Viewing archived post for Shawn Sorrell
Re: How do you price a custom puppet? Posted in How do you price a custom puppet? on Aug 20, 2011
I very seldom do custom work as you have described it so I am not really the one to give advice on that but normally would give an estimate on what it would cost plus labor for the type of puppet they where looking for with along with the understanding that materials could raise the price. For example if they needed a unique or custom fabric for the puppet it may cost more. One I can remember is a vulture body character whose suite was a very specific long nape fur. This fur was actually custom milled and dyed to the specifications needed. The company that wanted this actually had the fur made for them and sent us enough to make the character because they where going to use the rest of the run at a latter date.
I regards to copyright and if the character is already copyrighted you just have to play it by ear. If it is an actual photo of an existing puppet then you need to confirm that they hold the copyright. I do always state that I will not create copyrighted material unless they hold the copyright. This extends to say a cartoon character or mascot that someone may be wanting made. In fact that is often a common request since they may have already established the character in other formats but now want it brought to life as a puppet. Legally I don't think there is much that someone is going to be able to do are do to the person who builds something for someone else. They are going to go after the people who are using it instead and nine times out of ten the legal outcome would be that they would have to stop using it.
Just do your best in trying to determine if something is copyrighted. In the US it is pretty easy to spot things since you are more likely to be aware of what is out there. If it is another country that can be more difficult but remember this if it is copyrighted there is going to be something about it out there on the internet as a rule. Google the name of the character and see what comes up. If there is not name supplied then use a short description of the character with perhaps the country and see what comes up.
I regards to copyright and if the character is already copyrighted you just have to play it by ear. If it is an actual photo of an existing puppet then you need to confirm that they hold the copyright. I do always state that I will not create copyrighted material unless they hold the copyright. This extends to say a cartoon character or mascot that someone may be wanting made. In fact that is often a common request since they may have already established the character in other formats but now want it brought to life as a puppet. Legally I don't think there is much that someone is going to be able to do are do to the person who builds something for someone else. They are going to go after the people who are using it instead and nine times out of ten the legal outcome would be that they would have to stop using it.
Just do your best in trying to determine if something is copyrighted. In the US it is pretty easy to spot things since you are more likely to be aware of what is out there. If it is another country that can be more difficult but remember this if it is copyrighted there is going to be something about it out there on the internet as a rule. Google the name of the character and see what comes up. If there is not name supplied then use a short description of the character with perhaps the country and see what comes up.
Re: You may be a victim... Posted in You may be a victim... on Aug 19, 2011
There is a way to keep your images from being what is called "hot linked", but there is nothing really keeping folks from downloading (they do that when the look at your page) images and then uploading them to another server and useing them. Hot Linking is when they actually use the images on your own server and show them in another site. That can be stopped and is really not that hard to do. If you happen to have a hosting company that has cPanel they even make it pretty easy to do.
I really doubt that ehow is going to do anything. I reviewed quite a bit of the content on puppetry and the authors seem to know just how much they have to change things to get around copyright laws. Quite frankly I found most the content on the site lacking in any true details of any use. Emily and Paul are about the only ones I saw that had real content and there stuff was actually migrated over from the old Expert Village site when ehow took over it I think. The drawback is that since ehow is a bigger site it is going to get a higher page rank by Google which means that more then likely someone searching is going to end up there instead of someplace like Na's site or here where the content is good. I guess when you see one of these articles you could always leave comments directing folks to better sites with more content but that almost feels like dropping to their level or spammer tactics.
I really doubt that ehow is going to do anything. I reviewed quite a bit of the content on puppetry and the authors seem to know just how much they have to change things to get around copyright laws. Quite frankly I found most the content on the site lacking in any true details of any use. Emily and Paul are about the only ones I saw that had real content and there stuff was actually migrated over from the old Expert Village site when ehow took over it I think. The drawback is that since ehow is a bigger site it is going to get a higher page rank by Google which means that more then likely someone searching is going to end up there instead of someplace like Na's site or here where the content is good. I guess when you see one of these articles you could always leave comments directing folks to better sites with more content but that almost feels like dropping to their level or spammer tactics.
