Look alikes

I received a mad rush of orders for look alikes last month. I am finally finished so if you are looking for one, now is the time before it gets busy!
I finished one for Bob Albano, the creator and administrator of a pictorial history of ventriloquism. His website is www.costerjoe.com His site is chock full of interesting facts and pictures as well as enteretaining clips to view for all you ventriloquist enthusiasts!
Bob asked me to make a look alike of his son, a gift for his wife. Here he is.
I was asked recently, How do you become a professional ventriloquist?
There are three important elements The first is Desire. You must really want this. the second is Dedication. You must practice constantly.There are many courses out there. All of them are good. Some are costly, some are inexpensive. The best, in my opinion, is Maher Studios Millenium addition. It was created by Clinton Detweiler and can be purchased by contacting him through his blogspot www.newsyvents.blogspot.com It is not cheap, but it is complete, thorough and you are graded by the master himself as you take the exams that are included with this course.You receive a certificate of completion at the end of the course suitable for framing. I purchased one recently and as soon as I have some time, in between my ten jobs (exagerating, only four) I plan to become a Maher student. Something I wanted to do 35 years ago and never had the chance. Who says you can't teach an old dog now tricks! The last and most important is your delivery and act. Without that, you will be no where. If you have a great act, and good delivery you will be asked how to book you for a party or show in most cases immediately after your first act, be it a freebee at a school or a relatives birthday. How do you know you have a good act and delivery? You will know from the laughs and applause and the self confidence that comes with it.
I am working on a project for a ventriloquist in Mexico. It is a first for me. It is a talking "jamon serano" or smoked ham. It is built to resemble a leg of pork on one side, The other side has moving eyes,raising eyebrows and moving mouth. I will take you on a picture journey next week of how he was built. Hasve a great week and happy venting!

Long time between blogs

I have been busy relocating out to the back yard. During this time I have encountered many difficult hurdles which have taken time away from what I love to do most which is of course figure making and entertaining. I am hooking a direct line to my shop to the breaker box in my house. I thought I could get away with running a jump line from the house but the breaker kicked off on the hottest day of the year and i lost some projects and product because of it.
I have also become a grandfather for the fifth time. His name is Mathew and he was a preemie weighing in at 5 lbs. His mother ( my daughter in law) had him cesearian. My prayers ask that he and his Mom grow stronger each day. It was a difficult birth there have been complications as well. Here is a picture of Sean, Maureen and baby Mathew

Dan's mini-me arrives

Steve,

Thought I'd let you know I made a safe trip to Canada. My new home is great and the people love me. They think I'm real good looking. Take a look at one of my friends in the photo I attached. Thanks for all the time you spent with me! Take care.

Dan's mini-me

Well Dan's mini-me,

I'm glad you like your new home. From talking to your friend, I know that you will be well taken care of. He seems like a real nice guy!

Steve

Look alikes

I have been doing several look alikes these past weeks. One is a caricature of Rev. Thomas Bayes, a minister responsible for forming Bayes Theorum which was published post humously. (there is only one picture of him so they don't know if it's really him) The other is for a Dan in Canada. I still need to add his hair.Here are their finished pictures.

These are my favorite sculptings my to do. It gives someone their own mini-me or a likeness of someone else that is unique to them. I charge 299 for these figures. You can't find that low a price anywhere. additional animations are extra. They all come with moving eyebrows. If your interested, you can email me at gepettosworkshop@yahoo.com. I hope you all have a great weekend. I am on vacation from the newspaper and plan on getting my workshop in order!

Relocating my shop

I have been using our recreation room for almost ten years now as my shop. I turned the bar into a workbench and the televsion room into a staging area. Darlene has finally had it. She put her foot down when the dummies started making their way into the front of the house.

In her own words: " which dummy is going to stay up front with me and which one is going to the back?" Well, that wasn't hard to figure out, she was talking about me, right?

