Puppets and Props Shop Talk

Simpler can be better. . .

2012-02-11T12:46:00.000-08:00

I did a certain crossing eye mechanism a little more than a decade ago, and experimented with this style for 2 reasons. One, just to verify I could do it (its a little fancier than some and tested my soldering skills), and two, to verify its usefulness in a figure. Here's a few pictures...

Basically it's a telescoping mechanism, where a brass rod rides inside of a brass tube, and has a return spring. There are also 2 brass rods soldered to the tube and project out the back of the mechanism to connect to an 'L' shaped eye rod control (see example here).

Cord is tied around the rods on the back of the eyes, and go through 'screw eyes' in the sides of the head. When the cords are pulled, the mechanism telescopes like in the 3rd photo above, and the eyes cross. When released, the spring pulls everything back into the normal position, and the eye are no longer crossed.

Does it work well?. Yes, flawlessly. Is it practical or worth the trouble? Debatable! Often times simpler is better. The photos below show a much simpler method of achieving the same thing. It is based on one of the synchro/self-center mechanisms shown in my book, that uses two springs off the back of the eyes........

To that basic arrangement, screw eyes are added to the eyeballs, and cords are attached that will pull from either side through screw eyes in the sides on the inside of the head. See photos below....

When the cords are pulled, the springs allow the eyes to turn inward thus crossing the eyes. When the tension on the cords are released, the springs pull the eyes back into the normal position (like in the photo above). See photo below of the eyes being crossed....

The mechanism is very simple to make, takes very little skill to install, and works great. It self-centers the eyes, provides the synchronization of the eyes and allows them to be easily crossed. Back in the late 1990's, when I met with figure maker Rick Price to discuss different mechanisms, this was one that we talked about.

There were certain mechanisms that Rick and I discussed at some length, but were held back at the time from being published in my book for various reasons (sometimes out of respect for a certain figure maker). Its been so long now, I can't remember why this one did not get included.

Truth of the matter is, I've had many discussions with those learning figure making over the past decade or so, and have shared this simple method with them, and I know they have shared it with others as well. There's a number of figure makers currently using this method. It was actually in use for some time prior to when I first learned about it.

In any case, it's a good example of the old axiom that, 'sometimes simpler is better'!

I really am still here....

2012-02-04T15:43:00.000-08:00

Just a quick post to let you all know I really am still alive and kicking! <G> Things just continue to be incredibly busy here, with building dummies, helping others build dummies, finishing out some custom work and other commissions, etc. But on top of that, I got some nasty virus that had lasted almost 4 weeks. I'm much better now, but 'Whew!', I haven't had anything hit me like that in a long time.

In any case, just trying to get back to normal here and am playing catch up. I was playing some catch up before this, so now I REALLY have some 'catching up' to do! <G> Will try to post something of interest here as soon as I can.

Fresh New Face - Update. . . .

2011-12-20T21:45:00.000-08:00

Sorry to have been so quiet, but it has been blindingly busy here! No complaints however. Coming up for air to post an update on our 'Brose Buds' figure line.

In a previous post I outlined the basic concept and a few photos of the first figure in the line, 'Sparky'. We are very excited to announce that he can now be pre-ordered and you can get the full details about him on a new web page that I created for this line. . . .

Click on his photo and that will take you to the 'Brose Buds' web page, or you can click on the link below. . .

Brose Buds

Well, that's it for now. When the year end rush has calmed down here and I'm a little more caught up, I will try to post more often again with items of interest.

Why I Do What I Do. . . .

2011-11-21T22:09:00.000-08:00

Core Cast Urethane Heads. What does that even mean?!? It means a highly specialized mold that forms the outside and the inside at the same time when a head is cast in urethane. Advantages? Strength/Quality of the casting (which is very important to me) and ease of use when building a figure. We'll talk about these in a moment. Another reason for going this route?. . .

Being the first kid on the block to have a professional rotocasting machine (1998).......

... I experimented early on with rotocasting heads, figuring it would be a quick and easy way to cast quality heads (it can be if done correctly). But it had its downsides. Unusually thick spots, paper thin spots, and large bubbles or voids in places you don't want them. All such defects are a sign of inexperience with rotocasting, and require some skill and a bit of experience to overcome.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not a big fan of repairing a newly made head casting first thing. Also, when there are paper thin spots, this is a weak area in the casting. If a head takes a good hit or a fall, that is where it will break.

