Get A Chensational Puppet Of Your Very Own!

Well, I have never done this in my life but the time has finally arrived. I am clearing out my workshop and as a result I have decided to sell some of the early and current puppets that I have made for different projects.

Normally my custom work can get a bit pricey, but here is an opportunity to get a great puppet for well below what I normally charge. I must point out that I will be selling off two batches of puppets. These are the first batch.

I am in Canada but all my prices are in US dollars (any people interested outside of the US can contact me and we can discuss the appropriate rate).

Here is what I am selling:

These two bunny puppets are screen used for a Canadian television show called "The 11th Hour". They were design to be "creepy and cute at the same time".




These two rat puppets were a couple of my earlier puppets. I was planning on doing a video with them called "The Rat Pack" but I nevr had time to do it.




Originally built as a custom order, the purchaser opted not to buy them. Their loss is your gain. These two aliens' heads are cast latex rubber.





Another show idea I had, these two "whisps" have latex heads and hands and come in these custom costumes.









This awesome troll was an experiment using two part molds. Face, hand and feet (actually one foot) are all latex. There are lots of cool details on him and he is wonderful to operate.







The second latex puppet I ever made. She is a witch with cool blue hair, and a wonderful fit on the hand. She was on display with some famous puppets at a puppetry exhibit a while ago (bottom picture, far right can only see her dress a bit, but I have other pictures wth her).




This gargoyle was made out of scraps that can be found in any classroom. It was a cool puppet to make using everyday items. He is extremely light!








The Big Bad Wolf was a custom build for a video I was in a while back. He has an internal blinking eye mechanism, removeable legs and a "sheep's clothing" costume.






If you are interested or you have any questions feel free to get in touch with me via email: Chensational [at] gmail [dot] com

Project Puppet's New Contest!

Well, Project Puppet is doing it again. They are having their latest puppet building contest and this time there is a theme, Fairy Tales Characters! It's called the "Once Upon A Puppet Contest" and I am honoured to be invited back as on of the official judges.

This years deadline will not be pushed back for any reasons, so I am encouraging anyone who is interested, to look at the official rules and start building. I want to see the best you've got!

What's My Name? BIG MANE!

Oh yes! Big Mane is in the house. He is one of the stars of Chimp TV, my online puppetshow that I have been working on for too long. His character was designed by awesome artist and fellow puppet builder Pasha Romanowski.

When I built Big Mane I stayed pretty close to the overall feeling of the design, but it ended up taking on a life of it's own. There are differences in proportions (head length, eye size, belly, etc.) and details like eyebrows that have been left out. But the essence I think is still there.



I believe in something fellow builder Matt Ficner told me about his puppets. He noted that there is a certain element of realism when things are not perefctly symetrical. You'll notice that is the case with this puppet. I acutally opted not to do measuring at all during construction and instead did a lot of "eyeballing".


I had started off with a rough mock-up of the puppet to get a sense of his look.








After I was happy, I started to build the puppet using reticulated foam.





This puppet has a cable control for the eyebrows that uses a basic system here. The only different is that I used a bike cable in a thin hose tube to push the lever instead of my finger.


Next I started to add a fabric covering to the body. You'll notice that I try to outline where elements of the puppet should go by using a marker on the foam.






I then did the same thing for the head and continued to workon the body. You'll notice that I used both antron fleece and fur on this particular puppet.






This puppet is also a human arm or live hand puppet. I made these arms to look pretty big and powerful. These gloves are really very comfy.




Here are the arms attached and the head ready to be attached as well. You'll noctice a giant sleeve coming out of the hack or Big Mane's neck. This is to help guide the hand when putting on the puppet.


This is a final shot of the puppet. I really like how he feels as a character. He is a gentle soul with more strenght than he knows what to do with.







I decided that his pectoral muscles were too small so I modified the puppet and here are the results. A bigger chest. He still has his little white chin beard but it was tucked away in this shot (sorry).





I hope you enjoyed this project. I will continue to build a few more puppets (and I have some other talented builders helping me out too). The goal is to get as much shooting done this summer, so that I can start editing stuff over the fall and winter. Stay tuned for some more Chimp TV news.