DMPCreative

July 2025:

Hey! Thanks for waiting for me! My shop is open again on a limited basis (as I’m still completing a large commission). The shipping dates will be a bit longer, but I'll get your special order to you ASAP. FYI, I won't be taking custom orders until August 11th, as I require extra time for those.

Speaking of custom orders, I love the creativity I see that many of you have in asking me to create variations of existing characters, or even brand new designs! These changes take much more time to create, so as of July 1st, 2025 I've initiated the following fees:

$25.00 - Custom order fee
This is for custom orders that are simple changes to existing characters like extra colors, different eyes or noses ( simple costume additions like a hat or moustache)

$100.00 - 400.00 - New Design fee (TBD)
This is to cover the additional hours necessary for patterning a new animal or creature that wasn't a part of the original video series. FYI, it sometimes takes 2-3 additional days just to pattern, prototype, and refine a new shape, and that's before constructing the actual puppet. The fee will vary based on complexity and detailing. Simply put, the more complex the shape or the more details on it (100 polka dot spots for example), the higher the design fee.

These will not be hidden fees- I'll let you know when you request a custom order. I can bid you an exact price if you have a drawing of what you're looking for.

Thanks again for all your patience, and your support!

Dave



WELCOME!
I’m Dave, and I'm a professional puppeteer and puppet builder with over 40 years experience. You may be wondering what the story is behind these characters, and why they're a bit pricier than many puppets you see.

First of all, these are not toys, but 100% handmade and handcrafted characters intended for performance. All the fabric parts are hand-dyed, the eyes and pupils custom formed, and the costumes and detailing custom crafted and applied by me, the designer. The characters range in size from 13"(33 cm) - 18” (45 cm) typically. They are large enough for SM-MED adult hands, and fine for children 7 and above.

I custom make each one to order, so there's no need to worry about the listed quantities.

THE BACKSTORY:
In the early 2000's I was contacted by a producer friend in Denver to upgrade some puppets for a well-known infant video series. I designed and built 5 initial puppets, and the videos were such a success that I wound up making and puppeteering characters for many more of the series titles. Sweet! (As a puppeteer, nothing beats a steady gig)

Eventually they stopped producing the videos so I thought, "Well... that's the end of that."

Fast forward almost a decade to a few years ago when I started receiving messages from a devoted group of fans of the videos. A number of really cool young people on the spectrum loved the characters, and asked if I could make more puppets the same quality as the ones in the videos.

Contractually, I couldn't make exact copies, but I could do something similar, so voila! Here are the "Little Geniuses."

One cool part of this is that some of my clients (these awesome young folk) make viral videos with the characters, which is wonderful. As a puppeteer, I love helping others use the power of puppetry to share and communicate, especially for those who may experience more challenges interacting socially.

So thats the story. If you (or someone you know) would benefit from using puppets like this, please order and support the shop. Your orders make it possible to provide more.

I’m happy to do these characters in other colors and combinations, and I'm happy to create custom characters, if you're able to pay an extra design fee and production schedule permitting.

Thanks,

Dave