Urethane gets its strength from having the proper thickness (minimum 1/8" - 3/16" thick). Paper thin areas can be about as brittle as a soda cracker. Sure, you can patch it up with some epoxy putty, but it is very easy to make a 'marginal' bond (the repair can pop off of there) if not done correctly, and if so, that area is still fragile and susceptible to breakage. The repair may look like it is strong, but is it? Do some *destructive* testing to be sure.

Is there a better, more consistent process? Yes! Enter Core Cast urethane heads. Below is a photo of a core cast head..........

Core Cast Urethane Head with proper thickness throughout

I knew there was a better way. When I cast a head using a core cast mold, it is a stronger casting right off the bat, as there ARE NOT ANY too thick or paper thin spots anywhere. No whopping bubbles. I have full control of how thick the casting is throughout.

If you look inside the head and hold it up against a light, you can readily see there are no thin spots in it. No defects to repair! Try that with an improperly rotocast head. You will have an *a-ha* moment!

What's the other reason I core cast my urethane heads? Simple answer. Ease of use. The eye and mouth areas are already cut out, the trap door is already cut out, little if any fitting of the jaw, and the control stick hole is already done.......

That's only part of the picture. Then there are the advantages on the inside.....

There are flanges built into the casting for the jaw pivot rod. I don't have to guess where the rod needs to go, and the flanges provide a rock-solid area to glue to with no worry about a marginal epoxy putty bond failing (if not done correctly, they surely can fail). The eye tray flanges also provide a very secure area to glue to.

Besides peace of mind, these features save a TON of time. I am one of the few full time figure makers out there. How long it takes to build a figure is key to being successful and eating regularly! (grin) I did it the hard way for a number of years, but got very tired of repeatedly cutting, drilling, fitting, etc., when it just didn't have to be that way.

Why don't a lot of others do core cast urethane? There are few mold makers, let alone figure makers that know how to do this. It is a complex mold, and took some 37 years of mold making experience (47 years now) to figure out my exact process. I've got it down to a science now, as they say. If it were an easy thing to do, everyone would be doing it.

Sorry its been so long between posts, but it is very busy here, and I'm juggling quite a bit at the moment. Its a good thing I know how to juggle......

Speaking of Spitters. . . .

2011-10-22T22:38:00.000-07:00

Alterations on existing figures can always be a challenge, and this is especially true when doing these alterations on another figure maker's fine creation. Here was the challenge on a past project. The customer requested the installation of a spitter in an existing Selberg 'Sammy' ventriloquist figure. Here is a 'before' picture. . . .

It is one thing to install a spitter in a figure you are building when you are not worried very much about the paint job, as you will be painting the figure any way. But what if you goof up the paint job on a finely painted Selberg figure? There are a number of figure makers that would not feel comfortable trying to fix that.

Fortunately for me, I had cast a variety of body parts for Selberg Studios for a number of years, some of which included painting the parts after they were cast, in the Selberg style. I don't back down from challenges very often, and I didn't when contracting to do this work for Tim. Here's one of the batches of hands that I cast for him and painted in that style. . . .

Funny thing. Even though in my mind I knew I could repaint the whole head if I messed anything up, I still felt nervous, and greatly desired not goofing up even a small area on that face. So that was the first part of the challenge. The second part of the challenge was how to install the spitter assembly inside the head without disturbing anything else. Here's a before picture of the inside of the head. . . .

You will notice that you can not see the back side of the upper lip. That is exactly where the spitter needed to go on the inside of the head. I used a dental mirror to see best how to proceed. I could also feel the inside of the upper lip area through the front of the open mouth.

I drilled a pilot hole and then the final hole size for the brass tubing that would be installed, from the outside front of the cast head. That was the most nerve wracking part. Here's a picture of the inside after I installed the spitter hard ware. . . .

I installed a support rod that had a bracket soldered to it, which in turn had the spitter brass tubing solder to the bracket. The blue tubing goes down inside the neck to another brass tube that goes down the control stick.

The final challenge was cutting a precision channel into the control stick for the brass tube to go into. Okay. I was wrong. THAT was the most nerve wracking part! Finally, here's a picture of the spitter as seen from the front of the face. . . .

Looks like it was always meant to be there. Whew! A great sigh of relief when all was said and done. But as you can see, no damage to the paint job on the face and the spitter is small and unobtrusive. You can see it easily in the photo, but from a performing distance, hardly noticeable at all.

