Puppets and Props

   Gary Reuter writes...... I wanted to send you a couple shots of the dummy I constructed with the castings I purchased from you and the help of your book and (Al) Stevens' web site. I call him Jake and he is a bee keeper. I take him with me when I go to schools to talk to kids about honey bees. I am still working on teaching him to talk. I want to thank you for your web site with all the great instructions and the book. I am going to start another one making my own model, mold, and casting. I already have the armature set up and the clay on. It may take me awhile to make the clay look more like a face but I am not in a rush. Thanks again! Gary

   Lee reports that he used oil paints to finish this figure and installed McElroy style winkers (these are shown in my book!) for both eyes. Figure also has raising eyebrows.

   Roger Carrol writes..... "I have always wanted a Real Vent Figure (Hard Figure). Last week, I finished my Mike Brose kit (Shirly) just in time for Read Across America day (Dr. Seuss' birthday) this past Monday. I had been invited to read to five classes, in two different schools, from 2nd to 4th grade. I wanted to use Shirly, but was worried that she would "freak out" the little kids. I was so wrong. They were enthralled with her. Out of the five performances, three groups asked to see her again at the end. The greatest compliment the kids paid me was that the last group, the bell rang for the end of day. No one got up, they didn't want to leave. We had to chase them out to the bus."

   When Roger sent the photos, he added. "I think it is good for people to see a wide range of figures they can create (with the head kits), without even modifying the head." Roger

   Jacques Thijs from Antwerp, Belgium writes...... "It took me some time but I finally finished the kit you send me. I already performed twice with "Joske", my new figure. As you can see I made moving eyebrows. These are controlled by the control that does also move the eyes : left to right for the eyes, down to raise the eyebrows. All the best and keep up the good work. Thanks to you I now own this fine figure." Jacques Thijs

   Rod Smith of Mississippi writes..... "Attached is a photo of Paco, my bilingual Mariachi. The clothes are authentic Mexican including the sombrero. They were purchased in Monterrey, Mexico. I have a little fine tuning to do but is otherwise finished. I plan to use him next week. Thanks for your help and prompt response to my questions as well as my orders. If you want to use me as a reference please feel free. He turned out exactly as I wanted so I am pleased. Actually the only figure I have actually worked even a little is one (a friend of mine) has so I really don't know much about figures...only what I read. SO, that is why I say even the most inexperienced person can use your kit." Thanks a million, Rod

   Arthur says...... The kit makes figure building a whole lot simpler. For those of us that have spent huge amounts of time sculpting, casting, and trying various ways to come up with a quality head that can accept the kinds of mechanics that a professional figure often has, this kit is a true gift. Mike has taken the difficult and sloppy work out of my hands and allowed me to concentrate on the "fun part" of adding the mechanics. Facial features can easily be modified on these heads which allow for additional creativity if one so chooses. For Luke, I followed the basic suggestions offered in Mike's book for the mechanics. I followed Mike's book exactly. Having just purchased 2 sets of Mike's hand castings, no future body will be without them. They are perfect in every way.

   On his second figure..... At long last, I have had some time to complete the 2nd head kit (see pics above). This one with self centering eyes and winkers as promised. I used Al's (Stevens) idea for a vacuum table which worked well. I basically used the same approach that Al points out on his Fred project website with some different modifications. He has both hands and feet from the Brose collection!! His name is Marcus.

   Mike Brooks..... I bought a puppet kit off of you around oct last year. I just finished it up about a month ago and wanted to say a big thanks. It was easier than I thought to assemble. A friend of mine painted it for me. I did the moving side to side eyes. I didn't do the winkers. Looked a little more than what I wanted to do for the first puppet. Just wanted to say thanks. Mike Brooks