Monster Puppet: the handover!

So today is the day of the handover! After a week of frantic building the Green Monster (as yet un-named) he is ready to be handed over to the J247 team! Dave (not me.. another Dave) is going to be performing him. It's Dave's first time performing a real puppet character so he is obviously a man ready for a challenge... it's not an easy task for sure!


So what is special about the Green Monster? It can swallow small objects - unlike the majority of hand puppets the back of its mouth is open rather than closed. This alteration enables the character to swallow objects rather than just chew them up and spit them out.

Initially this was not an easy build to get my head around... but once I realized how I should go about it it all fell into place reasonably quickly. I decided to build the body of the puppet first so I could get into the build rather than continually sketching out ideas. I worked backwards in some ways, I completed the whole body and head before I even built the mouth... If I had waited until I had it all figured out before starting I would probably still be here tapping my pencil on a blank sheet of paper!

The J247 team is going to use the Green Monster as a part of their summer program, and if they find he works well they will roll him out as part of a more regular performance. It was a fun challenge to build and I learnt a lot whilst building him. I look forward to making another character that swallows items now I've figured out how it all works :)

Take care - Dave

Monster in the making!

Recently I've been fortunate enough to have been performing and making videos for clients so I haven't needed to build many puppets. But just recently I had two commissions come in which I am excited about so I thought I'd write about them. The first one is a big green monster for a Children's Church group called J247 it's going to be a fun character when it's finished... especially as it's going to be able to eat things (including swallowing them!).
Swallowing was the main challenge to this character as it cuts across (literally) many of the conventional building techniques used for this sort of character.
Normally I would have the fabric lining the mouth plate double up as a hinge so to make a mouth that didn't need that made the old grey matter work a little more than usual.

In this picture you can see him in his current unfinished state (no features or hands at present). I have lined his mouth in black to disguise what it really is... basically it's a chute which allows small objects down it. It's only a first attempt at making a character like this, but so far it's working out well.

I'll post completed pictures soon to keep you up to date with how it all works out in the end!

Take care - Dave
ps if you're interested, here's my twitter details: @hellyersonline

crex81: a simple explanation

OK so many of the regular readers of my blog (well done to both of you!) will know I run a couple of YouTube channels.

hellyersonline is my own vlogging channel… it is anything and everything that I see and do in everyday life. Some of this will be puppet building videos and some of it will be silly comedy ideas and other bits will be holiday and family days etc. This channel aims to please 1 person only – me . I know the quality is mixed and I really don’t mind, I do it for my own amusement… and it amuses me that other people watch.

crex81 is a collection of puppetry videos that I have uploaded. There are no people (real humans) featured on the channel as regulars. I have had human guests and puppet characters interacting with humans… but the star has always remained the puppet. I have never intentionally shown my dace on this channel (it has sneaked into shot once or twice… but that’s another story). One question I do get asked from time to time is - what is crex81 – what does it mean? As you will have picked up from my Spraid blog I wrote a short while ago, I am really into spraycan art. I used to travel a lot and take photos of graffiti all the time. When I first started designing my own tags etc I came up with a name: “Creative Explosion”. Very simply crex was already taken as a username… and I couldn't be bothered to write out CreativeExplosion as a username all the time so I shortened it to crex81.

Hope you’ve enjoyed the latest video offering – Pierre playing Tennis on Wii Sports… it was filmed live and I was genuinely playing it with him. I hope some of the fun of the game translates to the screen it was a real laugh.

Take care - Dave

Horse Puppet for SALE!

It seems that the Horse Puppet I designed a couple of years back is still quite popular... I've put one up on Ebay this week, so if you're interested please do check it out.

If you can't bid on this auction but your interested in having a horse puppet like this made for you please email me on: info@hellyerspuppetworkshop.com

Take care- Dave

Spraid

Some of you may know that I do more than just build puppets... I run a community youth work project called the united bus and I'm also a keen footballer & mountain bike rider in my spare time.

However today none of that is the subject of this blog. Today we talk about spray can art! Last summer my Sister-in-law, my wife and I painted up 63 canvases 59 of which we sold for charity raising over £350.00. Because we received such a positive feedback from the work Spraid was born. Nearly 9 months later I am busy preparing for this summer's big push. I am hoping to raise enough money to not only send it to one charity this year - but to three!

