One Way Street custom puppets

[Show and Tell]

well actually the idea might be your but if someone sculpted your idea it would be different than the drawing so they would have the right to charge you for the rights to it. And yes I'm pretty sure he would make what ever you asked.(within reason)

 

[Buck-Beaver]

anyone got any pics of a 2,000 to 5,000 dollar puppet?
I'd like to see that bad boy.

Look at any Muppet or decent television puppet. Most cost at least $5000. The difference is in the materials the puppet is made from, the method it was constructed in and the internal workings of it. Also most builders will actually build a puppet 3 or more times over to get it "just right" so that drives up the cost. I heard Rick Lyon talking about how he did that for most of the Avenue Q characters in an interview.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I have heard complaints about OWS's "rod arm" collection before, saying that they are somewhat cone head shaped and lacking much attention in their construction, but never have I heard a complaint about their "custom characters". Now I know I must not have lived since I have not ever seen a 5k puppet before unless you are refering to a full body puppet or puppet costume. Even the most incredble looking one man puppet I've seen costs about $800 unless you buy the rights to it. Then I can see 5k or even higher.

Actually, those figures do not include a buy out of the rights to the character, assuming that the builder is also the designer. What drives the cost of television puppets so high in addition to the factors I mentioned above are the fact that a team of designers/builders can work on one puppet, mechs for eye moving and blinks have to added sometimes, there's overhead for a shop to think about, and often times materials like fur have to be custom-made. It's also worth remembering that many of the top builders in the world won't exactly work for minimum wage. The going rate in Canada for the top talent here is $25 - $35 Cdn per hour. It can take 3 - 4 weeks of 8 - 10 hour days to build a puppet properly so if you do the math you can see how it gets very expensive very quick.

The Muppet workshop has been known to charge international productions of Sesame over 5k for a basic "anything Muppet". The Bear costume from BITBBH runs north of $30,000 I believe. Michael Curry (the designer of Lion King) can charge over $40,000 for some of his creations.

Remember, these types of puppets are extremely high end, usually for TV and out of reach for most people. You can find really decent puppets for a few hundred dollars. All I am saying is that there is a difference.

 

[Show and Tell]

OUCH! 40k? that takes a big chunk of skin off someones backside.

 

[Iron-Fan]

I will make an exact replica* of any puppet for the low, low price of $29.99 and a packet of cookies.

*exact replica may not look anything like the original puppet. Your house is at risk if you do not keep up repayments. You may not sue me for anything.