Needless to say, it was time to get a new shop. I had been outside fore 10 years prior to moving in. I like working in air conditioning and heat so I moved inside. My old shop is too small (or I've gotten too wide) So last week, I had a new one delivered to me and over the next few weeks, will be relocating back outside. ( I feel like a dog who pooped on the carpet and has been banned to the backyard!) I am, however, making it more comfortable this time. I am insulating it, adding a heater and an air conditioner and vacuum unit so I don't have to stand out in the heat to do woodwork and sanding. I will keep you up to date on how it goes. This little guy was finished up this weekend and is now waiting to take up his position as wise cracker to whoever wins him on ebay. As always, any questions, anything I can help you with concerning figure making or ventriloquism, feel free to email me at gepettosworkshop@yahoo.com

Earl and Sugar britches

Earl was purchased by James awhile back. He developed some bad habbits on his way to Texas. Alittle smoke a little drink and before you know it he was a bad boy cowboy.

James remedied that by bringing "Sugar Britches" into his life.

She has him under control now although James told me he had to tie his hands behind his back when she first arrived!

I apologize for the clarity of my latest ebay figure. My camera quit and I had to use an old one I have. I have another on the way, so my future pictures will be of better quality. I am learning how to upload youtube to my auctions to give a better example of how the figure operates. As always, if you need any answers or help finding answers about ventrilquism or figure making, email me at gepettosworkshop@yahoo.com If I don't have the answer, I will get it for you!

Have a great week!

Nothing like a pro saying hello!

Trenon writes

Hello Steve!!! I thought I'd keep in touch with you by sending some pics of Malcom and I from a show i did in March. This is how he looks in his black suit! Sharp or what!

Thanks again Steve for your great work! God Bless you!!

Finishing up Bill's figure

I had another conversation with Bill this week and he decided to go with a different look. He wanted his figure to look like a woman who took care of him when he was a child. So after a little adjusting, here she is. I thickened her lips and broadened her nose slightly to give her more of an African American appearance. I changed the controls which were looped steel wire. They were too pliable and didn't work well. I replaced the controls for the mouth and blinker with brass levers and I added a ball control for the eyes. I added moving eyebrows and put another control in the post for that function. I am in the middle of making her body and she should be ready to ship out sometime this week. Here she is Bill. I hope you like her. She's come along way from the poor guy who arrived at my door two weeks ago! He has been resurrected as a woman and will have a new lease on life.

In addition, I am finishing up a conversion figure for Doris, one of my long time customers. Here she is.

Face lift

I received a Howie Olsen head from Bill in Texas. He asked if I could repair him. After talking with him, we decided to turn her into a "church lady" someone who doesn't practice what she preaches.

This particular Howie head was made of plaster. It is very thick yet not too durable. Apparently, he had an accident and that was his reason for coming to Gepetto's Workshop.

As you can see in the pictures, his face is cracked in about three different places. The first thing I did was glue his fractures and bind him until he dried.

I then removed his Iris' as they were old and scratched. Then I went to work with my magic sculpt. I sealed around the areas that weren't sturdy to give them better durability and sculpted a new face. After she dries, I will sand and paint her and then add moving eyebrows.

Here are some pictures of the process so far. Have a good week. As always, if you have any questions about ventriloquism or figure making, please email me at gepettosworkshop@yahoo.com. If I have the answer I will gladly help you. If I don't, I will point you in the right direction to find it.

Finishing Jimmy Light

It's been a very busy month. Lots of orders, a few repairs and alot of overhauls.

Jimmy Light and his crew are finally finished and off to Canada. I hope the new looks give your act one up.

This month I will be working on more overhauls. I have one from Bill in Texas and one from Jimmy in New York. I've got a couple of special projects that I will bring to the blog also as well as discussing sprucing up your act for spring. Here are some more pics of Jimmy's finished figures. As always any questions about figure making or ventriloquism are always welcome and will be answered as they come in. Any thing at all, no matter how insignificant it might be to you or overwhelming, if I can't give you the answer, I will direct you to someone who can. Email me at gepettosworkshop@yahoo.com Happy Venting!