Step Right Up Folks!

I don’t know if you’ve been watching, but we’ve sold both jumping jacks and another puppy. This time we’ve got something really cool! Click AUCTION to find out more and get your bidding finger pumped...

Still Going!

Well the first offering was a huge success! Toby is now on his way to a good home making way for the next items: the Ivan Petrofsky Skevar and Abdullah Bou Boul Ameer Shadow Puppet Jumping Jacks! Keep an eye on our AUCTION for your opportunity to own a piece of the HEAP!

SEE YOU THERE!

Auction!

Attention devoted Puppet Heap fans! We have officially embarked on an entirely new experiment here at our headquarters in Hoboken--The Puppet Heap Auction. Check out the AUCTION page frequently to see what new limited edition collectibles we have for sale..

SEE YOU THERE!

Alligator Boots

Jackhole Industries is working with Kanye West on a project called “Alligat or Boots” for Comedy Central that merges hip-hop and the Muppets. A pilot has been shot which features some puppets built by the Heap. Time was short, but this project was a lot of fun. Here are some images of the characters as we were building them back in July.

Meet the New Dog

After more than a year of development, it’s finally, really happening! Bookaboo! is a new preschool series in the UK (for ITV) about a rock n’ roll puppy drummer who just can't go on without having been read his story. “Bookaboo!” was created by Lucy Goodman and will be produced by her company Happy Films with celebrity guests reading to the puppy. ITV's commission supports the UK's National Year of Reading 2008 effort to promote child and adult literacy.

We had worked with Lucy once before about five years ago for the UK Disney Channel series “PJ’s Story Time” and it has been great fun working with her again. She has got to be one of the most creative and energizing producers of children’s media I have ever met. We’re very excited to be a part of her latest project.

Click this sentence for more info about the show.

We went through many, many design iterations before settling on the right look and feel. But we really didn't find the character until the maquette was sculpted. It was sometimes a frustrating process, but it paid off in the end, I think.

Below are some images of the process of building this character from initial concepts to fully realized ‘Boo.

Ben Folds

Here’s an odd one. Ben Folds, singer, songwriter and piano man extraordinaire is on tour and apparently wants to urge you to have a bad day. For the show he has commissioned the Heap to build a couple of 3 foot diameter unhappy face masks. we only had a couple days to make them, but I think they came out pretty good!

Bionic Lobster!

Now that the website has officially launched, I guess I can tell you all about Leatherman’s Bionic Lobster. Just about everyone in our industry is walking around with a Leatherman Tool in his/her back pocket, so the opportunity to do something with the company was irresistible. We had a great time working with Stick and Move (the ad agency), Transistor Studios (production company), and Pete Rosch (director.)
To the right is the famous Jim Kroupa who performed the lobster and assisted with the build.

Due to time and budget constraints we basically built this puppet by cannibalizing and mechanizing a whole bunch of those cheap plastic display lobsters. We also altered a bunch of Leatherman tools to snap open and fan out. That’s Louay Assaf (above,) lead lobster builder and a great puppet-man.

Two Bionic Lobsters were made--one a performable puppet, and the other a posable stunt version.

Did I mention we performed with real live lobsters?

The whole thing was shot at Maracuja Bar in Brooklyn, owned by Charlie, the most patient bar tender in the world. They dressed the place up to look like a seafood restaurant. Since it was a bar, we had to start the shoot at 3 am to avoid interfering with business hours. We were all very tired.