It is never too late to give you all a recap of how 2018 went for Paisley’s Puppets, right?
I sold many, many puppets last year at events like Treasure Fest, Maker Faire, Oakland Patchwork Show, and several holiday pop-ups. I also had a number of commissions and made some fabulous custom puppets! As a last minute Christmas gift, I was commissioned to make a fabulous dragon puppet. The mother was super thankful to have a hardworking elf make their kid so happy!
March was a major highlight for me because I traveled to Santa Barbara for PuppetPalooza and the Pacific Southwest Puppet Conference. This exciting 3 day event included classes on puppetry, puppet enthusiast gatherings, shows, and meeting the new Muppeteers! I learned a lot about their story and how they are taking over the reigns of their childhood heroes. Of course I brought my Deaner puppet and got the optional photo opportunity with Miss Piggy, Pepe the Prawn, Kermit, and Walter!
Having that puppet playtime really pushed me to plot more puppet pastimes. I got busy bringing more puppets to life. I did have a minor setback when I broke my hand in May, but I still did Makers Faire as well as some fun travels.
Of course Ween was on tour again in 2018, so I packed up the Ween Puppet Boys and traveled to Colorado, Oregon, Tennessee, and Atlanta throughout the summer and fall. I met so many fun Ween fans who truly appreciated the Ween Puppet Boys. Yet again, I was floored by Ween playing their awesome sound. I got another shout out from Gener at the Tabernacle in Atlanta, and he was pleased to see the puppets once again. My little fan heart grew a bunch that night! See more photos on my Ween Puppets page.
In September I participated in Figment Oakland again with my Lost Sock Puppet Productions. Figment is a free interactive art festival. I have so much fun bringing the supplies and offering instruction to make your very own sock puppet. I really enjoy interactive art that is free because it heps encourage everyone that they can be creative!
In October I did the Puppet-a-Day challenge for the third year in a row. Even with a week vacation in Nashville and Atlanta, I still managed to make a puppet almost every day. In Atlanta we visited the Center for Puppetry Arts. They recently updated it with a permanent Jim Henson exhibit so we had to go. I had a blast learning about Henson and world puppetry, and thoroughly enjoyed the visiting Dark Crystal exhibit. I brought some of my Ween puppets and of course they had to unforgettable experience as well.
As the year came to a close I was exhausted, elated, entertained, energized, and encouraged to continue my quest to provide puppetry to the masses. Now for plotting even more puppet pleasantries for 2019!