In closing, I have to say that I enjoyed working for Selberg Studios for all the years that I did. Tim was a very nice gentleman to work for. He told me he only hired the 'best of the best', and that surely didn't hurt my feelings any. (grin)

I had to stop though, as I had some very serious health problems at that time. Because of that it was impossible for me to keep up with all my own work and at the same time try to help supply a top figure making studio. I do have some fond memories of all that I did and I learned a lot working for Selberg Studios. Thanks for that fine experience Tim!

Mike Brose

Character Concepts. . . .

2011-10-04T18:51:00.000-07:00

When creating a new character, the first thing that a figure maker usually does is create a 'character concept' before doing anything else. There are a number of ways this can be done. One can create concept drawings, a concept maquette (a scaled down sculpture, half size or smaller), or do a quick sculpt in some soft clay. I have done all of these at one time or another.

So some sort of concept art of the face (if the body will be special, that can be done too) is created to see if the character idea is viable or desirable, before actually making the finished figure. Nowadays there are new tools at our disposal. Enter digital sculpting! In many ways it is like creating a drawing, only the appearance is 3D, so you can easily see the character at all angles while creating the concept art.

Here's a short video of a character concept I did with a free digital sculpting program called Sculptris.....

Sculptris has various sculpting tools that have similar actions to what would be done with real clay. It starts out as a sphere, and by using the tools, you can pinch, pull, push, crease (and more) to create eyes, ears, nose, lips, chin etc. You can rotate the head in any direction so you can see all the features at different angles while you work. Right or left sides, front or back, top or bottom.

You can now see your character concept as if it were in solid form, which is an advantage over a 2D concept drawing. I purposely did not super refine, nor correct the jaw line (I can see that needs some changes) as I will do that when I sculpt the character in real clay. But now I have the perfect reference for sculpting in clay! I can either print out photos (screen print) or put Sculptris on my laptop, and change angles as needed.

Below is a quick sketch I did for a concept of a grumpy character.

There's a lot more detailing I'd probably do on him yet. But as you can see, you can emulate different materials in the program. That one is like water base clay, and the first one is like red clay or wax. You can also do some painting of the surface with this program, but I haven't really explored that yet. There surely is a learning curve, and it does help if you have some real clay sculpting experience.

Even though I like some of the high tech new tools, I still greatly enjoy the traditional materials. I may create some character concepts with digital sculpting, but then I will sculpt the actual head in real water base or oil base clay, or in basswood. There are small (or sometime larger) changes that I will make as I see the need when doing the actual sculpt, that I might not even see in the digital sculpt.

Who knows, maybe at some point I will print out one of these concepts on a 3D printer. Jeff Dunham has already done that and showed some examples at the 2011 Vent Haven Ventriloquist Convention. I haven't seen these yet first hand, but would be quite interested in seeing the quality and what is possible. Sometimes I find technology very fascinating. Other times I want to go as low tech as possible!

In any case, I thought the free digital sculpting program, Sculptris, could be a tool that others might find interesting or useful in their figure making endeavors.

Winker Mechanisms Can Be Fun?!?

2011-09-24T22:40:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know. You must think I'm crazy if I think winker mechanisms can be fun! Actually there is a real good reason for the title of this blog post. Long before I ever had my blog going, I had talked to many aspiring figure makers across the country and around the world, and found that there are many who are VERY interested in the subject of winker mechanics. The reason? They can be quite the challenge, both to beginning and experienced figure makes alike!

And since starting this blog, I have gotten a lot of private response about my posts on blinkers as well. Particularly I've found the most interest in shell winker mechanisms. They take the most precision, and it doesn't take much in the way of errors to have a poor or non-functioning winker mechanism, even after a lot of hard work! How does a professional figure maker handle these challenges? I know when I was first learning, I surely wanted to know.

How does one make a successful mechanism each and every time? Making a living full time as a figure maker for a number of years, and installing quality winker mechanism on a daily or weekly basis, I've had to learn how to do that or starve. (grin) So over time I've developed some sure fire ways to consistently create precise winker mechanics. After giving it much thought, I've decided to share my techniques in a brand new 98 page book specifically on shell winker mechanics.

If you think 98 pages is a lot on just the subject of shell winker mechanics, it is! That's because this is really an in-depth book with numerous, full size, large, clear photos of all the different steps involved. I think you will be amazed at the detail. To keep the price affordable (an all color book full of quality photos can be expensive to publish), I've compiled it into a high-quality PDF E-Book and it is available for instant download. I think you will be pleased with how much information is in this one volume.

