mascot production

Tubby – The Unhinged Dukes Mayonnaise Jar Mascot – A Strong Brand Mascot

September 11, 2022Leave a Comment

What have we been doing recently at Avant Garb Mascots? Well —- We just finished making the Dukes Mayonnaise mascot, Tubby.

If you watched the Dukes Classic, you saw Tubby movin’ & groovin’ across the field

https://starexponent.com/tubby-at-dukes-mayo-classic-bowl/html_eb6f3743-6999-5c39-8147-77abdb4e462d.html

Or, If you watched the Dukes Bowl on December 30, 2022 – you saw Tubby again. Tubby is a social media star!

TUBBY pic.twitter.com/HIwAv5gqbY
— Duke's Mayo Bowl (@DukesMayoBowl) December 30, 2022

Tubby was a hugely satisfying mascot to make. We were delighted that the marketing & design team that conceived Tubby chose Avant Garb to bring their idea to life —and, of course Duke’s Mayonnaise has an innovative marketing team.

All in all, it was a great ride!

©Jennifer Smith 2023

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