As Milton children tore through boxes and wrapping this past Christmas, Cole Magallanes took a patient – even methodical – approach to opening his gifts.
In this household, packaging brings as much excitement as the present itself.
From a creative potential standpoint, that is.
"Boxes don’t get thrown out around here," quips father Jason, as his 12-year-old son shows a container of his building material.
Tucked into a corner of Cole’s basement workshop hangs a photo of Geppetto and his beloved masterpiece, Pinocchio.
It serves as inspiration for the local lad’s latest venture, sparked by some how-to videos and an iconic kids’ entertainment venue.
"Just seeing the characters… how they were moving and how somebody made these," recalled Cole, of the online images that spawned his foray into puppet making early last summer.
Since his debut creation of Chuck E. Cheese’s Crusty the Cat, the crafty pre-teen has rounded out the Pizza Time Players and built nearly two dozen puppets overall – including some from Country Bear Jamboree.
"What I find most fun and challenging is shaping it to make it look like the character," said Cole, while carefully pulling on rods and strings to move his creations’ head and arms.
Now sharing his passion via a Blue Face Productions YouTube channel, Cole has recently begun adding animatronics to the creative process – a natural next step for someone with a deep-rooted desire to learn and test himself.
"This is all him," said dad. "I have a background in electronics, but he’s discovering all this on his own."
Spending the majority of his spare time in his workshop, Cole’s puppet making is the latest chapter in his creative exploration.
That began three years ago with custom plushies – with roughly 200 filling a downstairs couch, many of which are indistinguishable from manufactured quality offerings.
Said Jason, "He’s always had a pretty creative mind. This (puppet making) really isn’t a surprise. It’s more ‘what is he going to do next?"