Space Bugs

The stars of the Swazzle puppet show Space Bugs welcome visitors to the new Swazzle Workshop.

Swazzle Tour Ending

After nearly 150 puppet shows, the 2008 Swazzle summer tour is drawing to a close. We are entering into our final two weeks, and this may be your last chance to see Space Bugs Alpha and Zeta, The Magical Misadventures of Walnut the Wizard, and Bugsy Brown Private Fly. If you still haven't seen our new productions, please visit our online schedule to find a show near you.

Space Bugs now Playing

Space Bugs Alpha and Zeta are now touring Southern California. This is a rehearsal photo of Bobby Drone and Professor Mantis in the cockpit of Bobby Drone's space ship. If you are in Southern California, check out our tour schedule to see when Swazzle's Space Bugs is coming to your area.

Magma Worm

I just finished this puppet for Space Bugs Zeta. The Magma Worm was sculpted from a block of soft foam and covered with dyed miliskin. His eye balls are clear acrylic half spheres painted in the inside.

Starfly

This is Starfly built by Patrick Johnson for the Swazzle puppet show Space Bugs Alpha. He is a delivery fly that awakes after oversleeping in hyper-sleep to discover that he is carrying some very important cargo.

Bobby Drone

This is Bobby Drone built by Patrick Johnson. He is a hand and rod puppet. In Space Bugs Zeta, Bobby Drone is sent on an important mission by the Queen Bee.

Space Bugs

We are making progress on our Space Bugs puppet shows. This is Busby (his name may change) the scientist. He is a hand puppet - the puppeteers fingers go into each arm and the neck. His hands and and antennas are attached with springs so he has lots of secondary movement.

Finished Robo-Locust

I just finished the two Robo-Locust rod puppets for Space Bugs Alpha and Zeta - check it out.

Robo-Locusts

I used the foam mock up to create all of the patterns needed for the Robo-Locust puppets. The head and body shapes are made from L-200. The L-200 is light weight and sturdy and it will give the puppets an armored look. The eyes will be made from acrylic half spheres.

Space Bugs

Here at Swazzle we are hard at work building two new summer puppet shows: Space Bugs Alpha and Zeta. The scripts are being written by Dylan Campbell, and are nearly complete. Both shows take place in the distant future. Devestating Robo-Locusts have swept through the Universe devouring everything in their site.

This is a mock up of the Robo-Locust's head. The final puppet will be a rod puppet built in L-200.

Big Update

I realize that I have been neglecting my blog for a while. Thank you all for your pacitence I wanted to give you all an update on some of the projects I've been working on.

Right now Swazzle is booking summer puppet shows at libraries all over California. Down in Southern California we have over 130 bookings - it's going to be a busy three months. This summer the theme is bugs so we'll be touring Bugys Brown Private Fly in Northern California and Space Bugs: Alpha and Zeta down south. We're working out the scripts now, we should start designing and building the puppets very soon. Along with the bug shows, we are also writing a puppet show for L.A. City Libraries called The Magical Misadventures of Walnut the Wizard.

Swazzle has also been working on the creation of a new school show called, The Swazzle Workshop Live. This new show will be showcased in May, and it will make it's debut this coming school year. The Swazzle Workshop Live was created in partnership with The Orange County Performing Arts Center with a grant from The Puppeteers of America.

Swazzle's new preschool puppet show Forest Fables debuted a while back, and it has been very well received. This show also doubles as a birthday party puppet show - a new market for us.

Our Spanish puppet show Aventuras Saludables continues to play at large events all over Southern California.

Aside from Swazzle news, I've been keeping busy with many exciting puppet projects. Patrick and I just built a series of puppets for Sprout (PBS's network for preschoolers). I'm not sure when they'll be making their debut - so keep an eye out. Patrick and I also did more Sendables for Jib Jab. The Valentine's Day one has already debuted - more are coming soon. The film I puppeteered on, Forgetting Sarah Marshall comes out soon. This was my first film role, and I was working with Jim Henson's Creature Shop - a dream come true (the movie is rated R so leave the kids at home). Fianly, I continue to be involved with the Henson Company's puppet improv show Puppet Up. For the last couple of months Patrick and I have been teaching puppet technique at the Jim Henson Company - another dream come true.

That's it for the update - thank you for letting me share. Keep tuned in to Puppet 101 because I have some excited posts planned. First up, I'll be sharing information about puppet stages. Over our years of live performance, we have been through every type of stage: PVC, wood frame etc. Finally, I feel like we have hit on a stage that is study, flexible, quick to assemble, and portable.

I hope you all tune in for that.

Thank you to all of my readers. I hope you find this blog helpful and inspirational. If you have any questions about puppet building please drop me an email - sean@swazzle.com and I'll try my best to answer them.