Questions for B.J. Guyer

Tom Stewart

Please post any questions you have for B.J. Guyer here.

Pam Groom

BJ, sorry I didn't "show up" for the chit chat portion of day one. I'm a little confused on how that works. Do I go to the hangout link? The youtube video and hangout video didn't play at the same rate, so I was like a confused child hopping between one format and the other, trying to find where I should be to hear and see the instruction most clearly. The youtube picture and sound quality was superior, but the video had delay problems and no video interaction options that I could see. The hangout area had video interaction, but was poorer quality and was interrupted by student chit chat so I couldn't hear your instruction. I'm eager to make a muffin puppet. My daughter Holly and I are smitten by it's cuteness:). I'm going to try my hand it and then pick your brain for a few hints if I can't figure it out.

Pam Groom

BJ. Your first video instruction? Color me impressed. Directions were clear and your warm personality made me wish this were a live course. I felt right at home.

Tom Stewart

Hey Pam, the best thing to do is stay in the Google+ at the beginning of the session so you can chat with B.J. After you chat go to the Youtube vid and watch. Then go back to Google + nearing the end to chat again with BJ. If you are in Google + and you hear Troy and I babbling you can mute us by hovering over our video and clicking mute. Sorry we were talking and joking around while you were trying to watch. I assumed you muted us sorry. We were wondering why you kept going on and leaving lol
Troy and I usually leave the Google + and join YouTube but we were catching up and talking shop. Sorry again.

Pam Groom

Thanks for the explanation, Tom. This will be helpful our next class.

Tom Stewart

Hey B.J. Guyer,

I have a couple of questions from other students and myself...
1) We noticed that the mouth corners on one of your puppet was Poly foam and the rest of the puppet head was reticulated foam. Is there a reason for this?
2) Is it okay to alter the pattern to fit the character we want to build? I am presently looking at a Tiger cub design and know that I will have to change the pattern to add a muzzle. Let me know if it is okay to do this while still keeping the original pattern a s a base.
3) I was also thinking of Sculpting the inside of my characters mouth then casting it in latex so I can have a realistic looking mouth. This might change back to fabric as I begin the build -based on how the character starts to come out- but is this also allowed?

Let us know thanks.

Pam Groom

BJ: Do you have a picture of the completed head? I assembled a head just to see the shape,so I can plan a character, but I'm wondering if I did it wrong because it came out small. Pam

Tom Stewart

Hey Pam, I did the same and found it small for my hand as well. I am enlarging it by about 15% to fit my Wreck It Ralph mittens LOL I ended up photocopying everything- hands etc. but they look too big. Remember what BJ said- the Muppets were very small and that the smaller they are the more control you can get - but with the present size I can't even fit my hand in the hole of the head LOL ...like I said...Wreck it Ralph...so I may try a few things.
-Use the enlarged pattern and see if that is sufficient.
-Make the head hole bigger on the present sized puppet and just go with it.

-give up...Kidding.

I like how the head feels presently so I may just cut the hole bigger. Anyway, I want to cut new foam anyway and prep it so when BJ does the next class I can see how he does it and do it along with him. 

Tom Stewart

Love the shape of the head though. Nice work BJ!

Tom Stewart

I glued the checks closed on mine as I am thinking of my character and the muzzle I need to create :-) 

Tom Stewart

Hey B.J. People have been asking about how they stitch the fleece to the hand slit.