Re: teaching puppetry in school Posted in teaching puppetry in school on Aug 06, 2011
If you are going to teach puppetry in a public school then I am pretty sure you are going to have to stay away from any religious themes. Heck even music teachers have a hard time getting permission to use classic music because much of it was written for the church at the time.
Also remember that the object of this is to teach puppetry not minister. Ok I realize that many feel that they should minister in every part of their lives, but you don't expect the cashier at the grocery store to engage you in a religious conversation, you expect them to check you out so you can get home and cook dinner.
I think just in general that people often try to do too much instead of focusing on one thing. This even relates to what types of puppetry you are going to teach when you go into the class room or what aspect of puppetry. You might be able to introduce the types of puppetry but then focus down on one style. You might mention methods of building a puppet but only to get an understanding of how to manipulate the puppet correctly.
Also remember that the object of this is to teach puppetry not minister. Ok I realize that many feel that they should minister in every part of their lives, but you don't expect the cashier at the grocery store to engage you in a religious conversation, you expect them to check you out so you can get home and cook dinner.
I think just in general that people often try to do too much instead of focusing on one thing. This even relates to what types of puppetry you are going to teach when you go into the class room or what aspect of puppetry. You might be able to introduce the types of puppetry but then focus down on one style. You might mention methods of building a puppet but only to get an understanding of how to manipulate the puppet correctly.
Re: What's the best way to shave fur? Posted in What's the best way to shave fur? on Aug 05, 2011
How about a electric shaver. Straight edge razors and scissors are also good tools to employ. I really don't think there is one tool that is best over another and you need to employ them all just as a good barber or hair dresser would.
One thing I would say about the electric shaver, is that it works best not to try and take off a lot at one time. In fact just like a barber you would want to get the most of your fur off with a pair of scissors and then use the shaver to finish and clean things up. A comb or brush is also a good tool to have to get your fur to stand up so you can get to it to cut. For example if you wanted to shorten the fur around the muzzle of an animal but then have the longer hair blend in nicely you would want to use your comb or brush to raise the hair in the muzzles area and then push away or separate the hair that you want to stay long to blend in. Ok that all makes sense in my head let's hope it translates to word.
Straight edge razors and scissors are also good tools to employ. I really don't think there is one tool that is best over another and you need to employ them all just as a good barber or hair dresser would. One thing I would say about the electric shaver, is that it works best not to try and take off a lot at one time. In fact just like a barber you would want to get the most of your fur off with a pair of scissors and then use the shaver to finish and clean things up. A comb or brush is also a good tool to have to get your fur to stand up so you can get to it to cut. For example if you wanted to shorten the fur around the muzzle of an animal but then have the longer hair blend in nicely you would want to use your comb or brush to raise the hair in the muzzles area and then push away or separate the hair that you want to stay long to blend in. Ok that all makes sense in my head let's hope it translates to word.
Re: How to make a puppet stand Posted in How to make a puppet stand on Jul 29, 2011
Great idea PoorFishy!
Posting an image from the Gallery is pretty easy actually. Use the Gallery Image button below the post box. Click on it then select User Albums from Subalbums and hit Go. Then find your album or anyones you want to insert an image from under Subalbums again. Then simply select the image you want to insert!
Many of us do have facebook accounts so you can post links to your Facebook page but the link you posted seems to be wrong. In fact there is both a Page and Group for Puppets and Stuff over at FB.
Page: http://www.facebook.com/puppetsandstuff
Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/152610081475255/?ap=1
Posting an image from the Gallery is pretty easy actually. Use the Gallery Image button below the post box. Click on it then select User Albums from Subalbums and hit Go. Then find your album or anyones you want to insert an image from under Subalbums again. Then simply select the image you want to insert!
Many of us do have facebook accounts so you can post links to your Facebook page but the link you posted seems to be wrong. In fact there is both a Page and Group for Puppets and Stuff over at FB.
Page: http://www.facebook.com/puppetsandstuff
Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/152610081475255/?ap=1