Adventures In Ventriloquist Figure Making ...

Happy Holidays & Thank you Greg Claassen & Mike Brose !

2009-12-23T09:01:00.000-08:00

First off, I just wanted to wish Happy Holidays to everyone! Also, I wanted to express my thanks to both Mike Brose (Puppets & Props) and Greg Claassen for the time and help for which they have also offered in helping to further along Abhijeet's desire into make a ventriloquist figure a reality. Which just goes to prove how much of a class act both Mike & Greg truly are!
As you know, in keeping with a previous blog posting on Abhijeet, he hails from India, and is incredibly interested in Ventriloquism, as well as learning to make his very own Ventriloquist figure. Unfortunately, Abhi does not have the same sort of means available to him in India with which to make a vent figure as we do here in the United States. Where both you and I are concerned, if we need to purchase a spring or new power tool (for example) to further along our own figure building projects, the hardware store is most likely just down the street. But in Abhijeet's case, he does not have these same sort of luxuries with which to purchase much needed supplies, nor the figure building resources we share here in the States.
As a result, armed with the creative knowledge provided by both Mike & Greg, Abhijeet is now on his way and I find this incredibly exciting. I cannot wait to see what he creates!

Keep building & keep venting!

Ken

Elroy's 4 Sale !!!

2009-11-30T15:44:00.000-08:00

Greetings to you all and Happy Holidays! I just wanted to drop you a quick hello and let you know that elroy is currently completed and up for auction via ebay. I believe his number will be up by tomorrow morning. So, if you are interested and have as yet to bid, then by all means--don't wait!

I have snapped some current pics for your viewing pleasure. I replaced the black wig with a much better quality dark brown one. Also, I went in and fine tuned everything, so all of the mechanics work quietly and smoothly--especially the self-centering eyes, which are very responsive.

As for what's next, I will begin work on a Joe Smith casting I received from Joe not long ago and I also have plans to begin work on a Finis inspired tribute figure. So--Stay Tuned!!!

A letter from India...

2009-06-03T20:18:00.000-07:00

...or an email atleast. I just received this from a young gentleman who is very taken with Ventriloquism and especially with figure making. As you will see in his message (below), he is hungry for information on figure building. Naturally, I am always excited when I receive a message like this from somone who just wants to know, and especially from India, too! very cool to know that Ventriloquism is alive and well in the world.
As a result, I am working on a small manual based upon what I know and have learned from others in order to help him along the way. After all, I have nothing to hide with regard to information on my mechanics or what works best for me. I really feel that it's infinitely more important to help others along the way who just want to know with regard to this wonderous craft of Ventriloquist figure building.
So, once I get me little guide together, I will send it out to him and assist with any further questions he may have.
And anyone else who has any questions, please feel free to contact me and I will do my best to help you in any way I can. I don't pretend to know everything there is to know about making vent figures, but what I do know thus far may be of assistance to someone who is just starting out.
Two of the gentleman who have been very kind and helpful to me in the past, Joe Smith & Mike Brose, were both like creative beacons. So, this is my way of saying thanks by assisting others who may need help.
As for Elroy, I will have some more pics soon and will let you know when he goes up for sale.

Until then, be well & keep venting!

Ken

Abhijeet's email:

Dear Sir,
Myself Abhijeet, a resident of India (Age 22). I'm an amature ventriloquism student, performing since last 4 years. I'm crazy about everything which is related to ventriloquism. While searching on Net on this subject I came across to your blog. Now I want to try my hand in vent figure making. Will you please help me? I have aleready made a hard figure with only mouth movement from paper mache and a soft monkey figure. But, I want to make a figure which contains eye movement, blinking eyes, raising eyebrows. Will you please give me details of mechanism of these movements and info on different types of controls on headstick?
The latex or fiber for making mould and shell is not available in my town. Can I use these animations in paper mache figure? The material for making soft figure is available in my town. How can I make soft figure, will you please give me detailed info on this also?
I'll be thankful if you help me. Sorry for asking too much questions. I apologise for mistakes.
Waiting for your response. Thank you. Regards.
Yours
Abhijeet Deshpande

Spring is here & so is Elroy...

