Take a look at the fanciful designs, puppets, and dolls at www.furrypuppet.com! In the puppet section of the gallery you’ll find pictures of great original characters (not to mention very well built) by T. Bouchman and Maria Gurevich. The art doll section displays beautiful and realistic creations by Alexander Margold. The site is great and definitely inspirational. We love the attention to detail that is so apparent in all the works displayed. And hey, if you’re in the market for some custom work, check out all that Furry Puppet can do for you in the online shop!

As reminder, the voting period for Sock Search - The Glorified Sock Puppet Contest will end next week! Voting ends July 31, 2006 and the winners will be announced the following day, August 1, 2006. So if you haven’t had the chance to vote, now’s the time!

James Wojtal has started the blog - Puppet show, from Concept to Curtain - which, for now, will be detailing all the hard work and creativity that goes on behind the scenes in producing a live puppet show, specifically at the famous Puppetworks Theatre in Parkslope, Brooklyn.

To learn more, check out James Wojtal’s interview on the Puppet101 Blog and take a look at the results of his awesome puppet-building skills!

Here’s some video of the Jim Henson Company’s Puppet Up! presentation at Comicon!

Link via PuppetVision.

Just My Show takes an hour long look back at The Great Space Coaster (see previous post) with interviews from key members of the cast. Take a trip down memory lane with Jim Martin (Gary Gnu, MT Promises), Emily Bindiger (Fran), Chris Gifford (Danny), Kenny Myles (Speed Reader), and Kevin Clash (Goriddle Gorilla). There’s some great tidbits and facts within the interviews, so check it out - The Great Space Coaster Reunion!

This little guy came to us all the way from France and was created by Alexandre Denis. Here’s a bit about him:

“Well if you were able to meet hairy Henry, you would meet a difficult character; Always grumbling, he often seems to be in a bad mood. But that’s a way for him to be your friend. He suddenly makes a joke that unfortunately is rarely funny… Henry can’t concentrate for a long time on what you’re saying, and he often begins to look at what happens around, just when you’re talking to him.

Hairy Henry is a very engaging character and children love him much because of this very inconstant mood and his ‘off beat’ interventions.”

Hairy Henry received two of the judges’ votes. One judge commented, “This guy is so simple and yet very effective. His character is very strong - it looks like something is going on behind those eyes.”

Very well done, Alexandre! We look forward to seeing more of your creations in the future.

A Sesame Street classic!

This little fellow was submitted by Mandy Dodd and received a vote from one of the judges. Mandy wisely used the week extension to add the green spots to Shelley’s shell. The character description reads:

“Shelley is a fun-loving snail who is the scourge of Farmer Giles at Dappledown Farm, Derbyshire. He loves high-speed racing with his buddies, Speedy and Slick. He is not married but in a long-slime relationship.

Favourite foods: Cabbage, Lettuce and sprouts.
Long term prescribed medication: Wind-Eze.
Ambition: To climb to the top of Nelson’s Column and ab-snail to the bottom.”

We thought the character write-up was very clever. Who doesn’t enjoy a good pun?! Good job, Mandy!

Kanja Chen of Chensational Productions has done it again! This time it’s Chewbacca from Star Wars, using Project Puppet’s Punto Pattern as a base. Last time, Kanja made use of the Rotondo Pattern and created a great Darth Maul puppet which is currently displayed in the Project Puppet online gallery.

Chewie will join Darth Maul very soon in the gallery. In the meantime, check out more pictures of Chewie (even some construction photos) on the Chensational Productions Blog.

Kanja is a talented professional puppet builder who usually works from his own pattern designs. Thanks, Kanja, for giving the Project Puppet patterns a whirl and for sharing the marvelous results!