If this is the sort of thing that interests you and you'd like to see some of the work I have been doing over the last couple of months search for "spraid art" on facebook. On the Spraid Art profile you'll see lots of photos of some of the art that will go on sale this summer.

Take care - Dave

FRENZY 09 introduces it’s first ever intern: Freddie Frenzy!

It’s always nice to see real puppets win out over CGI characters… and Frenzy have joined the list of companies that see the benefit of having a “real life” puppet character on staff rather than a cartoon character or CGI. They are releasing videos on youtube in a series to promote their event starring their (Jamaican) purple highland cow called Freddie Frenzy. Check out their launch video for Freddie below:

Puppet Building Race!

This past weekend we had Phil Fletcher from the Gluvets visit for a weekend of puppet building and banter! Phil last visited in late 2007 and has been a good friend of David and Shelley over the past few years. You can see from the video below that we had quite a lot of fun. Check out some of the characters Phil brought with him on the visit.

Pierre even found time to hang out with Paul Potts… watch out for him on Britain’s Got Talent later this year!
Over the weekend we planned out a couple of new puppet characters… one of which was at risk of not getting finished until inspiration struck – let’s have a race!

The idea was simple; Phil lives at the other end of the country from Hellyer’s Puppet Workshop so it would take him 4 hours to get home. This was the time given to me (David) to finish off the monster puppet they had started to build. It is important to note at this point that the monster puppet we were building is the trademark Gluvets Monster. Phil has been building monsters like this for years and he is very experienced at making them… I on the other hand have never built a character quite like it. The challenge then was for me to finish building Phil’s puppet before he got home. For those of you, who don’t like building under pressure, do not attempt this challenge! However if you’re up for a laugh and you like a bit of pressure in your workshop – try it! It really was great fun and I’m pleased to say I’m happy with the final puppet too!

To find out how the challenge went please watch the video below:

Take care – Dave
Ps - Dave and the completed Patterson Monster:

Video update

So this may seem like a cop-out... but I assure you it's a real blog!
Like everyone in the world i've been busy recently, here is my attempt to get you up to speed with what is and isn't happening in the workshop right now. First of all I need to make an apology of sorts, which is best summed up in this video:



Things have calmed down a bit since making that video, but the Christmas break brings with it hectic activity too so I i'm taking a moment to enjoy the lull before the next storm :)

The annoying thing is I am working on a really exciting project which I am nowhere near being able to show to you all - and because it's very incomplete I can't really even talk about it which makes it worse! Anyway... all will be revealed soon I promise!

Last weekend my wife and I went on a weekend break in Barcelona. It's a great place and I certainly had some fun making videos as we were going around the Tourist sites. My video making habit is more tolerated than celebrated... but being a YouTube partner I feel a sense of duty :)

Here's a video from the weekend which I made in the Sagrada Familia:



LAST but not least - This video may well be of interest to some of you... please email me on united@kingdomfaith.com if what I talk about (in this video) interests you!



Take care and have a great Christmas - Dave

EPMF - Festival report

So I promised a EPMF report a short while ago. Today is the day it has arrived! I have been helping to lead workshops at the EPMF for just over 10 years now, so it's become a old favourite of mine over the years. Below you can see me (in black with the red shirted puppet) leading a workshop at the Reading leg of the festival.

One of the great things about going to puppet festivals is meeting old friends and fellow puppeteers. Debra Fader (seen here with Vernon the Wolf) is a very talented puppeteer and puppet builder. Debra is based in Maine (USA) so it's more of an effort for her to attend then most... but Debra has become a favourite workshop leader and her classes are always packed.

Below is a picture for old times sake... This is me pictured with Harry Barret owner of One Way UK. When I first left college I worked full time with Harry for just over a year.

Something new for the EPMF 08 was the Puppet Academy Team. This was a new concept for 08, the team met applied online (one the One Way UK site) and met for 1 week in August. Then after that one week prep time they had to perform at both the EPMF festivals. Considering they only had one weeks preparation time they did really well. If this sounds like the sort of project you would like to be part of you can apply to be in the Puppet Academy 09 team online now.

Take care - Dave

Recognition for Wannacott Wolf

Lots of puppet characters have made their way into peoples hearts and lives over the years... but few become fully adopted members of the family. Wannacott Wolf has recently been adopted by Wannacott.org as an official part of the Wannacott family. Take a look at the link to see for yourself :)

Take care - Dave