As we saw in the Instagram video below, Mother Willard wasn’t able to stick with the planned family outing and instead jumped out of the truck and hid in the bushes.
Later, a mysterious woman stopped at the Way Home General store to purchase a soda.
That day, frantic Willard and Willette looked everywhere for their mother and even distributed “missing” posters. They brought one to Marty.
Marty couldn’t put his finger on it, but something looked awfully familiar about this creature…
Willard and Willette found their mother, but the visit was a little disappointing. She was asleep when they arrived and kept talking about how she needed to be back by three o’clock to watch her show.
Willard and Willette unite for pizza and some plans to find their mother.
Be sure to turn on the captions when you watch the video below!
I made a new creature named Rusty recently and was working on his voice and character all last week when I was driving around in my car. Last weekend I did some puppetry with Rusty and Ms. Blodgett. I had already established that Ms. Blodgett was the neighborhood gossip and meddler, and I had also established that Rusty had entrepreneurial aspirations in the vein of becoming a life coach or other kind of coach (I’m not sure Rusty has clarified what he’s coaching about, only that he wants to be a coach).
I have somehow stumbled upon the concept of “coaching” myself and I find it a fascinating cultural phenomenon. On the one hand, there are many legit consultants out there who are extremely knowledgeable and helpful when it comes to particular topics.
But there is also another type of “coach” in the internet space whose actual knowledge and offer seems unclear, yet who are offering to coach other coaches. The underlying premise and “hook” seems to be financial independence, being one’s own boss and sometimes a sprinkle of “spirituality”.
Many seem to find themselves intrigued by these “offers,” regardless of how foundation-less they sometimes seem, and how closely they sometimes resemble MLMs. I find the whole thing fascinating and that is why I decided that Rusty would be someone seeking this promise of “abundance” and financial freedom. Like many folks, Rusty also has a sincere desire to help others.
Unfortunately, Rusty’s marketing of his coaching offer is thus far limited to the small neighborhood in which Willard resides, where he is unlikely to find his target market niche. He encounters Ms. Blodgett, who is quick to offer her own ideas about his coaching offer while simultaneously criticizing or downright ignoring what he has to say about it. Can his plans–already threatened by his anxiety and social awkwardness–survive her scrutiny? We’ll have to find out!
I have been making more stop-motion videos which is definitely a steep learning curve! Today I made one of Willard shifting around on his couch and his pet possum, George Jones, climbing up for a snuggle.
Willard and Willette had a great visit and enjoyed staying up watching paranormal shows and eating snacks, as well as loafing around in their pajamas and having more snacks. Today, it’s time for Willette to leave.
Goodbyes are always poignant, lonesome and sprinkled with a strange sense of relief and a touch of looking around for something to fill the void. Willette will be busy with her trip home, and Willard will re-acquaint himself with an empty house and try to avoid questions from Ms. Blodgett.
I had been thinking for a while of adding an additional creature that would look like a relative of Willard–resembling him, but not identical to him in terms of his facial features. I knew I wanted it to be a female and made of baby pink fabric to match Willard’s baby/pastel tone skin.
At first I thought of making it his mother, but then was leaning more toward a sister. My 89-year-old grandmother, who has become very invested in the Willard storyline, apparently had some of the same thoughts because she suggested a sister named either WillAnn or Wiletta. I settled on Willette.
I fell in love with Willette as soon as I made her. Typically, I make creatures and sell them and they don’t spend much time in my Way Home creature universe. But now that I’ve developed more of a narrative around Willard, I really want to start making dolls that I can keep and continue using in my story telling. This also gives me a good excuse to go shopping for adorable shoes and buy fun fabrics to make outfits for these dolls (and of course, if people want their own versions, I can always do more made-to-order replicas.
If you follow my Instagram you know that Willette contacted Willard online, where she found him after they had been separated at birth. They had a Facetime chat and made plans for a visit, which is what you see below.
I had so much fun making Willard’s house! I have been wanting to create more of an enhanced universe for Willard and Friends for some time now, but couldn’t quite decide how I wanted to do so, and how I could do it within limited space and going too crazy.
The house comes apart if necessary and is made of found cardboard and foam. The only things I purchased were the grass and fence.
Way Home Art 