Hey all,
After our work helping preserve the original lifesized wolf costume from An American Werewolf in London, collector and friend Bob Burns knew who to call when another prop from the film, the puppet of the character Jack, also needed some care.
This puppet was used in the classic film and gifted to Bob by Rick Baker. Time however, was not kind to Jack, and the fragile skin of the puppet suffered some pretty extreme damage over the years.
When Bob asked for our help, Brandon and the crew at Propstore's LA branch were kind enough to pick the puppet up, pack it unbelievably well and ship it to our studio (thanks guys!). Over time, the TSD crew would work together to bring a bit of life back to this incredible piece of film history. Patrick Louie performed most of the cleaning, Mike Thomas did much of the conservation and patching and I handled rebuilding the larger missing areas and all paint work.
In addition to our work restoring the face, we created a custom body insert to support the puppet (and specifically, hold the head and neck in place, minimizing stress to the remaining foam elements).
I have to thank Bob and Kathy Burns for trusting us with this piece, and Rick Baker for his support. When we were done, I'm proud to say both Rick and Bob were pleased. Rick noted, "Jack's back!" and Bob said, ""Good Lord, Jack looks incredible! You guys are geniuses!" Thanks to you both and to everyone reading!
For the full story and lots of in depth details and photos, please visit our site where we've got a whole gallery dedicated to the project: An American Werewolf in London - Restoration of the original Jack Movie Prop Puppet for Bob Burns
Folks who follow our Facebook page have seen sneak peeks at this (and other projects) so please visit there and click "like" if you want to see more like this! Tom Spina Designs | Facebook
Best,
Tom
1981
Arrival at TSD studio
Beginning to fill in the blanks after Pat and Mike's preservation work
Jack's Back!
After our work helping preserve the original lifesized wolf costume from An American Werewolf in London, collector and friend Bob Burns knew who to call when another prop from the film, the puppet of the character Jack, also needed some care.
This puppet was used in the classic film and gifted to Bob by Rick Baker. Time however, was not kind to Jack, and the fragile skin of the puppet suffered some pretty extreme damage over the years.
When Bob asked for our help, Brandon and the crew at Propstore's LA branch were kind enough to pick the puppet up, pack it unbelievably well and ship it to our studio (thanks guys!). Over time, the TSD crew would work together to bring a bit of life back to this incredible piece of film history. Patrick Louie performed most of the cleaning, Mike Thomas did much of the conservation and patching and I handled rebuilding the larger missing areas and all paint work.
In addition to our work restoring the face, we created a custom body insert to support the puppet (and specifically, hold the head and neck in place, minimizing stress to the remaining foam elements).
I have to thank Bob and Kathy Burns for trusting us with this piece, and Rick Baker for his support. When we were done, I'm proud to say both Rick and Bob were pleased. Rick noted, "Jack's back!" and Bob said, ""Good Lord, Jack looks incredible! You guys are geniuses!" Thanks to you both and to everyone reading!
For the full story and lots of in depth details and photos, please visit our site where we've got a whole gallery dedicated to the project: An American Werewolf in London - Restoration of the original Jack Movie Prop Puppet for Bob Burns
Folks who follow our Facebook page have seen sneak peeks at this (and other projects) so please visit there and click "like" if you want to see more like this! Tom Spina Designs | Facebook
Best,
Tom
1981
Arrival at TSD studio
Beginning to fill in the blanks after Pat and Mike's preservation work
Jack's Back!
Last edited:
$