So if you've ever struggled with shell winker mechanics before, or have put off trying it because you thought it was too difficult, or you just want more quality information to improve what you are currently doing, this new in-depth book on the subject should help a lot! You can find out more about it on our web site. . .

http://www.puppetsandprops.com/winker_book.html

A Fresh New Face. . . .

2011-09-13T19:12:00.000-07:00

I've been working on a few new characters for a new line of figures, but this project has been on the back burner for awhile due to extenuating circumstances. I've had the first one close to being done for some time now, but he has had to be patient until I could get a few spare moments to finish him. He said he was now ready for his unveiling, so here's a sneak peek. . . .

His name is 'Sparky' and I sculpted this cute face based on a character concept drawn for me by LaFonstsee Character Design. The new figure line will be called 'Brose Buds' and will tentatively have an introductory price of $599. These will be full size, professional, 38 inch tall figures that wear size 3T clothing. These are a somewhat simplified figure mechanically, compared to our current line of figures.

They will have simple controls and mechanics, but still good quality, which our figures are known for. They will have moving mouth and moving eyes (and possibly raising eyebrows will be available as an extra animation). The focus on these is the character and to keep things simple in production so we can offer them at a lower price.

It will be a little while before this first 'Brose Bud' character 'Sparky' is in production, as I have some other obligations to fulfill first. If you might have an interest in Pre-Ordering 'Sparky', please contact me. From the response I have gotten so far, I think there is a good chance this character is going to be popular.

Let me know what you think of this little guy!

Blast from the Past. . . .

2011-09-03T16:04:00.000-07:00

What a lot of people don't know about me is that I was a top piano tuner-technician-rebuilder for some 30 years. I was considered one of the top 3 piano techs in Orange County California. What does this past experience as a piano tech have to do with being a quality figure maker? I'll explain in a moment.

Early on (1977) I became the piano tuning manager for Fullerton Music, Fullerton CA, then after about 4 years became the manager over at Kay Kalie Music in Anaheim CA, which was an authorized Yamaha piano dealer. Here's an old pic of me tuning a nice Yamaha upright piano at that store. . . .

I was a lot younger and had a lot more hair! (grin) During my time working for this fine music store I had the privilege of attending the Yamaha 'Little Red School House', which is an intensive, hands on, high level training program (there was a 3 year waiting list for techs to get in at the time) with some of the top piano technicians in the country as the instructors. I became an authorized Yamaha technician. Here I am with one of the instructors, LaRoy Edwards. . . .

That's me regulating (adjusting) the mechanism on a Yamaha grand piano (the whole mechanism slides out as one unit so you can work on it). Later, I also did an intensive training program at the 'American Institute of Piano Technology' in Los Angeles, where we took pianos apart (all brands, all sizes) as far as they come apart, and put them back together again! After only two years of being there, I was asked to be one of the instructors and to serve on the board of directors. What a grand honor that was!

I also learned a ton through years of constant education through the Piano Technicians Guild, which had some very strict testing of your tuning, regulating and repair skills in order for one to be considered a Craftsman Member of the Guild. . . .

In my 30 year piano tuning-tech-rebuilding career I serviced well over 10,000 instruments. Makes my ears tired just to think about it! (grin) I serviced or tuned everything from the smallest spinet piano or harpsichord all the way up to 9 foot concert grand pianos, player pianos, and reproducing pianos (automatic player grand piano that plays with full expression), etc. From Steinways to Bösendorfers with more than 88 keys, and everything in between!

So what does this experience have to do with becoming a quality figure maker. For me, a lot! As a top piano tech and rebuilder, I spent years working regularly on very complex mechanisms where a few thousandths of an inch can make a difference in how well the instrument performs. A lot of these instruments are far more complex than some of the most complicated ventriloquist figures out there. I learned what makes the difference between a quiet, smooth operating, quality mechanism and one that is noisy, binds, and will not hold up well over time. All of this experience has helped prepare me for building quality mechanisms that can stand the test of time.

So then, does one have to have been a piano tuner-technician to become a good figure maker? No. But it sure can help! (grin) This is just one aspect of my past that has helped me to do what I do now, and do quality work. And for me that is the only way of doing a job.

Anatomy of a Custom Figure - Part Two

2011-08-30T18:45:00.000-07:00

In the first installment I showed the concept art developed by character designer Larry LaFontsee and the special armature I made just for this project. I did not get any photos of the clay sculpt as it progressed unfortunately, because so often as I get sculpting, I don't think about getting a camera out. Here are some photos of the sculpture well along. . . .

