Inside our first puppet-making workshop in Roswell
A guy at our first Boopos Blank Puppet Building Workshop had never sewn before. I showed him a ladder stitch, a ‘go to’ stitch to close a seam and tuck the stitches out of sight. I made another lap around the room. When I got back to him, I said, “Yeah, you could probably just hot glue that part and that’ll be fine.”
“No, I’m already in it. I’m sewing now.”
And I love that. I love that that dude walked away knowing how to do a ladder stitch and why it’s the ‘go to’ stitch for puppet-makers.
Going into Saturday at Paula Brett Studio in Roswell, Georgia, I was nervous. I wasn't “I’ve made a huge mistake” nervous. My nervousness was more of an excited nervousness than a fearful one.
Before the Workshop Nerves
In building Boopos Blank Puppets, I had a goal that makers of any skill level could create a puppet that would make them proud. Now, at our first workshop, I was meeting a group of makers for the first time who would tell me in less than 2 hours if I had achieved this goal.
I was meeting my customers in real time not knowing what their skill level was. I didn't know what they were going to be physically capable of, if they were going to feel comfortable using some of the tools that I was offering to them, or even if they had any kind of experience using tools.
Nothing is perfect on the first try. In building this business, my wife and I are constantly repeating one our favorite quotes by Thomas Cooper back and forth to each other, “A garden is never so good as it will be next year.” There are plenty of things that I'll continue to to adapt and change and fine-tune as we go along. But at that moment, I felt pretty positive that Boopos Blank Puppets are on the right track.
A jackalope and a psychedelic koala
Before our workshop, I reached out to each maker individually to get an idea of what they wanted to create.
One maker had this really cool idea going into the class. She wanted to make a jackalope. I loved watching her try out different eyes add long fake fingernails as teeth and color the 3-D printed horns I printed for her jackalope. She settled on blood-shot eyes, found the balance of terrifying and hilarious.
By the end of the evening she said she was obsessed with this thing. She thought it was the funniest puppet she’d ever seen… and I couldn’t have been prouder of her. She came in with a solid idea and she pulled off something awesome.
Paula Brett, owner of Paula Brett Studios in Roswell, GA, was our host. Paula decided at the last minute that hosting a puppet workshop in her studio looked like less fun than being in one. So, Paula ran from her studio into her home to rummage through her kid’s stuffed animals. After getting approval from her kids that she could cut up a couple of random stuffed animals, Paula was ready to join the workshop. A couple hours later, she made a psychedelic koala.
This koala had crazy pink, green, and blue fur and big eyes. A few times Paula looked at her koala and said “It’s just not quite right.” So, we kept adding - added a unicorn horn from another deconstructed stuffed animal, added white felt to make the eyes look starry, and made the eyes stare off into the distance instead of focusing on a point. In the end, this koala was on the psychedelic journey of his life. I picked it up and started playing with it. Couldn’t help myself. She’d created a character with an immediate and obvious personality.
A Garden is Never So Good… and Neither is a Puppet
Many puppet builders will spend weeks building a puppet. So, yeah, the puppets we made at the Boopos Blank Workshop could still use some fine-tuning. But at the end of the 2 hour workshop, they all had a character in front of them that they could continue to play with and to build upon. And that's that's the whole point of it, right?
My goal is to demystify puppet-building and give makers of all skill levels the confidence to build a character of their own.
I doubt anybody who was in that room is going to change course in their life and suddenly become professional puppet builders. And that is great! I love it when makers make art just for the joy of creating art. I love it when people find new skillsets they didn't know they could try.
I feel proud in knowing everyone in that room walked away at least knowing some stuff about puppet making that they didn't know going in to the workshop.
At the beginning of the workshop, Paula Brett, our host, pulled my wife aside and said, “I’m curious how this is going to go - because this is hard.” Paula is not wrong.
A lot of stuff goes into building a puppet. It's an art form that encompasses all other art forms. Puppet building brings in a little woodworking, mold-making, sewing and patterning, painting, sculpting, design, engineering. There's a little something for everyone. Puppet building can be hard and it can be a really intimidating art form to try to take on if you've never done it before.
My hope is each maker also left the workshop not feeling intimidated at the prospect of trying to create something new.
Come build a puppet with me
At a Boopos Blank Workshop, you’ll start with a professionally designed blank puppet I designed. I’ll show you how to bring your character to life. I bring years of puppet building experience with so many tricks on eye placement, eye lids, glue recommendations, everything you need to bring the character in your dreams to life.
First time making a puppet? A Boopos Blank Puppet Building Workshop is for you.
100th time making a puppet? A Boopos Blank Puppet Building Workshop is for you.
If you’ve ever wanted to make a puppet, I’d love to have you at the table. Take a look at the upcoming Boopos Blank puppet-making workshops and pick one that works for you. I look forward to working with you.
