Jon ~ Part 2

Little Jon

When I saw that Jon was starting a new tour and coming to Phoenix, there was no question that I had to go. I wanted to be in the same room with him to feel his energy and spirit. Would I get the same feeling in real life, about the person he was, as I did from the videos I had seen?

As the concert approached, I felt gratitude in my heart for what Jon’s music meant to me and what it had given me during a difficult chapter of my life. I had a desire to show my appreciation. How could I do this? What could I do to sincerely show what it meant to me? How could I somehow let him know what he had done for me as an individual? How could this even be possible? It wasn’t like I had personal access to him and could tell him. Even if I could, my words could never adequately express what was in my head and heart.

Out of the blue, I had an image come to my mind. Jon was in his music studio, playing around with a puppet of himself singing his songs. I laughed thinking about it. I could make him a puppet! I had previously made two smaller puppets that kids and adults had instantly fallen in love with. Knowing this, and having some knowledge about the person Jon was and his playful heart, I figured he would love it. It was something that he couldn’t just get anywhere. It would be a unique one of a kind gift.

Wait. Yeah, it was a cool idea. It felt perfect and right in my head… but if I actually did it, people wouldn’t understand. They would probably assume I was a crazy obsessed fan. I mean, who randomly makes a puppet of a musician and gives it to them? People would wonder why. They would come to their own conclusions of my craziness, because it was something most people would never dare to do. It took a brave person. I reminded myself, it didn’t matter what other people thought. I asked myself if I thought I could even pull it off. I had previously only made the two smaller puppets and they didn’t resemble a specific person. I knew if I did it, it would have to be spot on. I would be sharing my talent and vision with him, which was the deepest form of gratitude. I try not to deny that inner voice telling me to do something. I knew the idea was in my head for a reason. I was not going to push it aside. I decided to be brave. I had five days until the concert. I told myself there was no pressure. I needed to allow myself to enjoy the process of creating it. I wanted this to be an uplifting experience for both of us. I wanted it to be about expression and being true to myself. If at some point it wasn’t coming together the way I envisioned, I gave myself permission to let go of it. This was a leap of just going for it, and not letting doubt stand in my way.

I spent some time researching. I decided I would make this puppet completely different than the previous ones. I would have to take the knowledge I found, and improvise. I started thinking about different aspects. What was most important in portraying him and making sure it resembled him? His hair was a key feature that had to be right. I found nothing that resembled it. I bought yarn that I felt was the right color with variations of brown. I didn’t know how, but I would figure out a way to make hair from it.

I made the hair. I was stoked about how realistic it looked and felt! It was time consuming, but it was perfection. I made hair for two days.

I now had two days left to construct the puppet. Next, I needed a skeletal structure. I studied pictures and I worked. I constructed the top half of the head from foam, creating my own pattern that had to be re-worked three times. Then the mouth plate and jaw. I made a pattern for the fleece skin that would cover the head. I sewed the fleece and it fit… but not as well as I would have liked. I realized most of it would be covered and I moved on. I sewed the mouth plate material. Nope. I ripped it out and came up with my own way to put it in.

Then facial features. They had to be precise. I ended up making three noses before I settled on one. Facial hair was a central component. The fake fur I bought was close, but not close enough in color to the hair I had made. I colored it. Eyes. They were so huge and buggy. I worked and reworked. Eyelashes. They were too long. I took scissors and started trimming, cringing inside because they were already attached and I would have to start over if I cut them too short. Ears. As I completed facial features I would just pin them on so I could move them and manipulate all the parts before anything was permanent. The surface of the face was too flat. The eyes needed to appear sunk in at least a little. I conquered each step as I approached it.

It was the day before the concert and nothing was attached yet. I hadn’t even started the body. I worked non-stop until 2:30 am only taking time to eat, use the bathroom and change out the infusion set to my insulin pump. Time was running out. I continued to tell myself it would be okay if I didn’t finish… but it wasn’t going to be because I hadn’t given it everything I had.

I slept for three hours and got up at 5:30 am the day of the concert. I gave myself till noon to finish. I needed to leave for the concert at 2:30 pm and I had several other responsibilities that needed to be taken care of before I left. I still had the hair to sew on, I needed to attach his head to his body, and I needed to design a pattern and sew a shirt for Little Jon.

I finished at noon. There was one feature I hadn’t completed. I really didn’t want to leave it out. I had to push it back to be done later, if I had time after I had completed my other responsibilities.

I ran to the store to buy some dinner for my boys for that night. While I was there, I quickly looked for something I could use for that final touch. I found a couple of things, but they weren’t quite right. I would make one of them work.

The last thing I did, before running out the door for the concert, was make up the gold cross earring with the purple gem in the center. I sewed it to his ear. It was as close as I could get to matching the picture on his new album cover.

I didn’t have a specific plan on how I was going to give my creation to Jon. I just put him in a big gift bag and brought him along. I was content letting things play out however they would…