Speaker

I regret not snapping a photo of my host, ventriloquist Ed Shipley before his cohort Uncle Grimsley made it back in the trunk. Ed invited me to speak today at the Coquille, Oregon Rotary Club. He's a retired Episcopal priest who has been entertaining parishioners for over 30 years. His vent figure Uncle Grimsley was made in the 1970's by a fellow named Dick Lovik when Mr. Lovik worked at Disneyland. (Note: I'm not sure he meant Keith Lovik since I've never heard of a figure maker named Dick Lovik). The figure was designed to resemble then-young Ed Shipley, but as an old man. Of course, today Ed says it's hard to say which of the two looks older.

The Rotary Club was an attentive audience and seemed to enjoy Uncle Grimsley's introduction of me. I did a PowerPoint presentation about my vent figure building and showed off my figure "Donnie".

Ed says he'll send a photo of himself and Uncle Grimsley for my blog, but first he'll have to ask his wife to scan one. I may perform some repair work on Uncle Grimsley, too. Over the years, he's developed a few cracks. (Haven't we all.)

She devil?

With her eyebrows titled outward, she looks like a little demon. But the brass eyebrow frames will eventually be coaxed back into position, covered with Magic-Sculpt and painted a dark brown. Her winker has been assembled and given its flesh tone paint coat. She'll get some blue eyeshadow on that winker and a bit more above her eyes.

The left eye will soon have a sculpted static open eyelid. I'll form it so it matches the open winker. Finishing touch will be lush eyelashes on both eyes.

I placed the eye tray inside the head today. When the Magic-Sculpt dries, I'll proceed with the winker and raising eyebrow mechanics. She might be ready to go by the end of this week or early next.

Auntie Pearl

This innocent-looking, sweet-dispositioned little old lady is named "Auntie Pearl". Though she's married to Uncle Earl, she tends to flirt with the young orderlies at the Happy Haven Retirement Home. She loves a rousing game of canasta, a plate of homemade cookies, and a snoot full of Jack Daniels. This former FanFan Girl at the Rosemont Variety Theater in Hoboken is hoping to resurrect her show business career with a partner. She'll audition for you on Ebay.

Fear the ear

I don't think there's a more difficult anatomical feature to sculpt than the ear. Seems like every time I meet someone, I stare at their ears. And I'm always amazed at the variety of shapes and sizes.  

I've made lots of cartoony ears. But a somewhat realistic ear has eluded me. Today I made my best effort yet on my full-size Otis. I need to do some slight modifications after the PaperClay dries. But I think I got a lot closer this time. It'll be real interesting to see if I can sculpt the mirror image on the left ear.

Monkey business

Nina Conti will be featured in a new HBO series by Christopher Guest (of "Spinal Tap" fame) called "Family Tree". Hear all about it in this NPR story.

I guess I'll just have to adjust

The winker frame went into Miss Mazie's right eye today. It took quite a lot of bending... adjusting.. .bending... adjusting... more bending... more adjusting. No wonder I charge extra for this animation. I still may need to do some bending, adjusting and even eye socket grinding to make it perfect.

Over on the right side we have the first full-size Mr. Winkle casting. He underwent some serious head prep today. I cut out the eye sockets and jaw cavity. He got a control stick, too. I also installed an axle tube in the separate jaw so I can place it in the head tomorrow.

Mazie phase

I'm back from my road trip to Cal-ee-for-ny-yay. I had a good time visiting family, airports, kids, old friends, pretty parks, oil wells, lakes, factory clean rooms and creatures of the sea. Now I'm back in the workshop picking up where I left off.

Miss Mazie got some attention today. I touched up the corner of her right eye where a winker frame will be inserted. The eye tubes were installed today. And I painted the bottom of the jaw (shown temporarily installed). 

Another project that moved forward today was my Otis the Moonshiner full-size sculpture. I added the first layer of PaperClay to the outer portion of the Styrene ear frame. I prefer to form the ears in steps. I let each phase dry so I don't mess it up as I work on the other parts of the ear. It's slower but seems to work better for me.  

On the road

On the road

On the road

On the road

On the road

On the road

On the road