Making Java Muppets.

[Melonpool]

So, this weekend, my wife and I were invited to a barbecue and found out about 24 hours prior to the event that each family was expected to perform a little skit.

Originally, we weren't going to do anything, but a couple of months ago, I had to replace the tubing on my dryer and still had about 3 feet of it in the garage... about three hours later, we had built the two Javas (though their bodies are made from the metallic version of the vent) and started practicing. We also found a version of "Java" that was similar to the one that the Muppets used... so it looks like we're going to perform Java in about four hours!

I'm not sure if anyone will be videotaping it, but if they do, I'll post a link here. Necessity IS the mother of invention!

Steve

 

[Melonpool]

Our little "performance" went great! We were lucky in that most of the people there had never seen the original. We got a lot of comments like "you guys should perform this professionally!" Of course, we had to tell them that we would -- if we weren't ripping off an old Jim Henson bit in the process.

Anyway, this is how we performed it:

I took a piece of foam core and cut a 2-inch hole about an inch from the center of one of the longer sides. In the hole, I put a small funnel with a piece of vinyl tubing taped to the bottom. I then taped the edge of the top of the funnel to the foam core to make sure it'd stay flush. I put this foam core (which served as our performance surface) at the edge of a dining room table, with the funnel and tubing hanging fown the puppeteer side. I filled the funnel with about a tablespoon's worth of white flour.

We downloaded Al Hirt's "Java" from the internet and added an explosion sound to the end part, right were the little Java shoots the bigger one. I found a bunch of cool explosions at sounddogs.com

We actually performed it from below the table, with our hands inside the feet of the Javas (we cut little slits for out fingers on the backs of the legs, just above the fur fringe so we could get a good grip). I reinforced the openings with duct tape so the dryer hose didn't rip.

We practiced along with the Muppet Java on our coffee table until we got the timing, then moved under the dining room table and practiced from below the table a couple of times. All told, I'd say we ran through it about a dozen times total.

So, the secret is the timing. You end up seeing the puppeteers arms from below the table, but no one seems to care. They get instantly captivated by the characters and laughed in all the right places. When the little one "shoots" the larger one, we knew were our "explosion" was in the song, so my wife pointed the foot of the smaller one at my larger one at the appropriate cue and I blew into the other end of the vinyl tubing at the same time, and had the larger one pop off the table. The flour actually was shot about 3 feet into the air and was so unexpected by the audience, that I don't think it mattered much that the smoke didn't actually come out the foot.

The build for the two puppets was about an hour total with maybe a half hour on each one in refining them. We didn't spend a cent on this quick production (everything was built using stuff we had left over from other projects) and it was a ton of fun! If I had it to do over again, I'd use less collapsable tubing, because the larger Java's eyes sagged a little bit. Oh well! Next time!

Steve

 

[Melonpool]

I finally tracked down a video from our little performance. Sorry about the quality, but I'm happy someone had a cellphone handy when we did it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pFaCPATd5c

 

[rtgentry]

thats cool, I am going to attempt to make a set of these for a show. thanks for the detailed info

 

[rome kapen]

I made some and performed with me as the big java and my mom as the little java (by video) for my school talent show.

 

[rome kapen]

I made mine out of pool tubing then we put colored stockings over them. The eyes were styrofoam balls cut in half and the big java had fabric eyelids. Here is the video shown at the talent show.