Out with the old...

...and in with the new year!

Happy New Year to everyone (and anyone) who reads this! So in a mad dash of creativity before 2007 ended my wife and i decided to make one last puppet. Because time was against us we decided to make another wolf but in a totally different colour scheme and with different furs. It was a great challenge which was very enjoyable and kept me up until 2am 3 nights running but Vernon is now complete! You can see his head here (on the left). I had managed to pick up the beige fur really cheap in the local market by chance about 3 weeks ago so i was thrilled it turned out so nicely and also that i got a chance to use it. You can see from my expression i was pleased with my achievement... this photo was taken at about 2am Saturday morning and i hadn't got to bed yet - i'm not sure if i was more pleased at having finished the head or the fact that i was finally going to get some sleep. The next photo is a full body picture of Vernon, he is a human arm puppet.

2007 was an amazing year for me... full of highs and lows. However i can't help but be positive about the steps forward i have taken in the past year with my puppet building. Characters like Vernon were the sort of character i used to aim for but never achieve, but times have changed and thanks to help from some great friends (Dave Privett, Phil Fletcher and Harry Barrett to name a few) i have realised my ambitions! This one triumph is of course not the end, but it is a great first step along the way. I look forward to a fantastic '08 and hope to be bringing you more great characters very soon!

All the best - Dave

Introduction

Hello,

Thanks for taking the time to read this. My name is David and i'm a puppet designer. I started Hellyer's Puppet Workshop a couple of years back when i first started experimenting with building puppets. I have been a puppeteer since I was about 10 years old, but prior to two years ago I had never made a puppet (except one or two half-backed efforts).

At the moment I work part-time as a puppet designer as i am just finding my feet in this area. Like I said before i have about 16 years worth of puppetry performance experience, but relatively little construction experience. I have been fortunate enough to have worked for One Way UK full time for a little over a year when I left college. That really stretched me as a performer, but it also gave me an insight into how puppets are made. I was able to feedback from a performance point of view how I would like to see the puppets they sold improve.

Well that was about 6 or 7 years ago now, I have taken a break from performing for a couple of years. Last year my brother Matt introduced me to YouTube. It was an instant hit with me. I got hooked on the likes of Renetto, Geriatric1927 and tlg847... so I started my own YouTube channel: crex81. For the last year I have been posting little performance vlogs on there and trying to intergrate with the YouTube community. That really have been the limit of my recent performance as my focus is becoming a designer.

Last October I attended One Way UK's annual European Puppet Festival and was fortunate enough to meet up with Dave and June Privett. I had met Dave in the states about 10 years ago at a puppet festival over there (I-Fest). Dave is a great puppeteer and puppet designer. Dave was kind enough to spend a couple of days with me passing on some construction tips and hints to me... two days i will never forget! My wife (Shelley) and I learnt so much during that time, it really was priceless.

Yesterday I met with Harry Barrett from One Way UK and started discussions about his company taking on some of my designs... i'll keep you posted!