What's inside the bag?

So recently I opened "that" bag that has been under my desk for the past year - just to see what was inside.

enjoy :)

Hellyer's Puppet Giftshop

Some of you may have spotted it already... but in case you haven't: I recently opened my Zazzle store!

It's great fun and I hope you enjoy checking it out. If you have any suggestions for what you would like to see featured in the store be sure to let me know.

Take care - Dave

Wolf puppet building video diary

So over the last couple of weeks I've been making a video diary of one of my puppet building projects. The character is Wolfgang the Wolfhound. You can check out the series of videos below to watch him being made:



So he is all finished up now and this is what he looks like. As you can see he has large and almost bulbous yellow/cream round eyes. I was slightly concerned whilst building that these would make the character look mean or evil but I think you will agree he has kept a very open and happy face despite the eye colouration. 

You can't quite see them in this picture but Wolfgang has two moulded teeth that sit right below his whiskers on his top jaw... he has quite a large overbite on the top so that they can sit there happily without fear of them being knocked off by the lower jaw.

This character is one that I have build specifically for I-Fest which I am going to in 6 weeks... it's always great to build new characters to show when you go and visit fellow puppeteers. If you're going to I-Fest I look forward to seeing you there... be sure to come and say hi to Wolfgang!

Take care - Dave

Summer of fun

I am pleased to say that just in time for the weather improving the orders are winging their way into the workshop. It already looks like it is going to be a busy summer of building. I am really excited to be trying out a couple of new techniques… I have a bunch of mental sketches in my mind’s eye which hopefully will become puppets before too long.

Also coming up is I-Fest, I received my conference schedule this morning… it’s going to be great! It’s a brilliant opportunity to meet other puppeteers and puppet builders to share tips and techniques. I have been 6 times already and I can easily say it’s the best puppet festival that I have been to. I’m really looking forward to catching up with old friends and making new ones.

If you’re going… see you there!
Take care - Dave

My Son continues to AMAZE me!

So I've been a Dad now for almost 6 months... which means I've spent the past 6 months in amazement at my son Samuel. However this week he raised the bar on himself!

We recently went away on a little family holiday to Poole in Dorset. We had been planning on going to visit my brother and sister-in-law in Bosnia... but due to the Volcanic Ash floating over Europe all flights were cancelled so we had to holiday closer to home. Whilst away on holiday we decided to play catch with a rustly ball we had bought to entertain Sam on the plane... we decided to give it to him anyway even though we weren't flying - he LOVED it! check out the video below to see how well he reacted to it:

I-Fest workshop leading confirmed

I have confirmed with the events team at One Way Street the workshops that I am teaching at I-Fest this year... it's really exciting!

I was delighted to spot that the brand new One Way Street blog that they have written a post about Hellyer's Puppet Workshop [and me :)]. It's great to get support from an organisation who have helped me so much over the years - so thanks guys it's much appreciated!

If you're going to I-Fest I'll see you there!
Take care - Dave

www.hellyers.com is now LIVE!

I've written before about my new website that is about to go live... well now it is live finally! Below you can see a sneak peek of what it all looks like. Click on the image to visit the new site - enjoy!

New site ready to launch

I'm very excited at the moment for a number of reasons... but one of them is my new website. Those of you that follow my blog here will know I have been trying to update/improve my website since 2007 so this has been no small effort! As these things seem to work in my experience you wait ages for any progress on a project at all and then it seems like the floodgates have opened and all of a sudden you're ahead of where you had anticipated being.

Rather than updating my website I've built a completely new one which I will be able to change myself without needing to ask others to do it for me (which is something that pleases me no end!). At the moment I'm beta testing the site bus what I can say for now is I'm really happy to have finally moved out of the dark ages and into something which better reflects me and my work.

I'll post a link next week to the site so you can go and have a nose around it.
Take care - Dave

Meet Geoff the parrot!

So I've shown you photos of Geoff already... but here's a brief video explaining how he works:

Don’t put yourself at the top of the Christmas tree!

Both as an individual and as a puppet builder (or puppeteer) you should never put yourself at the top of your Christmas tree!

What do I mean by that? Simply this: you need heroes, role models… or at the least people you respect and look up to. If you live your life thinking that you are the “bee’s knees” and that you are untouchable you quickly develop a truly abhorrent arrogant streak in your personality. If you want to move forward as an individual or in your art you can never allow yourself to rest on your laurels safe in the knowledge “I am it”. The old phrase says “It is better to travel hopefully than to arrive” – you need to keep a goal ahead of you in order to move forward.

At Christmas time many people start to think about the holidays and some people even discuss what the reason for the season really is. I believe Christmas is a chance to take a look around and see what other people have done and allow ourselves to be inspired into action. Jesus was born in a stable, not a Hilton. He came to give his life for people who often despised and rejected him. He did not come for the rich and the wealthy – but rather associated with the broken and needy people. It’s inspirational stuff. It’s completely the opposite of what we would do if we were to plan how to “save the world”. I would remind you - don’t put yourself at the top of your Christmas tree. Always have someone to look up to!

Even if you’re not celebrating Christmas this year, the motto still rings true for you too! Look at the work of others that you admire… don’t allow yourself to become over-proud of your own achievements but instead prefer others. Look up to other people who inspire you and let them spur you on to greater things.

Do I have any puppetry heroes or people that inspire me to build better puppets? Of course! I know my limits and I am constantly seeing other people’s work and being amazed by it. Here are some neat links which will help blow the lid off your comfortable world of shop bought puppets!

Dave Privett – Fantastic puppet builder… first inspired me to build puppets over 10 years ago.
Phil Fletcher – Great puppet builder and performer! Helped me take some massive steps to improve my puppet building.
Philip Hatter – Another great puppet builder who keeps turning out puppets that make me say wow!

Lastly, I saw this video online last week from Furry Puppet Studio – it was a bit of an inspirational moment for me… so here it is (enjoy):

Take care – Dave
Happy Christmas!