The customer picked 3 of the drawings from Larry LaFontsee, and I had him pick out which features he liked best from each of those. So then I proceeded to sculpt a face incorporating each of these features and creating a composite face. As time went on, and more conversations with the customer, it was decided to make a few small changes in the clay sculpt. One of the changes was to make the neck regular size instead of the exaggeratedly small neck in the original concept. Here are a few pics of that the updated clay sculpture. . . .

Next a quick mold was made and then the head was cast in resin. I also made some custom eyes for this figure with larger irises (the eyes in the clay were just a mock up for reference to sculpt around), 3/4 of an inch in diameter. There was one more change made when we got into the casting stage of the project. It was decided to make the mouth bigger for better visibility (usually desirable on a pro vent figure) and more closely resembling the mouth of the real little girl. Here is an early pic of the casting. . . .

One more subtle change was made in the sculpt at this stage. Instead of a neutral expression, a little bit more of a smile was added per the customers request. Finally, the head was fully sanded, primered, painted, and the eyes and winkers were installed. Here are some pics of her currently. . .

This is where is starts getting exciting and you know that all your hard work is paying off. I sent these photos off to the customer and here's what he had to say, "The face is perfect. What you have been able to do, is remarkable. You have managed to capture all of her different looks, ...in one figurine. It is not your typical dummy. This dummy has facial expression, just like my God daughter. Now, I'm really excited, I hardly know what to say."

That's what makes it all worthwhile!!! I have yet to install her up/down eyebrows, finish her mechanics, wig her, and finish her body. But it won't be all that long and this cute little figure will be in the customer's hands.

I hope this little peek into the 'Anatomy of a Custom Figure' has been of interest.

Anatomy of a Custom Figure - Part One

2011-08-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

Most people never get to see some of the 'behind the scenes' steps involved in the development of a custom figure. Thought some might enjoy getting a taste of that process. I have a customer who wanted a custom figure that looked like his goddaughter, and wanted a nice caricature of her.

On occasion I will consult with or consign a fellow artist or colleague, and felt this was the perfect project to utilize that kind of help. I called on fellow figure maker and character designer Larry LaFontsee of 'LaFontsee Character Design'. I sent Larry several photos (provided by the customer) of the little girl in question, and set him free on doing a caricature suitable for a custom little girl vent figure. (These are all copyrighted by Larry LaFontsee.)

When Larry sent me the sketches he had done, I was bowled over! I knew he was talented in this department, but didn't realize just how talented he was. Here are a few of the sketches he did for me. . . .

These are just a few of the drawings Larry sent me. I was absolutely amazed at the variety of caricature styles that he came up with. He is one of the most creative character designers out there, I think. In any case, he gave me a plethora of material to work with, which is always better than not having enough to work with. I then got to work on it. I created an armature just for this project. I lathed a smaller than usual neck piece, and tried something new for this armature. I set in small dowels with markers on them, so I would have proportion references during the roughing out of the clay model. Here are some pics of the armature. . . .

The armature worked very nicely and the dowels with the markers came in quite handy. Saves some time in the rough sculpting stages and keeps you on track. So then wads of oil based clay began to be added to the armature. In the next installment, Part Two, I will show you the clay sculpture and the figure of her that's almost complete.

It's All in the Style. . .

2011-08-27T19:22:00.000-07:00

Puppets and Props now offers two styles of vacuum formed styrene winker shells. We now have both a tabbed version and a tab-less version available for purchase on our web site for our customer's convenience. . .

You now have a choice, depending on what building style you prefer. There is more information on our web site on our eyes and winker shells page. . . .

http://www.puppetsandprops.com/casteyes.html

So which style should you choose? I thought that was an awfully good question, that deserved a somewhat in depth answer. Inquiring minds want to know! <G> So I created a page on our web site which explores that question and helps those wondering, with some basic information on the two styles, which explores why and how they might be used. Here's the web page for that. . . .

Should I Choose Tabbed or Tab-less Winker Shells?

There's a least a couple of photos on that page that figure builders might find interesting, so you might hop on over there for a few minutes just for that, even if you have no interest in tabbed or tab-less winker shells at the moment.

It's All in the Controls. . . .

2011-08-20T15:13:00.000-07:00

I've been working with wood since I was 12 or 13. My dad bought a 'Shopsmith' multi-purpose woodworking tool way back then, which I still have and use to this day. Of course it has been completely rebuilt with new variable speed motor and all. So, making high quality control sticks out of wood was surely not too big a stretch, and I always enjoy working with wood. Here's some examples of some wood control sticks I fabricated on the old Shopsmith.........