2009-04-23T19:18:00.000-07:00

Greetings everyone and Happy Spring to you! The weather here in Califonia is quite pleasant at a nice 78 degrees or so today and with such nice weather out I am confined to my little workshop indoors working on Elroys new hair! But don't get me wrong, it was a pleasure to cut & fashion Elroys mop into a nice little hairdo. I found the wig in a local 2nd hand shop and it will serve for right now. If (once I complete the body) a nicer one shows up, then I will swap it out. But for the time being I could have done a lot worse, especially since I am not a barber.

The funny thing about locating decent wigs around here is that they are VERY scarce. There was a time when one could locate them quite easily at the local thrift shops, but those days are long gone. The shortage all has to do with the fact that most of these 2nd hand shops now donate these old mops to the Cancer Assocation for folks who really need them after undergoing chemotheraphy, which is a great cause. Unfortunately for me, I will have to start looking elsewhere online. Oh well.
As for Elroy, the new pics here feature him with his new hairdo. The mechanics are completed and all work VERY smoothly (especially the self-centering eyes). I am now at work on his body. I am planning on sculpting the lower legs/feet out of balsa wood and the uppers will be made from the usual stuffed muslin. The reason for the lower legs being made from wood will be to avoid that spindly-doll-leg syndrome when using the figure; it doesn't look natural when one is performing with a figure and the puppet's legs are doing odd things when one is handling the figure during a performance. So, I am hoping that the lightweight wooden lower legs will remedy this problem.

Once Elroy is completed, I will start on a clay model for a new creation and I will also begin work on creating a Finis tribute figure from some of my odds and ends.

Stay tuned and keep building !

New acquisitions

2009-03-10T23:19:00.000-07:00

Greetings all! by the looks of these pictures, one might think that I recently returned from some sort of archaeological dig, where I unearthed a mini collection of ancient "belly-talking" artifacts.
In actuality, I recently acquired these from ventriloquist, Charlie Horner. Not too far back, Charlie secured what once was the Finis shop. It seems that he has been gradually making some of the shop's odds & ends available.
In this set, I acquired a rather rough looking Finis face, which looks to be made of an old wood dough formulation. The face itself, looks like it might make a nice ventriloquist figure head with a bit of work.
The head stick is solid wood and will lend itself for the sculpting of future clay heads and the mouth appears to be solid wood, as are the nicely carved hands.
With regard to the hands, I will also use these at some point.
All in all, this is really old stuff, but still useful. What's old might just prove to be new again!

until next time...

Happy New Year...

2009-03-01T14:43:00.001-08:00

... and greetings to everyone! In keeping up with one of my new year's resolutions, which was to provide a long over-due blog entry, here I am with some recent pictures of Elroy. Unfortunately, I am afraid that most of the latter portion of last year kept me extremely busy with many non-ventriloquist figure building pursuits. So, I am starting up the new year with some new progress with regard to Elroy and I also have plans for the building of a newer figure from some castings which I purchased from Joe Smith. Also, I have just put in a new order for some more Klean Klay in order to start sculpting a new head for a brand new offering which I hope to have available for sale by the end of the summer of this year.
As for Elroy, this past month I have constructed the free floating eye mechanism, installed the eyes, repainted the head in more of an orange flesh color, and tinted the areas above the eyes for a retro 1950's Frank Marshall look. The reason for this was due to my feeling that my original paint job was just too pale and seemed to me that he would be washed out on stage by any over head lighting. So, I have decided to break away from my lighter toned skin color and mixed a large batch of my own orange blend of flesh color which I will use from now on.
With regard to the eyes, they are wood with gloss white laquer and hand painted acrylic irises. It took a very steady hand to paint these, but in taking my time, I was able to come up with a nicely painted set. I also applied a few coats of acrylic clear gloss to the irises for some extra added detail.
And those ears--he's got them. I chose to make more of a cartoonish rendering of ears rather than carving something more realistic.
So, the only thing left to do is to run the eye control rod, construct the body, which I plan to make out of wood, with wire ribbing, and wig him. Once Elroy is completed, I may put him up for sale on Mike Brose's site first and possibly E-Bay next. But, I would love for someone from the vent community to snatch him up first, which is why I will post him up for sale on Puppet & Props first at a special price.

