An interview with ventriloquist figure maker Kenny Croes. Part One of a Seven Part Interview.
To learn more about Kenny, see his work and find his blog, check out his web site.
Video Transcript:
how’s that a you’re moving okay that’s
that’s better we’re a little bit of a
time delay but I’ve had that with Skype
um you know what do you want it’s a free
service yeah I know have you seen the uh
the new service called uu no uh me and
John
salal he’s actually the one that invited
me uh you know to to to try that out
with him and it worked really well so
it’s another service and you know might
check it out see if it works better for
Skype the cool thing about is that you
can have up to 12 people on the same
deal without paying any extra
money so and I think Skype they charge
you more for for that to do more than
one person at a time yeah I have trouble
talking to more than one person at a
time that’s why I talk to myself so much
yeah I suppose that’s common among us
trist I
guess so well Kenny I was uh just
looking at your uh blog and noticed that
you were working on Otis how is he
coming along he’s coming along really
good I just did some sanding uh today
the first initial sanding and uh you
know he’s got a lot of little pits and
gouges to repair and and stuff with
paper clay but I’m real happy with the
way he’s progressing and um hope to have
him ready for the mold maker in a in a
few weeks so great now you are um how long
have you been making ventriloquist figures
about seven years now um I got
Mike Brose it’s his it’s his fault um you
know I
I kind of wanted to to uh to buy a
ventriloquist figure and um you know
they’re they can be fairly expensive and
so I thought I was looking around on the
web and happened to to notice Mike’s
website and that you could buy parts and
and uh so I thought I’d give it a try
and so I bought a you know a Fred head
and followed his I bought his book and
then I bought uh or followed uh Al Stevens’s Fred Project online and I
managed to build one and um I just after
that I just couldn’t stop um and that
kind of you know led me to you know do
conversion figures for a while and then
finally sculpt my own and then work with
the Buzz James at Braylu Creations to to
Market heads and parts and we Skype all
the time and try to figure out new ways to do
it and you know it’s fun I like it well
great um so now you are casting your
heads uh I at first I thought I guess it
was back when you started you were doing
conversion figures yeah I did
conversions to start and I learned a lot
you know about sculpting and mechanics
and stuff and then I guess about three
or four years ago um I I started kind of
segueing and doing my own um figures and
then but I I don’t do the molds myself
um because I at up until about two years
ago I was doing this all in a bedroom
upstairs so I didn’t want to really have
do chemicals and stuff like that in the
house
um so since then I’ve moved and have my
own Workshop now but even still I
work with with with Bru now and he does
all my my mold making for me I just do
the models and then send them off to him
and he’s really good at it and you know
and and I still don’t want to mess with
all those chemicals if I don’t have to
so um so anyway for so for about three
or four years I’ve been doing more of my
own kinds of figures and and then stop
doing conversions almost completely um
about a year and a half ago.
Next Article: Interview With Kenny Croes – Part 2
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