May not look like much, until you realize they are hollow from top to bottom, so that any controls that you would like interior mounted, they have a place to go. Actually that's the hardest part of the process. I mean, making precision slots for the controls has its own challenges, but the hollowing out of the control stick can be a trick. Here's a photo that will give you more of an idea of what I'm talking about. . . .

The trick is first of all getting the hole fairly well centered, not only at either end, but on into the middle of the control stick as well. I will show the technique and jig for that in an upcoming instructional DVD I will be doing (as well as the slot milling process).

But that's not to minimize the work involved in milling the slots for the control levers. There's a lot of precision involved there as well. Whether doing all rod control like I did on this figure here. . . .

. . . .or a combination of rod control and cord control mechanics, its still nice to do quality workmanship on the wood slots, lever pivot holes and such. . . .

Needless to say, fabricating high quality wood control sticks takes a lot of time, effort, and skill to make. And you fight with the wood a lot of times trying to convince it to behave while you are milling, drilling, etc., without splitting, splintering or other fun things that can happen along those lines.

What a lot of people don't know is that I've also been making composite control sticks for some time. A long while back, I knew that I could make some high quality composite control sticks, it would just take some mad 'model making' and 'mold making' skills to accomplish it. Here's a picture of one of those. . . .

I like them in the ebony color, but they don't show up so well in photos, so I have a neutral one next to it so you can better see what is there. These are very high quality and very strong. They won't shrink and swell like wood can (although they have a wood grain pattern molded in). They won't splinter or crack. And the best part? All the slots, pivot holes for the levers and the pocket holes at top are all automatically cast in place! Way cool, as they say!! Here's some pictures of a composite control stick on one of my figures. . . .

The interior mounted direct linkage jaw mechanism works effortlessly. The interior mounted eye control rod works pretty slick as well. The control stick has some internal flanges made for perfect placement of the eye control rod, and causes the brass lever to be centered up/down wise, so it does not rub anywhere on the milled slot.

Sorry for such a long post. I originally was only going to do something on the composite control sticks, but thought a little background with the wood control sticks might be of interest as well.

My Creative Customers......

2011-08-15T08:20:00.000-07:00

Ventriloquist and comedian John Wayne Peel sent me a great picture of the figure that he finished with our cast dummy parts. He customized one of our Fred heads to resemble his late comedy partner Vic. A very nicely done tribute I would say........

John is apparently quite creative and did a great job on this figure! Nicely done John! Here's some kind comments that John sent along with the picture.......

"Mike..... It's been a long time since I finished my figure with your kit, but here is a picture of me and Vic completed. Feel free to use it as an example of what can be done with imagination and hard work using one of your fantastic kits. Mary Ann Taylor made the arms from my drawings and specifications. I painted the tattoos myself and did the artwork on the shirt as well. I am very proud of my new figure."

John Wayne Peel

Another Blinker Experiment. . .

2011-08-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

As in a previous post on Blinkers experimentation, this little experiment from the archives was quite interesting to me personally, because of the challenge. Sometimes I like to do these little experiments to see first of all if the idea will work, and second to see if it has any practical value. Also, I am a big Paul Winchell - Jerry Mahoney fan, and I have always been fascinated by Jerry's metal shell blinkers (blink in tandem, but do not wink separately), and have often speculated on how they might have worked. Jerry Mahoney's head is very tight and narrow around the temple areas, especially inside the basswood head, leaving little or no room for winker pivot support. In other words, there is no room on the right side of the right eyeball, and no room on the left side of the left eyeball for winker pivot support frames. I've had the theory that maybe that's why Winchell did the tandem blinkers on Jerry, as there wasn't much if any room for individual winkers. Well, in any case here is what I came up with. . . .

There were several challenges with this project. First and foremost were several solder joints (I use a small torch for soldering), as it would be easy to undo a previous solder joint when going on to the next one. Also, I had to figure out a way not to accidentally solder the horizontal singular pivot to the vertical pivot frames. Typically if something is close to another solder joint, you can use 'White Out' to prevent the solder from flowing into unwanted areas (I do this all the time on my regular winker frames), but that was not an option in this case. The solder joint is right where the singular pivot rod connects to the blinker shell, which......, is right next to the vertical pivot frame! Here's another shot of the unit where you can see the actuator arm better and the difference in lighting helps reveal further details. . . .