So, for the time being, Stay tuned & keep building !

News Flash !!!

2008-06-21T11:56:00.000-07:00

Up for adoption on E-Bay is one of my figures, "Julian." He really is a rare & wonderful figure which was made from a Joe Smith development casting.

He is 40" and sports a slot jaw mouth, self-centering eyes, and an upper lip sneer. This figure also includes the clothes seen in the photos and a black, foam lined case.

He is currently up for auction and with NO reserve price!

So, if you are in the market for a nice custom looking figure that doesn't look like he was made with a cookie cutter, then place your bid!

Blinkers And A Name...

2008-05-19T23:11:00.000-07:00

Greetings all, just wanted to post some recent pics of my latest progress on who I have now named, "Elroy." It's just easier to name the guy, I figured. Especially when things aren't exactly going my way in the workshop. At least now I can hurl my frustrated obscenities at a name.

As for the blinkers, they are as I mentioned previously. I purchased a nice Italian leather chamois at my local auto parts shop.

As for installing the blinkers, this was a much easier task than installing hard shell blinker/winkers; this usually involves extreme precision, which can be daunting at times and a little frustrating, too.

As for the leather blinkers, I also love the old-school Marshall look of leather. So I think I will stick with them. Plus, I think Elroy will really enjoy batting his lids at me, too. As for instruction, Al Stevens info + Joel Leder's books were all I needed.

And now, those damn ears...

New Pictures, New Progress

2008-04-09T23:10:00.001-07:00

Well, here are the pictures as promised. This little guy should turn into a nice original ventriloquist figure. I still have some minor areas to fill/patch & sand with some very fine sand paper. The ears will also be coming very soon.

I recently just picked up Joel Leder's figure building books via a victorious E-Bay win; these are very hard to find and Joel is no longer printing them. So, they are a most welcome addition to my figure building library.

Okay, back to the sanding. I gave this little guy a coat of white acryllic paint as a primer; this also serves as a nice indicator for locating any high/low spots which may need some sanding or light patching. The key is to get the head surface as smooth and spotless as possible.

In one of Joel's volumes, he mentions patching/filling some areas with spackle and then taking a very fine piece of sandpaper and sanding lightly in a circular motion until smooth.

You will also notice that I have completed the mouth which originally started out as just the front porton of the casting which was cut out with my trusty Dremel, followed by the sides which were made from a sheet of thick polystrene purchased from my local hobby shop. Since then, I have perfected the mouth, added some sculpted teeth, and a tongue. Afterwards, I sanded the heck out of the mouth in between putting it inside of the head, in order to check the arcs.

I also painted the mouth, since it will be going inside the head first and it's just easier this way. I stippled the flesh paint, which looks very nice and gives such a nice look compared to a spray can or airbrush.

As for the headstick, normally I put the self-centering control in the front, but I noticed a Joe Smith set-up on one of his figures which showed the self-centering control in the back and the mouth control in the front which I feel will also be easy to work. Also, just to the left of the self-centering eye control will be a lever for blinkers. As for the running of the mouth and blinker controls, I have decided to stick to running strings over push rods. Just personal preferance, but I feel that string run controls are easier to repair than push rods, especially in a pinch.

The blinkers will be constructed of leather over brass frames. And once again, Joel's books will come to the rescue with a nicely detailed section on installing leather blinkers/winkers; this will be my first time installing these and should be interesting. Normally, I have always used custom made shell blinkers/winkers made from polystyrene on an Al Stevens inspired/designed vacuum table.

