From time to time we still get someone who wants to order moving (L/R) eyes and or blinking eyes.
We stopped selling them a couple of years ago for a couple of reasons. First, they were extremely hard to do.
It would take almost twice as long to build a set of L/R movers as it took to make two complete puppets. You can’t imagine how many times we almost pulled our hair out trying to get something to work just right.
I remember one day that JET came to me and said “If you sell another set of movers, either you build them or I quit. I knew that was not a possibility. As I began to study them, I realized that every set was different because every characters head was different.
That was our side of the fence. Then there was your side of the fence. The cost factor. Mover were $300.00 a set. For most performers, that made them very expensive. JET began to work with the puppets and came to the realization that she (and you) could created the same effect without having movers.
With a little practice, you can learn to manipulate the puppet by simply moving the head back and forth. Within this context, you can make folks think that the eyes are actually moving when it is really the head swiveling.
It works out for everyone. You save $300.00 and JET saves her sanity.
That’s all for now. We will talk again next week.
Steve and JET