And...

I started.

Manufacturing

I do enjoy making my conversion figures. The part I enjoy most is designing and sculpting the facial features. But now and then, I reach a point when I need to manufacture elements of the figure. To keep a steady flow of figure production, it's better to perform certain tasks in an assembly-line fashion. I usually manufacture five at a time (which I procrastinate).

That's where I'm at today.

(I will start. I will start. I will start.)

Mr. Winkle

In an earlier photo, Mr. Winkle looked substantially more evil. The wig and thick eyebrows tone down his malevolence to a degree. Now I think he just looks grouchy, which was my intent. His pessimistic charm will be available to the highest bidder beginning tomorrow night on Ebay.

GW

I wonder if the nice folks at the local Goodwill Store think I'm some kind of lurking pervert (a la Aqualung). You see, I browse the store searching for adult wigs and 2T children's clothing. I always feel obliged to mention that I make ventriloquist dummies as I'm checking out. They always respond with a smile and a sigh of relief.

The best deals for dummy clothes are at the local thrift stores. I get really happy when I find two or three nice pairs of size 3 or 4 shoes. I love scoring 2T overalls. And I especially like finding 2T white dress shirts and vests. I also buy clothes on Ebay, but they tend to be more expensive. Since I'm a senior citizen, I always get deep discounts at Goodwill, so that's my favorite source for dummy clothing.

My wife likes to tell our friends how excited I get when I find particularly cute clothes. I'm sure they all think I'm a little weird, but ventriloquists have been putting up with that for eons. I don't think I'm weird.

I'm... unique.

On the face of it

A dear old college friend emailed me. He wrote that he made me one of his Facebook friends. I clicked on the link only to find out that I had to join Facebook in order to be his Facebook friend. I guess a 40-year real friendship doesn't qualify one to bypass the membership. So what the heck. I joined. I was stingy with the personal information, though I left enough of a trail for folks to find this blog.

I think Facebook must be an extension of the game kids play. Lots of kids had invisible imaginary friends. We ventriloquists took the game just a little bit farther. When Facebook folk find their way here, they'll get a gander at the photos of my imaginary friends. When I say I make friends, I really make friends!

Now I have a Facebook profile. (I'll be darned if I know what to do with it.)

Back to back

Two blogs are active again; Al Stevens and Ken Souza Jr. (Adventures in Ventriloquist Figure Making). Also, there's a video of highlights of Wanlu's ventriloquism act on his blog. It's very enjoyable.

All the links are on the left side of my blog. Have a great day!

"No dummy 'til you finish your homework!"

I haven't had nearly as much "dummying" time as I'd like due to family medical situations, real job workload and trying to get my income taxes finished for my accountant. Speaking of my accountant, he has the look and demeanor of a turn-of-the-century schoolmaster. I see him at Chamber of Commerce board meetings and he can deliver a shaming vibe with a twitch of an eyebrow.

"I'll see you next week, right?", he said to me last time.
"You bet", I replied.

Well that was two weeks ago.

Guess what I'm doing today.

Oklahoma!

I'm not sure he'll be singing "Oh What A Beautiful Mornin'", but Uncle Morty is moving to Oklahoma. He'll be entertaining grandkids and friends. He might be a Sooner or he might be a Cowboy.

Either way, he'll be there sooner than later.

A face only a mother could love (though she might not like him much either)

I'm making my first mean guy. I'm concerned he'll look too mean. But he's been fun to make so far. I hope to have him ready to insult people within a week or two.

Uncle Morty

I've added another member of the "family". I call him "Uncle Morty". He represents a couple of new approaches to my conversion figure making. He's available now on Ebay and looking for an audience.

Ventriloquism for dummies

Not an original title, but it describes the instruction manual I've been writing. I plan to include it with each vent figure I sell. "Civilians" almost universally think that ventrilqouism is a mystical and difficult art to master. But actually it's very easy to learn. It just takes practice, practice, practice. When I was a six-year-old, I used to practice my lip control holding a small hand-held mirror.

The nuances of performance and character are actually the deepest part of the art form and the most difficult to learn. The lip control is the mechanical and simplest part. I firmly believe that a good act and great character trumps lip control issues every time. Edgar Bergen is my best argument for that opinion.

So look for my Kenny Croes ventriloquism primer in the near future. (Though I wouldn't be scanning the New York Times best seller list).

Ich bin ein Berliner

Augie has found gainful employment abroad. I suspect he'll need some lessons in German to master his new position. He'll call Berlin his new home.

Auf wiedersehen, Augie.

Taming the slackers.

I learned to make a jaw pulley from Al Stevens' Fred Project. Now that I use the same pulley axle for the crossing eyes, I've added another plastic pulley (on the left) and placed plastic washers on either side to keep the cords from hopping over the pulley. This time I added a copper wire across the top, similar to the Al Stevens method across the top of the jaw pulley (on the right). The cord in the jaw pulley is usually very taut. However the eye-crossing cords get slack when the eyes are moved side-to-side. This new set up will tame those slack cords.

Looking for work

"Augie" placed his resume on monster.com. He registered at the local unemployment office. He also filled out an application at a temp agency. He'd probably have a job by now if he hadn't written in the box "occupation" the word "goofball". Now he has a day left on Ebay to find gainful employment.