Adam Savage Learns the Infamous "Henson Stitch" and 3D Printed Doozers!"

Adam Savage posted a few new videos at Jim Henson's Creature Shop. This time he's there to learn the "Henson Stitch" and see how 3D printing changed the way Doozers are made. 

Adam Savage Learns the Infamous "Henson Stitch!" (In Support of @PuppetNerd) 

Adam Savage LOVES puppets, and he's used many of the skills he's learned from puppet making into his costume builds over the years. So when the Jim Henson Company invited Adam down to the Creature Shop to learn the legendary "Henson stitch" from fabrication supervisor Scott Johnson, he jumped at the chance. But even more so, the Henson Company and Tested wanted to come together to bring attention to a mutual fan and friend named Adam Kreutinger, aka @PuppetNerd, an elementary school art teacher/puppet maker/puppeteer who's battling brain cancer right now. You can support Adam too by subscribing to his channel (it rocks!), watching and liking his videos, buying his book (https://amzn.to/49yRqPs) or merch (https://puppetnerd.com/merch/) or contributing to his GoFundMe (https://www.gofundme.com/f/aid-for-ad.... We hope Adam's work brings you as much joy and expertise as it has us!

   

Help fund Adam Kreutinger’s Cancer Journey:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/aid-for-adam-and-his-family 

3D Printing ... DOOZERS?

If you're a fan of Fraggle Rock (and who ISN'T?), then you're familiar with Doozers. When they first debuted in the '80s, each foam latex Doozer had to be sculpted, molded and flocked -- quite a task when you need hundreds and hundreds. Robert Bennett, character designer and fabricator at the Jim Henson Company, explains to Adam how computers and 3D printers have changed EVERYTHING when it comes to these beloved characters.

 

You can see more Adam Savage’s Tested on his Youtube channel. 

Adam Savage Inside the Henson Archives and Learns Some Puppet Magic!

Adam Savage posted more videos visiting the Jim Henson company. This time he's going inside the archives and learning more about the techniques used during Puppet Up. 

Adam Savage Visits Jim Henson’s Archives!

In New York, the Jim Henson Legacy shares space with the Creature Shop. Adam Savage talks to archives director and Legacy vice-president Karen Falk about how the two inspire each other (including with the building of puppets for Puppet Up) and sees some very early sketches by Muppets creator Jim Henson, who imbued so much personality and function with just a few lines.

 

 Adam Savage Learns Some PUPPET MAGIC!

One of the Puppet Up! sketches that blew our minds was "The Usher," in which actor and puppeteer Michael Oosterom and his colleague Bishop Rhone use video looping and precise choreography to turn one singing, dancing usher into FIVE. Could YOU ever do this

 

 Adam Savage vs. Jim Henson Puppeteers

When Brian Henson invited Tested to film behind the scenes of Puppet Up, his puppet improv show, we jumped at the chance. What wasn't wholly expected was Brian calling Adam up on stage to try out his own puppet skills in the audience segment. It went ... um,

You can see more Adam Savage’s Tested on his Youtube channel. 

Adam Savage Performs with Puppet Up & Learns How the Puppets Are Made!

Adam Savage is back at the Henson company to learn how to perform puppets and see how the Creature Shop recreates some classic characters from the past.

Join Adam Savage and Brian Henson, Chairman of the Board at the Jim Henson Company, for a puppeteering adventure like no other. Discover backstage secrets, get schooled on improv puppeteering, and watch as Adam tries his hand (literally!) on stage along with the incredible Puppet Up! crew. Prepare for laughs and a dash of puppet chaos in Adam’s first on-stage puppeteering performance! (Don't worry -- he's keeping his day job.)

 

At Jim Henson's Creature Shop in New York, Adam Savage learns how talented fabricators transform the characters from two of Jim Henson's earliest sketches -- the Glow Worm and Business Business -- into two sets of puppets that will appear live on stage in Brian Henson's Puppet Up improv show. It's a balance between recreating some of the mechanisms developed by Jim and his team in the 1960s, and using modern techniques like 3D printing to make the performance pop for a live audience. And we'd say they pulled it off quite beautifully.

You can see more Adam Savage’s Tested on his Youtube channel. 

Adam Savage Learns How Fraggle Rock's Doozers Are Built and Performed!

Adam Savage went to the Henson company, learned Adam how the Muppets come to life, got a lesson on the Henson Digital Puppetry System, learned how full bodies characters work, and he's back to see how some of the smallest Henson characters come to life.

The original Fraggle Rock premiered in 1983, and it was Jim Henson's intention that the Doozers, one of the series' hallmark (and tiny) characters, be puppeteered in much the same way as a normal hand puppet.

Jim Henson's Creature Shop creative supervisor Peter Brooke and animatronics supervisor John Criswell walk Adam through the evolution of these characters' mechanics and electronics since those early days, and even let Adam operate a Doozer himself!

Adam not only learned about how Fraggle Rock's Doozers are built, he spoke directly with Architect and Cotterpin Doozer about how they approach their performances on the series! (Well, veteran puppeteers John Tartaglia and Donna Kimball HELPED, but still.)

You can see more Adam Savage’s Tested on his Youtube channel. 

Adam Savage Learns About Full Body Puppeteering at Henson's Creature Shop!

First Adam Savage posted a video from his trip to the Henson company and learned Adam how the Muppets come to life, then he got a lesson on the Henson Digital Puppetry System, and now he's back with a look at how full bodies characters work. 

While Adam has some experience with full body puppets (Totoro, Revenant Bear), his costumes weren't made to wear for hours on end, nor did they include heavy animatronics. At Jim Henson's Creature shop, creative supervisor Peter Brooke takes Adam through the designing and building of Junior Gorg from Fraggle Rock, while performer Morgana Ignis demonstrates how to bring the beloved character to life!

You can see more Adam Savage’s Tested on his Youtube channel. 

Adam Savage’s Tested Discovers Henson Digital Puppeteering!

Last week Adam Savage’s Tested posted a video about his trip to the Henson Creature Shop were John Tartaglia and Donna Kimball, along Gobo and Mokey Fraggle showed Adam how the Muppets work.

He's now posted another video, this time Brian Henson and Drew Massey show Adam Henson's digital puppetry system. 

While it may be best known for its mastery of hand puppetry, the Jim Henson Company is also a place of major technological innovation. At Henson Studios, Brian Henson, Chairman of the Board at the Jim Henson Company, and puppeteer Drew Massey give Adam a demo of the Henson Digital Performance System, a proprietary system that allows performers to puppeteer digital characters in real time. Be sure to watch to the end, when the controls are handed over to Adam himself to try!

You can see more Adam Savage’s Tested on his Youtube channel. 

Adam Savage’s Tested "How Henson Puppeteers Bring Muppets to Life"!

Adam Savage visited Jim Henson's Creature Shop and talked John Tartaglia, Donna Kimball, AKA Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock's Gobo and Mokey Fraggle to learn how Muppets work. 

John and Donna show Adam just how complex (physically as well as mentally) it is to bring Muppets to life on film, drawing from the methods developed by Jim Henson himself. You'll never look at a Muppet performance the same way again!

 

You can see more Adam Savage’s Tested on his Youtube channel. 

Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock is streaming on Apple TV+.