Another reason I chose leather is due to my love of Al Semok's figures; he uses leather too, which looks fantastic on his creations.

Well, time to roll my sleeves up and get back to work...

Hello & Please Excuse My Absence...

2008-04-03T10:01:00.000-07:00

...I have been working off & on with regard to this current Ventriloquist figure project. I am pleased to say that the master casting is just about complete. Since Nov. of this past year, I have performed some occasional re-tooling of my development casting in order to give it that custom "carver look."

One thing which most "dummy building books" don't tell you is that this whole process takes times and especially PATIENCE. This has been an interesting creative journey thus far.

I will post some current photos of my latest progress very soon. And when I do, compare the development casting with the "new & improved" version. You might notice that the lower portion of the face, mouth included, was developed a bit more and as a result, looks more pronounced.

Until then,

Happy Figure Building!

Gettin' there...

2007-11-07T20:17:00.000-08:00

I meant to get another posting on here much sooner, but been busy with the daily grind. However, the good news is that I have just completed my development casting for the new project and I will most likely make the final molds this Friday and produce some new castings by Saturday.

I also decided to throw on a few coats of paint to preview how this little fella might look when he is completed.I was going for a classic cheeky look, but I didn't want him to look like your classic nosey, I was attempting to achieve a bit of a different look. As a result, I have posted some pics of him for your viewing pleasure.

Anyway, once I produce some fresh castings, off to work I will go. I plan to give this character dark brown glass eyes (self-centering), slot jaw mouth, and leather blinkers (2 controls). This will be my first time out with installing leather blinkers and I will use the Marshall method for installing the blinker mechanics, courtesy of Mr. Al Steven's suggestions.

So far so good. I am pretty happy with my progress so far. And now, the journey continues...

Shop Talk

2007-10-24T09:49:00.000-07:00

Greetings to everyone. I have been hard at work on my new figure project, inbetween my 9-5 job among other daily pursuits. As for my new head casting, I have done a bit of re-sculpting to the development casting, followed by what seemed to be endless amounts of sanding.There are a few more areas to attend to on the head, a bit more sanding and then I will make a new silicone mold and then pour myself a fresh new casting. I will post some pics of my latest progress very soon.

During some of my more idle moments, waiting for things to dry/set-up, I have been attempting to compile as much as I can on the subject of mechanics for figure making. I am always interested in new ways of doing things. I would love to graduate to using push rods over strings for running my mechanics.

One obstacle which I have been running into is finding help. I have found that many figure makers can be a bit secretive about sharing their ideas on constructing mechanics. Although, I have found some select few, such as Al Stevens, who have been helpful with advice on the subject.

I truthfully hope that others will realize that this art survives due to the gratitude of others who have passed the baton on to the next generation.

Weekend Work

2007-10-13T20:13:00.000-07:00

Inbetween Sox games, I have been working on a development casting for my new project. Incidentaly, I haven't gotten around to naming this little guy yet,but I am open to suggestions.

So, the first casting is complete and I plan to take care of anything questionable which I did not catch on the completed clay model. After I perfect this development casting (a little Magic Sculpt goes a long way), I will make another mold/mother mold and re-cast; this will insure a perfect final casting for me and then the work really begins!

And now, back to the Sox game...

The Smooth in "Smooth Cast"

2007-10-11T12:45:00.000-07:00

I just purchased some great mold making products from the people at Smooth Cast and I am very impressed with their Silicone rubber and Feather Lite Urethane resin. The silicone is particularly nice and very user friendly; it's basically a two-part mix ratio and what a relief. Most Silicone RTV's require careful measurements. As for the Urethane resin, the stuff exhibits a nice consistency upon first pour and is very easy to work with.Mixing is the same for this product as well--equal parts A & B.