Besides the above mentioned challenges, the most critical part of this was that the blinker shells be perfectly positioned ever each eyeball! Success! At the time, I was hoping to get some kind of award or something for all this, but alas I was the only one in the shop and the only one who noticed. (grin) The other dummies in the shop didn't say a word! But the unit worked flawlessly and I was excited about it at any rate.

So was it practical? Yes, I proved I could do it, but was it useful? I did put that unit in a figure that a customer had ordered with one-control tandem blinkers. Here's a pic inside the head and a couple pics of the finished figure (customer wanted a Goth figure). . . .

It really worked sweet! I also have a figure that I'm building for a customer that is a replica of a vintage figure that like Jerry Mahoney, has very limited space for winker pivot frames, and I will be installing something based on the single pivot blinker unit above. I will most likely simplify it somewhat however. Yes, I know you can fit leather winkers easier in tight spaces, but I again want rigid shell blinkers for that project. I really like the look and the satisfaction when its all done. A bit more work and precision for sure, but that's what rigid shell winker and blinkers are all about! (grin)

The Ultimate Eye Kit . . . .

2011-07-25T12:37:00.000-07:00

We have just added the Ultimate Eye Kit to our shopping cart on our web site.This unique kit includes one pair of eyes (can choose our High Quality, Standard or Economy eyes), our high quality eye tray with 2 forms of attachment, and one pair of our quality styrene winker shells. You can of course purchase any of these items separately as well. We have used these on our professional finished figures for a number of years and save a lot of time when building a figure.

The eye trays with eyes can also be used for setting into the clay on a head sculpt to establish the eye distance and make for more accurate sculpting around the eye areas. Then when that figure is cast, you can use this same eye tray in the finished head and the eye distance from center to center will be perfect in the eye sockets! Cool beans! (grin) Saves a lot of time and fiddling.

Although I show the use of screws for eyeball pivots in my book as one way for figure makers to install eyes on an eye tray, and that works pretty fair. . . , that has never been my preferred method of installing eyes. Smooth brass rods with with smooth brass sleeves acting as a bearing surface (inside the eyeball) makes for a very smooth operating eyeball pivot and will essentially never wear out in the figures that you make. And if you buy eyeballs at the same time you buy an eye tray, we will professionally install the brass sleeves inside the eyes for you at no additional cost! Can't beat that!

Here's where you can find the Ultimate Eye Kit (scroll down the page).....

The Ultimate Eye Kit

The response to the Ultimate Eye Kits has been very good so far. Got quite a few orders on these. I better get busy!

Arms, and Hands, and Legs, oh my!

2011-07-25T12:06:00.000-07:00

Added some nice sewn/stuffed 3T legs and hands with sewn/stuffed arms to the shopping cart on our web site. These are the same quality arms and legs that we have used on our professional finished figures for years. My wife Catherine (a professional seamstress) makes these and they are quite nice. I've always marveled at the details she puts into these, including pleats on the side of the joints and the double seam on the knee joints (bends easier and more naturally). These features take more time and skill to do and are usually only found on very high priced figures typically.

You can see the hands with sewn/stuffed arms HERE.

. . . and you can see the nice sewn/stuffed legs HERE.

Experiment in terror #9,783! (grin)

2011-07-22T14:13:00.000-07:00

Like many figure makers, I experiment all the time, as that's the only way you find out if something will work and more importantly if its practical as a regular figure building process. With this past experiment, done a number of years ago, I not only was working on refining my installation of metal winker shells, but also an untried method of doing blinkers (both eyelids closing at same time).

I used brass rods, tubes, brass bar stock as the building blocks of this mechanism, for strength and accuracy of movement. I wanted this to be really precise, with no wiggle room. I also put in some 'soft stops' both for the up travel and down travel of the blinkers, and the down stop was adjustable with a set screw.

All in all it was a very fun experiment and it worked flawlessly. Practical? Well, not so much. It was a lot of work for the desired result. I have several other ways of doing blinkers that are much simpler and a lot easier to build. But it is fun sometimes looking back at some of the past experiments and seeing where the brain of a figure maker will go on occasion!

I did not get a movie clip of the working mechanism, but I got some sequential photos which I put together in a very short clip so you can get somewhat of a feel for how it worked. . . .

For a little better quality on this clip, try here... http://www.puppetsandprops.com/Files/Blinkers.wmv

What is it?!?

