KEVIN AND ANDREA GORBY, owners of Luna’s Puppets in Battle Ground, help to create custom-made puppets for movies, commercials and individuals. Regular muppet-type puppets can cost anywhere from $70-$1,200. The animatronic ones are a bit more expensive.
Before they started Luna’s Puppets in the summer of 2008, Kevin and Andrea Gorby first were inspired to create puppets when they decided to build a couple for their daughter, Luna.
Now 3 1/2 years old, Luna lost interest in the puppets, but Andrea and Kevin decided they wanted to continue building and selling puppets.
“We had played with the idea of opening a toy store,” Kevin said. “We wanted to do handmade items like masks and puppets, and so we decided to do our own puppets and see how it worked out. We built a couple and it just really took off.”
For quite some time after they started making puppets, Kevin said they were doing all of the work out of their garage. Eventually, he said they outgrew that location and recently moved to their new studio, located at 310 SE 1st St., Battle Ground, across from Alder Creek Animal Hospital.
“We aren’t making a lot of the same puppets that we used to when we first started,” Kevin said. “We did a lot of the blinking monster-type puppets, but now we’ve moved more into making puppets for the film industry. That includes a lot of robotic puppets that almost look like real-life creatures.
Kevin said they have been receiving a lot of orders lately for puppets to be used in commercials and films. One of the more recent commercials that one of Luna’s Puppets starred in was a commercial for different dog medications which starred Charlie, a professional dog puppet. Kevin said some their puppets that have been used in movies and commercials were used by the same puppeteers who did Walter and Gonzo in the most recent Muppet movie.
Although they are mostly making puppets for the film industry, Kevin said Luna’s Puppets also has puppets that individuals can purchase for gifts or for other uses.
“Right now, we have a showroom with about 20 puppets, all different designs and styles, available for purchase right then and there,” Kevin said. “People can also set up to have a custom puppet made and we can sit down with them at the studio and talk it all out.”
Kevin said their puppets have been extremely popular during the holiday season, and that as soon as Black Friday hit and people got the shopping bug, he said their sales were through the roof. Kevin said the puppets can make great gifts, and the cost of each puppet can vary.
“For a basic style of puppet, like the muppets, they can start at about $70 and range all the way to about $1,200,” Kevin said. “Anything that is animatronic can go up even higher. It depends on how many different triggers the puppets have and things like that.”
Although they don’t have normal store hours, Kevin said they have had regular hours for about the past month for the holidays and will continue with those hours until the end of December. Currently, he said they are usually at the studio Mon.-Fri., noon-8 p.m. When December is over, he said they will probably go back to being available by appointment only and they will most likely be moving to a new location again.
“We keep outgrowing our locations,” Kevin said. “We aren’t sure exactly where we are moving to yet, but we want to stay local and stay in Battle Ground.”
For more information, contact Kevin at Luna’s Puppets at (360) 721-9673 or by email at lunaspuppets@yahoo.com. Visit their website at www.lunaspuppets.com.