Another plus for using Silicone RTV is that you don't need a release agent, but if you plan to make several castings, you might want to try it in order to extend the life of the mold. As for me, I may only make a few castings for this recent project.

I wanted to give a big thanks to Joe Smith, a very talented sculptor, for his Smooth Cast products suggestion!

Newest Project

2007-10-10T18:45:00.000-07:00

This little guy is my newest creation. Since taking this pic, I have added & subtracted a bit of clay here and there. Otherwise, he looks pretty good. I spent about two weeks on him, sculpting mostly in the evenings after work.

Actually, this will become my second original figure and I am very excited about him. As for sculpting, give it a try. Chances are you may just surprise yourself with some nice results! Thus far, I certainly have.

As with figure making, like anything else, repetition is the mother of skill. I also just completed a nice silicone mold for this guy, which just produced a nice development casting.

Oh, and the ears--they come last.I never was much of an undercut fan.

In the coming days, I will post some more pics of my progress.

Keep venting!

Gotta start somewhere...

2007-10-10T14:56:00.000-07:00

...So I am off! First and foremost, I decided to start this blog for my own sanity and possibly the sanity of others with regard to ventriloquist figure making. Ventriloquism is an art which is not new to me. In fact, I first started (like many, I am sure), when I was in grade school with a "Willie Talk" ventriloquist doll. I did mostly birthday parties, school talent shows and the like.

Somewhere along the line, my interest in Ventriloquism seemed to dwindle and once I started high school, the idea of using a ventriloquist dummy seemed quite embarrasing for me. So I stopped, for 25 years in fact!

Now, the events which led up to my recent rekindling of this fantastic art are a bit hazy. The only thing I can recall is that I suddenly became interested in purchasing a ventriloquist dummy a few years ago, but had no idea where to start.

So, I decided to start hunting around on E-Bay and located a particular figure which really interested me. As a result, I placed a bid and then another, and another, and--well, you know the auction drill. Needless to say, I won the figure. After receiving the little guy, I was on cloud nine. But, there was only one problem--character! Over time, I discovered that I could not nail down a voice nor a character for this little guy. Apparently (I learned), this was a pretty common experience among novice vents. Rather than asking myself what I was looking for in a character, I am afraid that I went into the whole endeavor backwards.

Unfortunately, a few months later, that same figure was placed back on the auction block and sold shortly thereafter. After this experience, I told myself that I would never orphan a figure ever again.

Okay, so I learned an important lesson. The only unfortunate thing is that I was still "partner-less." So, I ventured further and began educating myself on some of the various figure makers (past & present). First off, the work of the McElroy brothers really spoke to me. The only problem was that these figures are few and far between with regards to actually locating one; these really are like the Rolls Royce of Vent figures. Also, I discovered the magical work of the true daddy of figure makers--Frank Marshall. Another figure maker, whose work really spoke to me, was the great Jack Coats.

Further searching revealed the fantastic contemporary works of Tim Selberg, Alan Semok, Conrad Hartz, and Brandt Gilmer.

So, I located some wonderful leads for locating a great figure. I also had a definite character in mind, and a bit of money.

The next hurdle was the wait time and the amount of money it would take to get a custom figure built. So, I was back at the starting gate.

Now, I understand that good things take time, but the stark realization that they can also take quite a bit of money seemed to sink in quite quickly.

As a result, I decided to make a figure. "What man has done, man can do" sort of mentality played across my mind at that moment. Once I made my decision, there was NO turning back. In doing a bit of research, I quickly came upon the Mike Brose site which was a revelation to me. And once I received Mike's fantastic book on figure making, I truly realized that I had arrived.

Mike also offers the wonderful "Fred Head" kits; this was one of my first pursuits. The kit itself is a great introduction into this art and for many, it is a means to an end. But not for me. I still longed to sculpt, cast, and build my own figure which has landed me here.

So, I will document (pics included) my trials and tribulations of building an original ventriloquist figure (among other things) on this blog.

More to come...