Project Puppet Contest Top Ten

November 26th, 2008

Well, I am honoured to have had my puppet chosen one of the top ten in the most recent Project Puppet Contest entitled “A Space Odyssey”.  The contest will have their voting open until December 7th, 2008.

I wanted to share a little about my puppet entry because I am very proud of it.  The contest for me was for a few personal reasons.  One of those reasons was the inclusion of special guest judge Ed Christie. 

For those of you who do no know who he is, Ed Christie is a puppet designer and builder that have been working with Sesame Street and the Muppets for over fifteen years.  Needless to say I highly respect him professionally and wanted to enter the contest just to get any feedback I could.The other judges are not too shabby either with the ever talented likes of Terry Angus, Jarrod Boutcher, Phil Fletcher and James Wojtal. 

The feedback I received from Ed alone was enough to accomplish what I had wanted from the contest.  Here is some of what he wrote about my puppet (please note that the entries are anonymous so the judges have no idea who has built the puppet they are commenting on.)

“My top favorite! Overall shape & proportions are very appealing. Colors very friendly & appropriate to his “world” and “mission”. He looks so vulnerable & sweet – definitely a “reject” from his otherwise warrior class…You want to give him a hug.  And, although I usually prefer a white eye with a black pupil (my Muppet training), the eye treatment is beautifully mysterious. I love the muzzle concept. It’s a moustache at first glance, but also an appropriate appendage for his water world…Great background story too. I also think this little guy could be easily marketable as a toy.”

Now for me, that was worth the entry.  The other judges had great things to say as well which means so much coming from people as talented as these.Here is my puppet Gimbul.  I wanted to add a bit more information about Gimbul.  I decide to enter the contest to prove that I can create great characters as well as puppeteer and build. 

For years I have enjoyed building from other people’s designs, I still do, but I wanted to show the world that does not mean I cannot design a great character.  So I created Gimbul.  I hand sewed the entire puppet, which I am very happy about.  I also added removable arm rods, because I intend on using this puppet in the future.

I am very proud of my puppet entry.  It seems that he has helped to make the contest difficult for some people to choose their favourite. 

Why not visit the Puppet Contest page and vote for yourself?

Entry Filed under: Uncategorized