also need to get stuff done rather than just think about it. Short version not feeling very crafty today. I am grateful for distractions that turn into useful ideas.