2011-07-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

Here's an interesting project I did for a top balloon artist. The request was for an armature or skeletal type head with moving mouth, moving eyes and raising eyebrows, over which balloons could be placed making for a very unique vent puppet. I first had to come up with a concept of how this might look and be practical for use. Here's one of the drawings I did before starting to build this. . .

This was fairly challenging as none of the construction was like that of a conventional vent figure, and certainly not something I had done before. I opted to keep the framework simple and overlay it with a light weight covering (I used styrene sheet). The eyes needed to bug out of the head to allow for the thickness of the balloons that would be wrapped around, so I had to come up with a unique way to do that. The mouth had to be such that it would move the surrounding balloons and yet not be that apparent. And here's the kicker. The customer requested that the moving eyebrows be removable! I don't like backing down from a challenge so I figured out ways to do all of the above. Here's the finished armature/head sans balloons. . .

The eyebrows are indeed easily removable. You just pull them straight out, and then the face is free to wrap balloons around quickly and easily. After all the balloons are in place you simply insert the eyebrows back in place and they are ready to move. This was done with a unique pressure fit set up with silicone tubing. It worked flawlessly. I was quite happy with it. My only regret is that I did not get photos of the inside of the armature and mechanism. Rats! Here's a few photos of the armature/head in use. . .

Fred with more than a facelift. . . .

2011-07-12T16:55:00.000-07:00

We often have customers send in photos of their finished figures that they've made with our cast parts. One of the most recent ones was quite impressive. Customer Scott Brekken was quite ambitious and turned one of our 'Fred' heads (and other cast parts) into a beautiful 'Mortimer' figure. He really did a nice job on this. . .

Customer Scott Brekken says: "The Fred figure castings are like a blank canvas for an artist. It is easy to shape, contour or add to the figure. As you can see I changed the eyes, cheeks, jaw, lips, eye brows and ears using Apoxie Sculpt, sand paper and a Dremel tool. Super easy to work on and mistakes were easy to correct as well. Your book and Al Stevens web site were great resources. I took a different approach on the mechanics. Although "Mortimer" has only a moving jaw I kept both the eye tray and the jaw removable so I can change things and make adjustments or additions down the line. (Maybe blinkers, crossing eyes and a stick out tongue!)

I plan on making my next figure for and with my son Jacob. Thanks for a great kit! I have always wanted a full sized professional vent figure and now I have one." Scott Brekken

Eddie with curls and spitter. . . .

2011-06-30T11:57:00.000-07:00

Just recently finished a cute little Eddie figure and sent him off to a nice couple in Tennessee. They requested him to have blond curly hair. Hadn't made an Eddie like that before, but I really liked the way he looks with that hair do! It was fun matching the color of the eyebrows to the hair. Went for a kind of multi-colored look that matched the color variations of the curly hair.

The customer also requested a spitter on this cute little guy. I've installed a number of spitters on different figures over the years, but had never installed one on an Eddie head before. Eddie's head, compared to other vent heads is somewhat cramped for space between the eye tray and the top of the jaw. You wouldn't know it to look at the outside of the head, but that's where sculptures in the clay stage can be deceiving. I was going for compact and cute when I sculpted the original face, but wasn't aware of any space limitations until a finished casting was made. Here's a couple photos showing how I met the challenge. . .

I had to carve away some material on the bottom of the eye tray (I custom cast those in the shop so they perfectly fit each Eddie head I make and the eye distance is spot on), and some off of the top back end of the jaw. The brass telescoping tubes going to the upper lip area are all neatly soldered, and the assembly is also soldered at the brass support rod (which is also the winker return spring rod). This makes everything secure and you can attache the hose without problems or things moving on you.

In the last photo here, you can see that the other reason to design the spitter plumbing so that everything is to one side is so that it does not interfere with any of the other mechanics inside the head. It was fun and gratifying to see the finished results after planning it out in my head. A side note: even though the spitter is at an angle for the most part, the end where the water actually comes out is pointed straight. This was a very good spitter and shoots about 13 to 15 feet. Great for performing at a kids show! I can hear them laughing and squealing now! (grin)

Mike Brose

Getting started. . . .

2011-06-30T09:48:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the hardest part of any new venture is getting started! I've wanted to do a blog for some time and have had a million excuses (they're easy and cheap to come up with) as to why I couldn't start one yet. I finally decided it was a good idea and about time. I will try to post items of interest to figure makers, kit builders, and customers, and anything new at Puppets and Props that might be of interest. So hopefully you'll join me in this journey and have some fun, or learn something new, along the way.

Mike Brose