mascot production

Mascots, the Coronavirus & the Stock Market

March 20, 2020Leave a Comment

Although It’s Bad, The Sun Will Shine Again

Nobody’s buying anything.

Nobody’s going anywhere.

Every place is closed – schools, restaurants, churches, the gym, hair salons.

San Francisco is in lock-down, NYC is worse.

Broadway is closed.

The stock market is headed to the basement.

The coronavirus is on the loose.

Although it’s bad right now, the sun will shine again.

Your Mascot Is Your Most Valuable Asset

Wally Wabash – Wabash College – a strong mascot!

Your mascot cuts through the anxiety and keeps the conversation active between you and your target audience. – probably through social media. In these high anxiety times, your mascot may be your most valuable asset.

Yes, we need to speak frankly about the danger we are facing, we need to be prepared.

We also need to express the love we have for each other and the companies and organizations that lift us up and make our lives better.

That’s the Mascot’s Job

The mascot is the bridge that unites you with the fans, students & customers.

The mascot advocates for the fans and is the most ardent and loyal fan of the team, the school, the organization and the product.

Yes, it feels like everything is closed, but we need to keep joy alive —and that is the mascot’s job.

When schools open, the mascot will greet the students back to the campus. After living through the coronavirus and the stock market crash, students and parents will need to be reassured that the school is liquid enough to provide a great education and a rich campus experience. The mascot needs to look good.

When times are good, the mascot can look a little raggedy because the world looks pretty good.

When times are tough, the mascot is a super-hero, and superheroes look good and put on a brave front.

Making mascots is important work. We don’t take it on lightly. They bring joy to the world.

We’re strong mascot makers. We’re up to the job

Let’s connect and discuss big things!

Say Hello

©Jennifer Smith 2020

Mascot Fabulousness – Bucky the Buccaneer

October 1, 2018Leave a Comment

There is a moment, when sculpting a big mascot head, or designing hugely, fabulous mascot clothes when I feel the mascot coming to life. For Bucky the Buccaneer, a mascot we made for Barry University, it was when we were making his fabulous, Buccaneer coat.

Bringing a mascot to life is magic. Bucky’s coat has a kind of magic woven into the fabric. For me, the coat gave Bucky his swagger. The coat was the magic moment.

Bucky had a well planned start. All mascots start with a rendering, a drawing of the mascot. Turkel Brands, an agency in Miami, Florida, provided a brilliant mascot design. We knew a lot about Bucky before we made the first paper patterns, before we started sculpting his head and before we engineered his tail structure.

Mascot Fabulousness

Bucky is a mascot that is filled with Mascot Fabulousness. When we sent him off for his grand debut, we knew we were sending off a great mascot.

Bucky has a big, expressive beak, a big, bird tail and a pirate coat with swagger! He has belts and buckles, a sword and a periscope and…oh yeah… a grand, flamboyant hat with a big, red feather.

Here’s a video of Bucky’s debut at Barry University

©JenniferSmith 2015

Mascot Fatsuits

February 4, 2015Leave a Comment

Do I Look Fat?

There are many, many fat mascots, but there are very, very few fat mascot performers. Mascot performing is an athletic and — well —a theatrical profession.

Here in Mascotland, we make many fatsuits. They are the “underwear” of a mascot.

When we make fatsuits, we keep a few things in mind:

Real bodies bend – so do mascots. The mascot’s shape must be stable yet flexible.
Fatsuits must be lightweight and collapsible for performer’s comfort and for ease in shipping and transporting.

Yes, you will look fat in one of our mascot fatsuits!

A Penguin Mascot with Style

January 11, 20151 Comment

Penguins already have style. Their daily wear is a tuxedo.

Kona the Penguin adds zing to the traditional penguin garb. Kona is the mascot for Kona Ice. There are many details that make Kona a one-of-a kind.

A Penguin’s Very Specific Needs:

The pattern on the Hawaiian shirt is unique to Kona. We had the pattern enlarged and printed on fabric.
The lei around Kona’s neck had to be the same VERY BIG scale as the really larger-than-life Penguin – it, too, was designed and created in our studio.
….and ohmygoodness, Kona’s flip-flops! When I saw the flipflops, I knew I was in love with thePenguin!

The Kona Ice Experience

Shaved Ice, The Kona Ice Truck way, is an experience. The Kona Ice people wanted us to have the full Kona Experience. They had a Kona Ice Truck show up at the loading dock in the Stutz Building – where we have the mascot studio. We all indulged in a shaved-ice experience really an extravaganza —okay, a spur-of-the-moment party. That’s what happens when a Kona Ice truck is in the neighborhood!

For about an hour, it didn’t feel like a cold, November day, It felt like a sunny, tropical day. Jimmy Bufffet was singing through the speakers

on the truck, and we were mixing delicious, colorful, shaved ice concoctions.

We worked closely with the Kona creative staff while we were making the mascot. The collaboration was fruitful ….and delicious!

Jennifer Q Smith – Queen of Fuzz

Making a Horse Mascot – Hat-makers, Tailors & Cobblers

May 15, 2014Leave a Comment

Where are the hat-makers? the tailors? the cobblers?

They’re in the mascot studio, that’s where. Last week, all those skills were needed to bring a horse mascot to life.

We just finished a wonderful horse for Indiana Grand, Racing & Casino. The horse is named, Grand Daddy, and boy, oh boy, he is GRAND.

We designed Grand Daddy with an eye for the details –the bits and pieces that give a mascot personality and pizzazz. Look at those yellow eyelids, the nostrils, and the perfectly right, fedora.

Annie, one of our brilliant hat-makers, figured out the angles and the curves of the hat, and

where to place the holes for the horse’s ears! Grand Daddy has a big heart. He has a pink hat, and vest, as well – Clothing he wears in October – Breast cancer Awareness month.

Ogle those boots. They’re made with lovely, grey leather – that’s cobbling, making shoes and boots —and that shirt, —or in the racing world, the silks — my oh my, a tailor would be proud.

As soon as the horse was finished, he raced out of the mascot studio and headed to the track side at Indiana Grand, where there was a grand family day.

Here’s a photo taken on the fly, as it headed out the door – that’s Annie, with a horse’s head!

Mascot Makers in the Wall Street Journal! Avant Garb Mascots

January 20, 2012Leave a Comment

Mascot Makers make the News!

When the Wall Street Journal calls, it’s great to answer the phone. That happened when the journalist, Sarah E. Needleman rang up to talk about Mascot Makers for a photo essay in the Wall Street Journal.

I was traveling the day this was to be posted. This was a true jet set experience.

Between Indianapolis & Dallas, Sarah and I traded emails and photos. During a quick layover in Dallas, the journalist, Sarah E. Needleman, and I spoke more specifically about mascot making. From Dallas to San Francisco there was more emailing of photos.

We started chatting again when I landed is San Francisco, while I picked up my luggage, and were still talking when I was getting my ticket for BART in San Francisco. The conversation finally ended as I was rumbling under the bay, riding in BART.

The time flew by!

It’s a awful lot of fun being a small biz, mascot-maker on the move.

Here’s the link: Mascot Maker