Checking in from I-Fest

I'm sitting here in a computer room in the College where I-Fest is being held... and i've just found Internet access so I thought I would post a quick blog on here.
It's been a great week so far with loads of great feature performers and lots of workshops and competitions to join in. It's great to meet so many other performers and share ideas and experiences (there are about 750 people here). I really look forward to getting home and down loading my photos so I can share some of the experience with you a bit better.
Last night was the blacklight (UV puppetry) competition and there were 10 entries! all in the competition took about 2 hours to get through... that's a lot of blacklight! I didn't even try to get any photos as using flash photography spoils the effect and sadly they all get camera-shake unless the puppet is standing perfectly still (which isn't going to happen).
We leave on Sunday so we will probably not be posting anything up until about Tuesday when we have recovered, but photos will follow that's for sure.
Take care - David

Wonnacott Wolf - almost completed

By now if you have been keeping up with things in the workshop you will be well aware that i recently met up with Phil Fletcher from the Gluvets to exchange puppet building tips. The upshot of this means that the latest character to leave the workshop is going to be a heavily "Gluvet" inspired puppet.

"Wonnacott Wolf" will be hitting the small screen soon! the very small YouTube screen that is. Wonnacott is still awaiting some final details to his body, a tummy patch and a nice bow tie should finish him off nicely. Of course you will see him in action as soon as he is ready to roll.

I had hoped to get him finished off quicker but sadly i managed to break my sewing machine during construction so i have shipped it off today to the local repair man... hopefully it will return soon with a clean bill of health. I am now back to having 3 sewing machines which don't work. I was fortunately able to borrow my mum's machine to stitch up the last few odds and ends (not without breaking one of her needles off her machine). Sadly this has also had a knock-on effect on my next project which i have already started... let's hope the repair man is skilled and speedy!

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!