Ventriloquist Dummies

On Monday night we a special guest at The Chisels and Chips Carving Club.

Scott Bryte, whose hobby is building ventriloquist dummies, wowed a crowd of about 45 people with a discussion of the fundamentals of dummy creation followed by an impromptu ventriloquist performance.

At the outset, Scott admitted to being "just a little nervous". He had many performances under his belt, but had never presented a "how-to" to such a group of capable artisans. He needn't have worried. The crowd loved his talk.

Scott describes himself as a "bagpipe-playing, Victrola-collecting, children's-book-writing, woodcarving ventriloquist, who while currently a Lutheran pastor, hopes to be an artist when he grows up."

Also making an appearance last night were:

1) his "altar"-ego "Pastor Woody" [Sorry, I just couldn't resist that one:-)],

2) a 4-foot tall, Frankenstein-inspired creature named "Sparky",

3) "Herold, the Christmas Angel"

4) several other tiny dummies that Scott calls a "Carv-TOONs"; an Oragatan, a little frizzy haired blonde kid (no name yet)and Mr. Puppet. These clever, albeit very simple dummies sport only movable mouths. However, what they lack in complexity, they more than makes up for in "cute".

So, was Scott's presentation well received? You be the judge. Before he left, he had 3 people begging him to run a puppet making class for them.

And, for those that live close enough...The Chisels and Chips Woodcarving Club meets on the 2nd Monday (evening) of every month at the Parkwood Presbyterian Church, located on Mount Royal Boulevard, Hampton Township (north of Pittsburgh) PA.

Everyone is welcome, whether you are woodcarver, a woodcarver wantabe or would just like to hang out with a group of "incredibly cool people" who enjoy using wickedly sharp tools to reduce perfectly good chunks of wood into interesting shapes...as well as big piles of woodchips:-)

'Til next time...Keep makin' Chips!