Sunday, November 29, 2009

"Can you make a puppet's nose bleed?"

Last weekend we shot some more "Steve The Vampire" shorts!
Here's Mom (Jim Williams), Steve (me!), and Han (Christoper A. Lemanski) on the set... And Jim's eye peeking through just to creep you out!

As a puppeteer and puppet maker I get asked some strange questions sometimes, usually funny.. . Or while working I tend to say and hear weird things that said anywhere else would just be wrong. In funny ways...

Ricardo (who directed Betty And Me and Plinksgiving) once asked:
"Can you make a puppet's nose bleed?"
My wise ass response:
"If you punch it hard enough."

Brie's sister Maggie asked while watching The Muppets last Christmas:
"What happens if you put a puppet in water?"
My wise ass responce:
"It gets wet."

Here are a couple of my faves from working with puppets...

"If I put my hand all the way in here, she'll pop."
- This came from Jim putting on a puppet that was very tight, and he could have popped a seam in her neck.

"Grab those balls and put them in my mouth."
- Making puppets with Pete one day I had a eyeless puppet on my hand and I wanted him to hand me two ping pong balls, and since the hand with the puppet on me was closer to him I wanted him to put them in the puppets mouth... We laughed untill we were in tears.

Many times we're all laying on a floor with the puppets up in the air and the director behind the camera will tell us we need to get the puppets closer to each other. In this case we have to spoon up together, or on top of each other and so on... Very often it looks like grown men playing Twister without the Twitser pad... A very bizarre orgy... I worry someday someone will get hurt and 911 has to be called and we're all stuck in position... That would be a story for the EMTs to tell...

Anyway... December 1 the next Puppet A Day goes up, another one from the collection. I'll start posting Elmwood Puppets again at the start of the New Year...
Have a great one!

Monday, November 16, 2009

I Am A Genius!

A few months ago I was getting ready to work on some things and I layed out some antron fleece to cut, and I folded it over a could times to do one cut instead of several. While cutting it I hit a part that took a little extra pushing with the scissors. Then a little while later I plugged in the power strip to get the glue gun warmed up... And it wouldn't... Hmm, I wonder why...
I will admit, this wasn't one of my brightest moments!
Hahaha

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Bert - The Collection

Bert
One of my oldest toys

My brother, Michael, and I - at Sesame Place

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Monday, November 2, 2009

Paper Bag Portrait By Mad Matt

This portrait of me was made by Matt Ficaro back when I worked a Blick with him in 2005. In return I made a puppet of him. Click his name to see it!
Click the pic to see more puppets of me, if you really want to! Hahaha...

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Yoda - The Collection

Yoda
I got Yoda way back in 1981, when The Empire Strikes Back out!

Saturday, October 31, 2009

Skeleton - The Collection

He glows in the dark!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Sunday, October 25, 2009

Saturday, October 24, 2009

The Eyes! - The Collection

I always have a set of these with me. Great for practice, and kinda like a good luck charm now.
I should buy stock in the company that makes them!

Friday, October 23, 2009

Rocky - The Collection

Rocky
This was my original puppet partner and brother Michael's favorite puppet.
I still have it.
Rocky with Kermit

Rocky with Ripper and the Elf!


He used to have a little black nose. It fell off decades ago. Someday I might put a new one on!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Dread Guy

Liz Werle made this guy.
I'm not sure if he's got a name though. He's appeared in some Elmwood stuff...
I live the mouth piercing!


Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Kermit - From The Collection

Here's Kermit!
OK, yesterday we hit the one year mark! "Yaaaay!!!"
So from here I'll not only be posting puppets that I've made but I'll be posting puppets made for Elmwood Productions by our other crew members and puppets from my collection of toy puppets. And I'm not gonna promise a puppet every day... It was a one year experiment, and it was a success!!
This Kermit is the one that started it all. I had other toy Muppets as a kid, but this one was the one I was obsessed with. I used to turn him inside out to see how he was made! I never got rid of him and never will.
Ripper and Kermit

Kermit and I - Late 2008

My friend Matt gave me a twin of him as a gift a couple years back, I'll post him later! Hahaha!!!
Kermit Rules!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

PLINK!!!

Plink
Mouth Puppet From "It's Late Enough With Plink!"
The New Plink! The old Plink was the first puppet I ever posted here one year ago, and here is the new one.
I made the original in 2000 and he was my first puppet, so I've learned alot since then, so it was fun to go back and make him again but with updated techniques!
So I made it one year! The experiment is complete. But I'm not done with Puppet A Day! From here on it might not be daily, but I'll still be posting the puppets I make, and the puppets other members of the Elmwood crew build. And I'll also be posting puppets from my collection of toy puppets, so I hope you keep checking back in! And thanks agin to the awesome Brie for coming up with the idea to do this!

Me and Plink!

Monday, October 19, 2009

Otis

Otis
Mouth Puppet from "It's Late Enough With Plink!"
The original Otis (made in 2001) and the new one!


Sunday, October 18, 2009

The Demon

The Demon
Mouth Puppet from "It's Late Enough With Plink!"
The Demon's been scene here once before, but here is the newly made version!
Here is The Demon (in progress) harassing the Mandy puppet!


Saturday, October 17, 2009

3 Days Left!

I made this guy at the restaurant crawl also...
So I started Puppet A Day on 10/20/2008 and the plan was to post a different puppet that I have made for 365 days. And it's almost 10/20/2009, that's a year! I did take a week off to showcase the puppets made by the other Elmwood crew members. But here I am at the home stretch.
I got the idea to do this from Brie, she read an article about a painter who challenged himself to do a whole painting a day for a whole year. And originally I was going to make a puppet every day for a whole year, but then I was looking at the puppets I've made so far and figured it would be fun to post them also. So about half of these were made before 10/20/08 and the other half were made over the course of the year. So here it is, the last few days...
After the 20th I'll still be posting puppets as I make them and as the other crew members make them and puppets from my collection of toy puppets, so keep checking back!
JB

Friday, October 16, 2009

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Monday, October 12, 2009

Vampire Mafia Member

Vampire Mafia Member
Mouth Puppet from Steve the Vampire
This vamp's name is Marty...

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Saturday, October 10, 2009

Friday, October 9, 2009