Outside the Line – Michelle Boots

By Rylee Livingston

Outside the Line is a new feature by Rylee Livingston exploring careers and interests that are outside of the norm.

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Michelle Boots, who is the co-founder behind Kobbled Characters, a local collaboration creating character costumes for use at events. We chatted about her involvement in Crowfest Chatham-Kent and her journey to puppet and costume making.  

RL: Rylee Livingston 

MB: Michelle Boots 

⌈RL: How did you get involved in Crowfest Chatham-Kent? 

MB: Jay Henderson reached out to me. A few years ago, he was like, ‘Do you want to make puppets with me?’ So Jay is a busker, and that’s his full-time gig, really. He said, ‘I really want to make puppets.’ And at the time it was pre-Covid and I was like, ‘I’m busy and intimidated by that task. I’m interested but I don’t want to do it.’ And then Covid hit, and I was like, ‘You know what? I got nothing else going on. Did you still want to make puppets?’ And he was like, ‘I’ve been waiting for you to come back to me about this!’ 

MB: The summer leading up to Crowfest, we made Captain Carnegie, which is a pirate. And then [Jay] was like, ‘Yeah we’ll bring Captain Carnegie to Crowfest’ – once Crowfest had kind of started. But he had pirate fest in Guelph that was coming up. He was like, ‘I for sure have a gig for this. Like if you want to make a pirate, let’s do that.’ So we did that. And then sometime during that summer, he got involved with Crowfest, like with the town of Chatham and starting a festival. And then he reached out and was like, ‘They want three crows, what are the chances that you can make three crows in like, two or three months?’ And I was like, ‘Oh, ah like maybe?’ [laughs] And so it was really Jay who pulled me in. And then it was like, how do I make crows? [laughs] How do you start making these projects? So since then we have made one more costume, and so it is my understanding that all three character designs are going to be at Crowfest this year, which will be really exciting. And then Jay sources the actors. I’m invited to be an actor, like a character, but I’m not ready for that. I’m happier to see them being animated. It’s like a neat collaborative thing for me. 

RL: So what’s your background that they were thinking of you to make puppets? 

MB: I went to Fanshawe College and I got an advanced diploma in Fine Arts. I like sculpture a lot – I like drawing and stuff – but I’m kind of a little bit of a fantasy nerd. I’ve always liked Jim Henson and at the time, I was making these almost masks – you wouldn’t wear them, but they were more sculptural. They were made out of sheets, so a full sheet to make a big face, kind of. I had made some stuff for the Friends of Point Pelee, they had a tree that was part of their adopt-a-tree program and I had used material and fabric to do that as well.  

MB: So when college ended, I thought, ‘Oh, maybe I’ll go into theatre and prop design and stuff.’ But of course, I got a boyfriend – not my current husband – but I had a boyfriend and so that meant [I came] back to Windsor instead [laughing] – just work a full-time job! So by the time I met Jay [Henderson], he came by around the holidays. And he was looking around the house and he saw some of my art up on the walls. And he had seen – I had made like a Skeksis hand puppet head, which is a Jim Henson Character from The Dark Tower. We got to talking about puppets, and he was like, ‘I love the Muppets! And I love these things!’ And I was like, ‘Yeah, me too!” I think he was just kind of looking around and was like, ‘Do you think you can make some of that stuff?’ And we just had a conversation, just about mutual interests.  I think that’s why he thought of me. I don’t know how many people are obviously into puppets, the way that I am [laughs]. 

RL: But that’s awesome, that’s so cool. Its like a different sort-of niche. So you made three crows for Crowfest last year. What was it like trying to figure out how to make a crow? 

MB: It was a little stressful. But what was funny – I’m from a pretty creative family. And at the time when I was sketching for the crows, I was at a cottage with my mom and her whole side of the family. And they all have their own artistic interests. And when I was sketching, I was like, ‘What do you think?’ And it just happened I was around all the right people to bounce ideas off of. And then the other side of it, is that the furry community is super helpful. All the maker communities are actually very helpful. They put patterns and stuff up on the internet, so I was able to buy a wing pattern off of Etsy, that was designed by a furry creator and then modify it in order to make it more crow-like. I think I ended up with one that was like a parrot and parrots have very nubby, kind of, round feathers and I could add material to make it sharper. So it turns out, that is incredibly helpful. As soon as I discovered that there were these incredibly detailed patterns that already existed – like, I can make a pattern, but it needs a lot of trial and error. But when you have a timeline to meet, it’s a lifesaver to just pull one and fix it to your needs. So that turned out really good. And then I was studying children’s costume patterns, like vintage costume patterns online. And so the design of the crow gradually came together. The masks were probably the most fun part to assemble. And it gave me a lot of opportunity to try different mediums – I ended up using certain types of foam for the first time. I haven’t quite managed to make the mouths open and close as nicely as I would like to. But this was my very first project that was animated in that way. I’ve done other hand mechanisms, but to have like a face mechanism to fit a face that’s not my face, you know? I think my next bout will be a lot easier for that.  

MB: But it was really funny because I had to use a lot of fur, like fleecy fur. And when you cut that stuff, it gets everywhere, everywhere [laughing]. We were finding it in the fridge for months.  

RL: The fridge? 

MB: We would open it up and it would like fuzz round. And it would scare us because we thought it was spiders! [laughing] Or like, I would go do a deep clean and it would be under the toaster. How many rooms do you have that are large enough – expansive enough – to let you set up this type of project? So I was frequently in the kitchen cutting this material. It was a lot of fun. It was really interesting. It was a cool project to learn a lot of skills on. And plus, I had to make three of them! [laughing]. Three! By the third one, I felt like I was really kicking butt.   

