May was more fun than anyone person should have; with the birth of my 5th grandson and getting to spend time with all my kids and grandkids. One of the treats I hadn't expected was getting to help build puppets with Dallin and Company.
An internet security company, SOPHOS, commissioned him to make 11 puppets in about a month for a commercial celebrating SYS ADMIN day.
This is all quite the process. First there is a mock up made of the head and body shape with throw away foam. Which means tracing the pattern, which Dallin has created with a cool program from his computer animation programs, onto foam. Then you cut up the foam with a razor and glue the pieces together with a glue gun. At this point Melanie is a ticking time bomb waiting for baby David to be born. She was happy for the distraction.
Once the pattern looks good, right size and shape, we do the whole process over in final foam and contact cement.
Tracy has spent hours over the sink dying fleece for each skin tone. You see them here piled under each puppet. Do you like the puppet stands? Dollar store plungers.
Dallin is making arms.
Dallin is making arms.
They flew Tracy's mom out to help. She was costume mistress and general seamstress.
With the bodies fleeced next is arm sleeves for the puppeteers and costuming.
Nearly every part of the puppet is sewn by hand and Tracy is a pro. She kept the rest of us up to pro standards.
The finished puppets!!! I took a picture of the clock because Dallin and I stayed up all night to put the finishing touches on them. We laid the last puppet on the couch at 6:03am and Dallin had them loaded in the car and on the road at 7:30am. Daniel drove him up to Salt Lake City to present them before Dallin headed off to a full day of work. It was so fun to be a part of this.
Here is the link to the final commercial. Dallin and crew did the puppeteering and voices also.
