Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Sarah Palin




I received a request a couple of weeks ago to make a Sarah Palin look-alike.
I wanted to get the square jaw and big mouth full of teeth and the "wink"that she is famous for.
She was a challenge.She has raising and lowering eyebrows and two winkers and blinkers. This is what I came up with. I hope she serves you well Ken.She's ready for the Oval office!

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Repairing and restoring a tired old Jerry





Dan sent me this Jerry head and asked if there were anywhere to restore it. I said I would do my best to bring Jerry back to his original condition and make him a little bit better. The first thing we had to do was re attach his eyes which had broke away from the holder. I placed the eyes back in the holder and lined them up with the eye holes by placing #6 washers underneath the eyes to even them out.I then used magic sculpt to repair the broken eye carriage. I attached a spring to theeye mechanism and connected it with a small eye hook to the side of the inside of the dummys head. This enables the control to give the eyes a full range of motion from one side to the other. The deluxe Jerry's were set up to move center to side. by connecting the spring the way I did it enables full motion.
I then built up the sides of the jaw to close the gap between the jaw and the head and repainted it to match the original paint. I repainted his head nad the whites of his eyes. The eyes were set too close to the head on these figures and cause them to scratch with the back and forth motion. I moved them out a little so this doesn't happen again.
I then reconnected his jaw with a spring instead of a rubber band and Jerry now looks like he did when he was first purchased in 1966. Hope he serves you well Dan!

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

Look a like





I spent the better part of last month working on stage figures and let the conversion end slide, however, my ebay store and www.gepettosworkshop.net now have a full selection of conversion vent figures at the best prices around!
I was asked to do a look a like of this gentleman in a full size figure. He wanted all the bells and whistles. I installed raising and lowering eyebrows, side to side self centering eyes,crossing eyes,blinkers and a spitter. Here is a picture of the outcome.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

"Flied Lice"











I was contracted to make a full size figure from the propaganda pictures of World war II of a japanese soldier. After bantering ideas back and forth we took several pictures and created this guy. He is a 42 inch stage figure and he is on his way to Australia.




I found out after he was completed that he is for famous Australian comedian Rodney Rude.




Rodney is an Australian comedian and he lives up to his name. I am a sucker for off beat humor and this guy is a riot. I have added one of his jokes to the blog for anyone who wants to see it. Caution!!! Rodneys humor is definately rude!!!

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Ace arrived at his new home







It has been really hot here on the Eastern Shore. I can't wait until it starts to cool down. Fall is my favorite season. Cecil County, (my home) comes back to life.



I have been really busy and have not been posting as I should. My wife told me to let you know about a figure i am making but I will show you several.



I received about 5 orders for full sized figures last month and i am finishing up the last one. The first was a look alike for a figure made by Maher studios which has been retired. He was delivered to his new owner and I will share the email he sent.






"Hi Steve,






I just wanted to thank you for the excellent job you did in creating Ace. I received him today and as soon as I opened up the box (very well packed!) I started working with him right away. Still trying voices for him and will decide on one for him in the coming days. I was truly surprised to see the quality of workmanship and detail that went into him



I will be taking him with me this year when i volunteer at our local MDA telethon broadcast and you can be sure anyone that asks me, will be told where I got him. Hopefully I can send some business your way! Once again, thank you!






Steven J.






Thank you Steven,






You've got a great name by the way (;



I wish you and Ace many years of enjoyment together and hope you bring smiles to countless others who need one!

Thursday, July 9, 2009





























We have been very busy here at Gepetto's Workshop. I have several orders in motion for look alike figures, coversion and stage figures. I have just completed one for a customer. He wanted it to look like Whitey, a figure that i auctioned on ebay. He prefereds dark hair and eyes and wanted it loaded. He has blinkers, crossing eyes, raising and lowering eyebrows as well as self centering eyes and slotjaw mouth. Here are some pictures of him and his inside workings.

Sunday, June 7, 2009

Lillies alterego





























I have been in contact with Lillie for a couple of weeks. She is a talented artist who is studying Art Therapy. For a young lady, she has it together. She also has her heart in the right place.







She asked that I give the dummy her eyes, nose and hair. I have finished her head and I am working on finishing her up. She needs her for a convention coming up and I want to make sure she gets her in plenty of time. Here are some pictures of her in process. and... Here is one of my cats Lillie. This is Bear. He was the only one around while I was taking the pictures. I'll try and catch up to the other guys later. Have a great week everyone! As always, If I can help with any of your figure making problems or anything else pertaining to ventriloquism, feel free to contact me at gepettosworkshop@yahoo.com and if you would like a custom made conversion figure or stage figure, you can contact me at the same web address. Thanks everyone!

Jimmy's gross out dummy











Jimmy Light Show wanted me to make this guy with all kinds of pimples, warts and boils. I gave him some hair in his nose and some runny snot also. It even grossed out Darlene and we've been married for a looooong time~




Monday, May 25, 2009

Some full size stage figures. One for sale





























I've been working on several full size figures. One was for a customer in Canada and the other for a gentleman in Italy. The older fellow will be going to Europe.







The younger one is for sale. He is available to anyone who wants him for 450 dollars. a great deal for a full size figure. He is about 40 inches tall.

Here are some stages of each figure.

Hope everyone had a great memorial day. As always, if you need help with figure making or ventriloquism or you want a look alike figure or one made to your specifications contact me at gepettosworkshop@yahoo.com I answer all emails!

Sunday, May 24, 2009

More Jimmy LightShow
















Here are some more of Jimmys figures. I am finall finished Jimmy, sorry about the wait.





He sent me this beat up old head from a 1980's Jerry Lane dummy. The orange haired guy is what I created. Here are your beards and your repaired head. If you only knew what i had to go through to make them. Elkton and Delaware don't seem to have fun fur this color anywhere. I had to kake the beards from clown poms. The kind you glue on to fabric. I dismantled them and glued them on in strands to a "beard pattern" I made, then added the velcro. I noticed that I had to seperated the mustache from the beard as well so the mouth would move. You have a purple one, a red one and a green one.

Here are your twins. They don't look the same anymore.

Hope everyone has a great Memorial Day! Semper Fi!!!! As always, If I can help anyone with figure making or ventriloquism problems,or you would like a custom figure made, contact me at gepettosworkshop@yahoo.com

Saturday, May 16, 2009











Hello everyone. The challenge of looking for another job with benefits is getting weary.




Seems like half our county is out of work! Since the newspaper businesses aren't looking for help (they are all closing) I am getting back into manufacturing management. I have about 20 years of experience in that field so something will come along. (I pray)




Anyway, Jimmy Lightshow has sent some more figures for new looks and wig sets. He also asked me to give them crossing eyes. Here is one of them. I gave him bigger lips, ears and a wideer nose. The other one I gave buck teeth. I also took an old beat up Layne figure and gave him a completely new look as well as crossing eyes. Jimmy is a talented vent entertainer in Canada and someone I feel lucky to call a friend. Here are some pics Jimmy. They'll be packed on Monday and enroute to Canada. Thanks!