RL: So what did it feel like to see them finally come together? And the actors like, act them out? 

MB: It was really neat. I didn’t even really know the actors at the time, I hadn’t really met them yet. So to see people just animating these characters was really awesome. And it’s collaborative in a way that you don’t get to do a lot in art. Like if you’re painting, it’s a relationship between you and the viewer. Or if you’re sculpting, it’s kind of the same thing. But when you make a practical device, right? A lot of times the puppeteer is the maker, in these situations. Someone makes something, and they’re the one wearing it and interacting with individuals. But for me, it’s really cool – I have built this relationship with this character or with this device, or whatever, and then to see someone look at that and say, ‘Oh – I’m going to make it behave this way, this is my crow in my brain.’ And it’s awesome. Its’s really cool to see the actors – to see the crows specifically, they’re just so mischievous, you know? They come in and they kind of, tilt their heads in this very bird-like way. And they’ll get right in someone’s face and right into whatever they’re holding to look at it. It’s really fun. It’s actually really rewarding to see. And then too – the other part of it is I’m not giving anything away! I’m sharing something, which is really cool. With art a lot of times you make a thing and then it’s not in your hands anymore. You’ve sold it, you’ve profited in some way and now it’s out there. And I have a lot of art around the house that I don’t ever want to get rid of, so it’s only me who’s enjoying it. And so this is a really unique way of making and sharing that I didn’t ever anticipate that I would be able to do before. It’s awesome – in short, it’s awesome.  

RL: Have you done anything else with costumes since then, because of Crowfest? 

MB: Prior to Crowfest we made Captain Carnegie, which is a pirate with a treasure chest. And then this last summer we made a troll. His name is Boots. I didn’t name him – I don’t know, I don’t want to say that he’s named after me, but…  

MB: So he’s a river troll and that’s the largest thing that I’ve made. And it’s funny because, I could re-make something, just slightly different, you know? I have the bones of something, I have a pattern. But instead, I was like, ‘Why do I want to remake the same thing?’ I have no idea why that was in my head, I just made my life so much harder. And so we made this giant troll. And he has these giant feet that he wears, and he’s got these big mittens with claws that he wears. And the actor can see through the hump on his back and so the whole thing is like, 6 plus feet tall. It’s got to be six and a half feet tall. It’s so wild! So he’s going to be at Crowfest as well this year. And then, personally, my friend and I made some jellyfish costumes recently for an event that we were going to. And I’ve just always liked to make costumes for myself, for like small things. But its time-intensive enough that I can’t just, in my spare time, make something like this without there being a purpose. But we do intend to make a yeti – I think that’s the firm decision this year. We’re going to try and make a yeti so that it’s available for all of the holiday parades for the winter. It can be like a stilts character – but the design is yet to be determined. Is it something where you are wearing the head? Is it something where your hand is the head? What are the practicalities of that? There’s lots to decide on the design yet. But I’m really excited.  

RL: Yeah that’s exciting! That’s awesome. It’s interesting that there’s a balance between the art and the practicality of it. Because with painting you don’t have that, right? 

MB: Yeah, absolutely. And too, some people spend months and months working on a single painting, which is awesome, like the detail. I’m not that person. I whip up a painting in an afternoon or in a couple days. I like to have the immediate – I guess the reward – right away. And with sewing and this type of thing, it can take a little bit of time, but at the end you’re looking at it, and you’re like, ‘Alright, task one done!’ It’s really easy to account for how much progress you’ve made. Plus, I have a full-time job, so it’s like I only have x number of hours that I can dedicate to this in a week, or in a month, without using up all of my vacation time. [laughs]  

RL: Anything else you wanted to add? 

MB: I guess I’ve mentioned that everyone is very helpful when it comes to making these types of things. There’s parts of the design, like the mechanisms, where – I’m not an engineer, you know? So I don’t always look at something and think, ‘This is how x will be y and z,’ and so it’s been really great to be able to bounce ideas off the people in my life in order to get feedback. Even from the puppeteers, like what would be more comfortable to wear? What would be more practical for travel? And things like that. But the internet has just been incredibly helpful. Especially with the troll character that I made, because the hands were a furry pattern, the feet were a furry pattern. So that just took like, a hundred per cent of the stress of those parts of the project out of my hands.  

And there’s a maker online, on YouTube and Instagram, called Adam Croodinger and he put tutorials from beginning to end, like what materials do you use? Like what size foam should you use? What kind of glue? And so when I was just getting started, it was – it’s still a resource that I pull up all the time. It’s been really, really helpful. So I always try and say thank you to that whenever possible.  

MB: But Crowfest is going to be awesome. There’s going to be some really cool performers in each character and we’re not the only ones supplying these types of characters either. There’s going to be Dean Bareham, I want to say he’s from Calgary. And he’s been really helpful to me because he’s also a maker. And I don’t know what characters he’s going to bring, but I’m really excited to meet him. He’s been really – I want to say influential, but at least he’s been influential to me. It’ll be really cool. 

 

MB: Crowfest has been such a surprising event that I get to participate in. The options – my opportunities are unexpected. I graduated from fine arts and now I work at Greenshield in the call centre, so for me it’s like, ‘Oh, now I’m making art and people are looking at it.’ And I didn’t really think that I would be able to be doing this in my life, or to have a reason to be doing these types of projects. I don’t know what else to say about that but I think its pretty cool. ⌋

Thank you so much to Michelle Boots for sharing her story with us! You can discover more of her work and ongoing projects on her Instagram, @kobbledcharacters. Watch out for their motley crew of characters at events near you!