BLOGS
Yesterday it was my birthday my 101st to be exact. And I gotta tell ya, all things considered, I firmly believe that things are getting better for me with the passing of every year! First of all I got my evil little girlfriend...
Who says I'm turning into a hot old guy with a sexy cinnamon and sugar beard Gotta love her! She gave me the best birthday weekend of my life... Took me out for all the salted meats I could eat at the best Brazilian BBQ in town, made me a tasty cake, and all in all, treated me like the king that I'm not... Life is good! We're also celebrating another big event in the Geppetto Studio... I've known about this since the end of last year but was asked to keep it to myself for awhile. But the press release is out so I can finally talk about it. DRUM ROLL... I made the list to receive a Performing Arts Grant from the Creative Capital Foundation. I'll be using the dough to put together an all puppet burlesque show entitled "A Night at Miss Mimi's" It's a pretty big deal, as these groovy people help you not only with the financial aspect of your piece but also help with making sure that your project is given every opportunity to shine. The other thing that appealed to me about the Foundation was the pay it forward attitude they have. When your project starts to turn a profit you give back a percentage of your profits. Thus helping to fund the next generation of us artsy-fartsy types...
I've had the plan for this show ever since 2003 but due to the cost I never thought I would be able to actually ever get the chance to do it. But then my good friend and fellow myspacer, Jeff told me about the Creative Capital Grants. So along with over 2000 other artists I applied (on my last birthday to be exact) and went through the year long decision making process. I would freak every time I would get an email from them informing me that I had made it to the next round of elimination. Finally I got the email where they wanted the big pitch... I FREAKED! I have no formal training and I had never applied for a grant this huge! I'm just a puppet geek... A man in his midlife who still plays with dolls. How was I going to convince these New York artists that I wouldn't screw up the opportunity. All I could do was what I always do put on a little show and hope somebody claps... I made em this DVD called THE PITCH. Well somebody clapped, from what my contact at the foundation has told me a lot of folks clapped and I got put on the short list of 21 performing arts projects to be funded. HOOOORAY! This is the biggest budget I've ever been given to work with so we're talking Vegas style extravaganza here kiddies.
But the best thing is that the show will be coming to a venue near you. So with any luck I'll be able to meet up and perform for all the interesting people I've met on Myspace. You'll be able to keep up with the shows progress with Blogs and Videos on my website. I plan on turning the experience into a documentary so you'll get behind the scenes of the build, rehearsals, the BUS CAM as we travel from gig to gig and all the backstage craziness that goes into a show of this size. Think of it as your own little puppet reality show... Also there will be FREE SCHWAG!!! That's right! Free Tickets-shirts, Calendars, Skare Bears ,Geppetto made puppets, and tons other cool stuff... I knows what you're thinking! "Geppetto, How do I win some or all of the cool schwag!" It's easy Just send them to my website
and have em click on the Email me link. all the have to do is put your full name in the subject line. for every 50 people you send to my site I'll send you some free schwag. Try to keep every one you send 18 or over as I hate small minded parents bitching that my toys and puppets are too creepy. So no Bar Mitzvahs or Kiddy Parties! Well that's it my little meatpuppets gotta run now.... Got me some puppet size G-strings to sew.
Until next time hope all is relaxed and groovy in your world
Geppetto
2/20/06
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"The story of Yvette"
As with all my projects, evolution is constant. Sometimes things change due to a problem which is either technical or financial. Then there are those rare times when it's a mystical thing.... Ooooooooooooooooo Spooky! If you look on the Prototypes page you'll see the only puppet that made it through the whole design stage to the final show... until today. Yes my little skunk girl, "Yvette " has been given the boot! "Why", you may ask, "did such a skunky femme fatale" get cut from the show? Well I'll tell ya if you just back off me a bit!
The origins of Yvette are believe it or not quite scandalous. First off out of all the characters she's the only one I that's not my own design. The original clay head sculpture was done by this woman who was looking to make me her future ex-husband. After I told her this was not gonna happen she became a little bitter and refused to let me use her. So out of spite I changed her 30% (enough to avoid a lawsuit) and named her Yvette. I chose that name because I wanted my little skunk to have that "Pepe LePew" French factor. But the name also belongs to one of my Ex's ( a real F'ed up one) which made my new girl (hopefully never to be an EX) kinda upset and snoggy towards the puppet. She told me I shouldn't have the name of such an evil bitch associated with something that was to be my life's work. But I was having none of it. I was gonna use her no matter how many crazy, wicked, and in the case of my sweet girl, protective women conspired against her.
Now the head on the one you see in the picture is made has a thick latex skin and filled with a dense foam. In layman's terms she weighs a ton! One of the keys I've learned about puppet design is that heavy is bad, bad ,bad! So to cut the weight down I took that head, made a silicon mold, and would re-cast the head in a lightweight self skinning foam. The foam is real cool stuff you mix A and B together and it expands to 5 times its size. I call it "Fun with Science!" Like Dr. Jeckyl I mix my potion pour it my freshly finished mold and... Drum roll please......................................... NOTHING! Not only did it not rise but it destroyed the mold! It made it all sticky and gooey! now for those of you who don't know supposedly nothing sticks to silicone but silicone. It was cold in the lab that day so I chalked my lack of chemical reaction to the cold and made another mold. Well today was "Fun with Science!" day and the plan was to pour two of every head. I mixed up a batch and started pouring. every thing was working just fine until I got to Yvette. This time the foam rose all the way to the top and then collapsed like a bad boob job. When I opened it up it looked a lot like snowman puke, and yes... mold #2 was destroyed! "Oooooooooooooooo Spoooooooky!" Even spookier was that all the rest of the pours that day were perfect and I got some good work out of the day! Well I don't need a brick wall to fall on me (don't ya learn that the hard way) Miss Yvette was not meant to be.
My theory... It's not my design. ergo, she's not mine to use. As well as fate saying she had too much of the bad crazy girl JuJu working her. So she has been replaced with Josephine, a stunning black panther girl who will be performing a mighty fine fan dance And that's good enough for me... and if it's good enough for me that means it's good for you and if it's good for you then it's good for everyone.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it!
Geppetto
