Down at Fraggle Rock

Banana tree shirts never go out of style.

Here we go, Fraggle-lovers. Let's dance our cares away! Worries for another day.

I started the Fraggle thing off with Wembley for two reasons:

1.) I've always liked his banana tree shirt.

2.) He's been on my mind ever since James Hance depicted him as my beloved Wash in his Muppets/Firefly mashup, Firefrog.

I hadn't seen Fraggle Rock since I was kid, so my memories are a little fuzzy. When I watched an episode the other day, I realized that while I know the basics (subterranean radish-loving mammals, Gorgs, Doozers) I'd forgotten much of it--like how damp and mossy Fraggle Rock is. I imagine it smells like cheese in there and it skeeves me out a little bit.

I am, however, hatching a plan to make a Trash Heap Halloween costume.

Bert and Ernie

 A while back, I made an Ernie and said that when I finally did Bert, he'd get his own blog entry as well. So I tried that: 

Bernice is a very rare breed of pigeon. You've probably never heard of it.

Is there already a Hipster Bert meme out there? There has to be (and if there's not, somebody go forth, make it and maybe link back to here.) The ugly shirt, the argyles, the obsession with things no else one cares about--give that guy a scarf and some glasses and he's good to go.

(Bert's pigeon Bernice here is modelled after my Mo Willems pigeon balloon. Fitting, since before writing some of the funniest kids' books in the world, Willems was an Emmy-winning Sesame Street writer.)

Bert looked pretty good by himself but it just felt wrong to have him without his best friend and constant source of consternation. I had to re-make Ernie.

Much better now:

For extra fun, here's an early failed version of my Bert balloon. He's more balloony Bond villain than likable-but-boring paperclip enthusiast:

No, Mr. Snuffleupagus. I expect you to die.

P.S. Blogger's been kind of buggy lately and not letting me respond to comments. I apologize for any unanswered questions/comments and hope to have it figured out soon!

Abby Cadabby

Another trip to Sesame Street:

Abby's wings: