Horse Puppet

You may remember the Horse Sock Puppets I made last year. They're not real "sock puppets" as you can see... but the idea for them came to me when I was thinking about sock puppets and what a large puppet in the style of a sock would look like. Basically if you were to turn the puppet upside down you see the colours are broken down into the shapes of a classic sock. It's a bit of fun.

I was asked to build a Horse puppet last week for someone who was interested in the Horse Sock Puppets but wanted to also see a more "realistic" horse as well. I enjoy making cartoon style characters so I didn't go very far down the realism route but I did make another character again using roughly the same pattern. You can see here that basic shape remains the same but all the playschool colours have gone and instead fur fabric takes its place. I kept the eyes much the same because I like the open cartoon eyes and I think they are a key part to making this character style so friendly. The new style horse wound up being called Smoulder because for some reason I burnt my fingers a lot on the glue gun finishing him off! Despite this I am pleased with the outcome... I hope you like him too.

Take care - Dave

The May Fayre

You may or may not be familiar with the good old English tradition of Punch and Judy. If you'd like to find out more about the history and tradition of Punch and Judy there's plenty of info out there - Google it! I don't think I have got what it takes to be a Punch and Judy professor... saying that i've never tried it (it's a safe bet though to say i'd be rubbish at it).

But there is more to the May Fayre than Punch and Judy shows, there was also a mini gathering of puppeteers from the Puppet Hub website. Some of the puppeteers I met yesterday included: Phil Fletcher and Carl Chadd (of the Gluvets), Ronnie Le Drew (of Zippy fame), Warrick Brownlow Pike (Oucho from CBBC), Darryl Worbey (the list is endless) Justin Tai, Tony Sinnet and Jan King - all great puppeteers please check out their sites!

It really was a good day out. For the most part I completely forgot I had my camera with me, but I did make a short video on my phone about the day... check it out below.

Take care - Dave

Muppets Rick Rolling!

You may or may not be familiar with the internet phenomenon of Rick Rolling. If you don't know what it is never fear you're in good company... YouTube managed to Rick Roll about 7 Million viewers on April Fool's day!

If you're sitting at home wondering what Rick Rolling is - Google it!

In a new twist on this old trick the YouGotRickRolled channel on YouTube have released a fantastic Muppet version of the video. Check it out for yourself below:

Puppet Update

I was experimenting with some new techniques the other day so I thought the best way to work out if they were successful was to make a new character... so ladies and gentlemen please give a warm welcome to Konk!

Konk is made almost entirely from antron fleece. His arms are long pile fur fabric. His head is made completely from reticulated foam for extra durability. I carved his nose out of a block of square foam, and dyed it to suit the rest of the character. Konk is all complete and I am pleased to say I am really pleased with the results. If you would like to take a closer look at him you're more than welcome, in fact he's sitting on ebay at the moment waiting for someone to collect him :)

All the best - Dave

Kite Surfing

It's a long standing Hellyer family tradition to visit Worthing beach. Worthing is about 25 minutes drive from where we live and my family have been going to that beach for generations... in fact my Grandma lives in Ferring which is right next door to Worthing. Grandma Helen is a living legend, she turned 100 last summer! Needless to say that was the cause for much celebration in our family. Check out the video below if you want an insight into what went on that day:


However back to the main point. Following in my family's footsteps my wife and I made the short drive down to Worthing this evening. Today was a very windy April day and the Kite Surfers were out in force! I counted 8 of them in a 200 metre stretch. We sat on the beach and watched them for a while - they were very entertaining. Video below... apologies in advance for the quality, I shot this on my phone so it's not quite broadcast quality :)



Take care - Dave

Thank You!

OK this is just a quick note to say thanks to all those of you who do read my blog. It seems the majority of visitors are just interested in my blog on the YouTube Partner program and how much it pays... but my google analytics tells me that's not all thee traffic. I would like to hold an impromptu awards ceremony for blog views!

The countries which have spent the longest average time viewing my blog are:

1. Morocco
2. Ukraine
3. Bolivia

The countries which have explored the blog the most are:

1. Belgium
2. Turkey
3. Romania

and the countries with the most page views are:

1. USA
2. UK
3. Canada

I know this will be of very little interest to many of you... but it kinda tickled me. Have a great day! - Dave

Puppet building bonanza!

Over the last few weeks since returning from holiday i have gradually been getting more and more busy. This past Easter weekend saw the activity hit an all time high. I'm working on a project at the moment that requires lots of characters all of a similar size and shape, as a result i am patterning universal body parts wherever possible. You can see in this photo a pile of arms ready to be glued into shape. I don't normally "mass produce" anything, I guess I prefer the personal touch, but it has been a fun learning curve.

It's been an extraordinary project in many ways. Today i have dyed more fabric than ever before... two hours were spent slaving over a boiling dye pot! It's not easy work let me tell you, but it's very satisfying knowing that you have created something from scratch, even down to the hand-dying the fabric. I am at the final stage of construction before the first character is finally ready to be covered, work on that will start in a couple of hours once the fabric has dried out. Here is the blank head of the character "Naymlap". I hope to have him completed tomorrow, I will be posting pictures once he is finished.

I hope you've have a good rest over the Easter holiday period, take care - Dave

Is it just me?

Is it just me or is this year flying past? I keep on meaning to write updates on here and whenever i get the chance i check the date of my last post and i am shocked it was so long ago.

I mentioned before that I have been in talks with the Museum in Peru about building some characters for them... that's all still in progress. I am building prototypes for approval at the moment. It's nice to be involved in a project which is challenging because it is completely different from the norm. Normally people want cartoon style characters with lots of stand out features etc, but this job is different. The museum quite rightly has a very clear goal of what the want to see made, and it's a great challenge to work towards this. Apart from anything else it's a great discipline!

This summer I will be attending I-Fest for the first time in 6 or 7 years! It's really exciting and I hope to learn a lot. I am excited to be teaching my first ever workshops out there this year, which is a great honour for me because I am someone who has learnt so much at I-Fest workshops down the years. I have been fortunate enough to be on tow puppetry Dream Teams at I-Fest in the past so I have some very fond memories of that particular puppet festival and I am really looking forward to meeting some old friends while I'm out there. I am planning to travel with Harry Barrett from One Way UK, so it looks like it's shaping up to be an old school reunion!

Have a great Easter - Dave

The Peruvian Connection

So I must apologise for being slack in posting recently... I have been really busy and honestly haven't had a chance. I am hoping for things to calm down a bit in the next week or so.

Before I went away on my holiday I received an email out of the blue from a gentleman in Peru. This in itself is not completely out of the ordinary as i have been fortunate enough to receive emails from people all round the world saying how much they enjoy Pierre's videos etc. However this email was different, whilst he had seen Pierre's videos that wasn't the point of the correspondence. He is a representative from the National Sican Museum of Peru, and he has commissioned me to build the puppets for the Education Centre at their museum. This project is not going to be a small one, and will probably be the subject of many more blogs in the future. It is a real honour to be allowed to be a part of this project. I will be creating some really unique characters for the museum over the next few weeks and months, and i will show them to you as and when they are complete. The concept sketches that have come through look great so i am really excited about turning them into reality.

I'll keep you posted.
All the best - Dave

The Happy Hamster

I've just got back off my holiday and I will be updating you with all the latest happenings very soon - but first I have to share this video with you. This afternoon we popped round to my parents to say "hi" to Mum (what with it being mother's day and all) and my Dad introduced us to his new Hamster!

All the best - Dave