Oh yea...

I know, I know: I'm seriously the WORST blogger ever. Granted, part of it is that this blog was meant more for my stop-motion stuff, and I've been crazy busy doing theatrical puppetry and mascotting. At Tandem Otter, we've just finished the big refurb for the Pee Wee Herman Show! I hate that I don't have any pics for you, but it's been insanely awesome getting to work for one of my childhood heroes, however indirectly. He'll be at the Stephen Sondheim theatre starting in November!

I have been inside Chairry. And Conkey. Seriously. You can touch me if you like. :D

And I've been mascotting like mad; I'm actually about to leave for my first ever performance tour with Bixby's Rain Forest Rescue! (Bixbyandfriends.com) I'll be gone for just under three weeks and I hope to have some great performance shots when I get back.

That time of year again!

Soooooooooooooooooo guess who built a dozen sheep for this year's production of "A Winter's Tale" for Shakespeare in the Park. Most of the puppets were built by the awesome Lake Simmons and her team (and Lake does a lot with us at Tandem Otter), but she let us in on the fun.

You should go! And you! And you over there! No, not you, though you should, but I meant that guy!

I'm also a docent at the Christian Boltanki installation, "No Man's Land" at the Armory on Park. If you see blue hair, come over and say hi!

Miffy Goes to Washington!

I know, I know, but I couldn't help it! (It's like I'm trying to elevate cheese into an art form or something!)

Miffy has updated her facebook page with photos from her White House Visit! She was there on Monday for the annual Egg Roll, and I got to be her super special helper!

She had a great time playing with the kids and all the other mascots there. It was an amazing, and exhausting day. :D

Here's a link of her dancing with Apolo Ohno on Fox News! http://video.foxnews.com/v/4137819/annual-easter-egg-roll

More photos here!

::insert catchy Disney tune here::

Wow, we've just ended the primary build at Basil Twist's for the touring Beauty and the Beast and are about to jump into The Addams Family Musical (on Broadway)'s refurb! Eeek! Beauty and the Beast opens on the 9th in Providence, RI and our wolves (and Enchantress) are flippin' SWEET.

If it's hitting a town near you, check it out! Revel in our amazing puppets!

Plush Life

It's been a pleasantly busy fall at Basil Twist's. We finished the build (so! Many! Tentacles!) and the musical (The Addams Family) will be opening this month in Chicago, and on Broadway this spring.

I really wish I had pics for you, but I don't!

But what I do have for you are pics from what I do when I'm not animatin' and a puppet-tin'. I finally got around to scanning some of my old Six Flags photos, and I've a few more recent mascot shots as well.

New stuff!



I was too psyched to learn that this was the actual (well, secondary, but still!) Plex suit from the show. :-3 We had a great time at the Macy's Parade Press day. (And as soon as I find footage from it...!)





Miffy at the Natural History Museum Halloween show. First time in an inflatable costume. (Gotta confess, I'm not a fan of the inflatable. It felt like I was in a giant marshmallow the whole time, and I was really unsatisfied with how hard it was for me to interact with the kids. But the client and kids were awesome, and it was still a pretty great time all around!)




ROSITA SMASH!!!! Man... this very nearly ended in tragedy. (It's a great story, but not for the web). Have I mentioned that I love Sesame Street? And all things Muppetty? I feel like I was just too big for her- I'm not that tall, but I have long limbs that love to throw everything off. DX It was short, but kind of epic.




The Stork and I have a great working relationship. This is back from our first time in June, at some big deal high school football-dealy at Rutgers. I really, really wish I had some shots from ad week.


Classic plush



Remember my weird proportions? I had to campaign for YEARS to get any Daffy time. It was a bit maddening. I was the shortest regular rotation Bugs (Seriously? You can ALWAYS tell when it's me since the ankles pool). I was shorter than most of the regular Daffy's. But partially since I went into a lot of "Tall" characters I was technically too short for or just barely fit everyone was convinced I was taller than I am. So when I was finally able to do Daffy I... went a little nuts. ^__^;; What can I say? The Duck is AWESOME, and so much fun to work in.




Yea... apparently I was "too tall" for Lola, too.This was from the Philadelphia Mascot Parade years and years ago.

I'll be honest: I'm of two minds about sharing these. On one hand, there are a lot about these puppets I love, and I'm super pleased with how little they changed from my concept sketches. But on the other... well,look at them. Each one has at *least* 1 element I'd want to change, usually because of something I misunderstood during the build. Punch's body is too tight, I didn't leave enough room to properly manipulate his hands. Igor... well I made a poor choice in a material that became a problem at the end. Yea, it's obvious I was learning when I made these.

But at least having them out will keep me making more once I have my workspace set up. (And I have a list as long as my arm of puppets, toys, and sculpts I want to make.)

^__^


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Reely?

Sorry for the absence, guys. I've been doing a crazy amount of mascot work lately.

Here's a (kinda rough) reel of mine: