Backstage

I've written before about the young man in the photo at left. His name is Kevin Barnett.  I made his little friend Kyle.  Kevin performs with Kyle, attends the Venthaven Convention, and sees shows by famous ventriloquists whenever he can.  He caught Terry Fator's wonderful show recently and went backstage to meet him.

Someday in the future, some aspiring young ventriloquist may be posing backstage with another famous ventriloquist... a grown up Kevin Barnett.

Have mouth, will argue

"MR. WINKLE" is now spoiling for a fight on Ebay.

I ain't got no-body

Well... actually he does.  And a nice one at that.  He's even wearing a brand new suit.  But I digress. 

Thought you might like to take a look at how I set up my controls.  I use a hollow PVC pipe design from Braylu Creations so I can run the mechanics down the center.  The nifty triggers for the jaw and eyebrows work smoothly and are easy on the fingers.  The jigger controls the left/right eye movement.

I run a brass tube and rod up the PVC pipe secured to the pipe interior with Magic-Sculpt.  Then I shove a length of ethofoam tubing, folded in threes, inside the PVC pipe from the bottom.  The expanding ethofoam also secures the lower portion of the brass tube and rod where the rod and jigger exit the opening in the PVC pipe. 

Our debt to Detweiler

Few have done more for the proliferation of ventriloquism around the world as Clinton Detweiler. His blog, Mr. D's Daily, is a staple for ventriloquist blog readers. Clinton's "Maher 30 Lesson Course" has educated untold numbers of ventriloquists through the years. He's probably made and sold more figures than anyone in history. I have learned so many things about making figures by reading his blog posts. So I was honored when he asked if I'd like one of his famous "Smiley Face" Pocket Puppets and the accompanying "Five Dummy Dollars" coin.

I received it in the mail today, Clinton. Thanks for everything you do for the art of ventriloquism and its artists. I'm smiling as big as the Pocket Puppet!

Cantankerous

Mr. Winkle

This obstinate old cuss is ready to spread joy with the help of a very patient ventriloquist.  After all, any future partner will be apologizing for this octogenarian's snide comments about almost everything and everybody. 

I hope somebody buys him anyway.

No head for figures

It's a little ventriloquism humor. (Yeah, I know... very little).

Actually, I thought I'd pass along my vent figure body prep.  I buy my arms, legs and hands from Braylu Creations.  Owner Buzz James always marks the center spot on the lower interior where I screw in an eyehook for control post attachment.  Then I staple the legs onto the wood body. My exterior padding is a foam pad made for campers to cushion their sleeping bags.  I cut several 8"x12" rectangles and staple each one to a body. 

Next comes the shoulder padding.  I use a soft fleece material, soft-side up, on the shoulders.  I cut an "X" over the hole for the head.  I glue the padding onto the shoulders with Elmers Glue.  Then I staple the arms in place (with hands already attached).  The last step adds a foam covering over the soft pad on the shoulders (the same material as the body wrap).  Before I staple it in place, I cut a large hole for the head.  After stapling it, I cut away the shoulder foam in the areas in the front and in back of the hole for the head.  Finally, I stuff a 2-inch length of tubular ethofoam (used for home repair insulation) between the soft pad and the foam shoulder covering to give the shoulders a rounded appearance. 

I don't pad the interior.  I figure folks can add their own padding or not depending on their preference. (I prefer no interior padding). 

And that's how I turn a 'nobody' into a 'somebody'.

A lout with gout

Another Mr. Winkle is about to rev up his mean machine. All he needs is a couple more days, a little glue, a touch of paint, and a rim of hair. Then his incessant complaining will begin.

Grabbing the limelight

"Ricky" is now up for grabs on Ebay.

Ready for action

This little guy is dressed in his Sunday best in hopes of impressing someone.  He'll soon be available on Ebay for the winning bidder.  He's a take on my "Henry" character, but because he's a redhead, I'll call him "Ricky" for now.  But whoever decides to make him his partner wins renaming rights, too.

The boy to annoy

He probably looks forlorn because he's lonely.  That's why he's listed on Ebay. If you can provide a little companionship, then click on the link and place a bid.  There's more information about him there.  I'm sure he'll repay your kindness by being totally annoying in public everywhere you take him.

Coloring on the lines

Now that I'm back home, I'm busy in my workshop.  I've painted my grouchy old guy with an Afro skin tone and enhanced the wrinkles with a darker color.  I also painted the lips with a lighter pink color.  I still need to thin out the darker lines in the lips by repainting the pink color around the dark lines.  In fact, that partially describes my method of painting wrinkles. 

First I paint the wrinkle with a slightly lighter color than the skin tone.  Then I paint a thinner line of color that's darker than the overall skin tone.  Then to make the wrinkles finer, I touch up the edges with the original skin tone color.  

Face to face

On our way back home to Oregon from Monterey, we arranged a visit with Buzz James, owner of Braylu Creations. I've been a Braylu customer for several years and we've emailed and Skyped many, many times, but never met. Glad to say Buzz is as nice and as gracious as they come. It was great to finally meet him and shake his hand in-person.

Size matters

A question from a reader:
Q: What size clothes do they wear? And is it without alterations?

A: My guys wear size 2T and don't require alteration (except for the
slit I cut and sew in the back for hand access). Also, sometimes the
shirt necks are a little big, but a paper clip or sewn tab tightens
them up.

Sent from my iPhoneo

We are all unbalanced

Here he is again with 2 coats of paint.  His left nostril is higher than his right which gives him more of a snarl.  Also the left side of his face has more of a frown than his right. 

I think sculpting faces with uneven features gives the characters more personality.  Very few of us actually have facial features on one side of our mugs that are equal to the other side of our mugs. 

Keeps us humble.