I was talking with my partner, Steve the other night when he mentioned it was that time of year in Oklahoma where the humidity was getting bad. Of course here in Boston and other parts of the country, the humidity levels are getting quite high.
It also got us talking about how ventriloquist figures fair in this type of environment. If you keep ventriloquist figures on display I have wondered about humidity levels and where they should be kept. I think about this because for the most part the figures in the Ventriloquist Central Collection are wood and with the changes in the seasons there is movement of wood. Movement being expansion and contraction of the wood.
I have had Jazz guitars almost all my adult life and during the winter months I have used a humidifier to help keep the wood from moving and causing cracks. It seems to have worked because I myself have never had any of my guitars crack. I have seen many that have had a cracking problem so I thought the humidifier was the best way to go.
Now that there are so many figures in the Ventriloquist Central Collection I have again begun to wonder about cracking. Most of the figures in the collection are of significant age and therefore movement of the wood should have already taken place if it was going to happen. I check the figures frequently, each one individually, to make sure that the mouth movements are smooth and to day I have not found any problems. So I guess the humidifiers going during the cold season works.
Figures that are made of cast material will also move with the change of temperature and PLEASE never put your figure into the trunk of your car during the summer months. The heat is like an oven and will surely cause deformations and may even melt your figures.
Dan
www.ventriloquistcentral.com
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Ventriloquist Central is the brainchild of Dan Willinger and Steve Hurst. Dan is a ventriloquism enthusiast and ventriloquist figure collector. He has been collecting for over 25 years. He created the Ventriloquist Central Collection. It now has over 100 ventriloquist figures and over 50 of them are Frank Marshall figures. Steve is a ventriloquist as well as builder of ventriloquist figures. He also has a background in sales, marketing, building websites and computers. Because they both love the art of ventriloquism, the website Ventriloquist Central was born. For more information about the website, go to: http://www.ventriloquistcentral.com
Copyright 2013 by Dan Willinger and Steve Hurst
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Excellent thoughts Dan! I also have been concerned about this. At this point am considering getting a dehumidifier for the summer months and a humidifier for during the winter (here in Georgia). If you can get the kind that you can set for a specific level, you can pretty much keep the room within a range. A friend of mine who builds acoustic guitars does this in his workshop to establish a constant for his wood.
Another thing about the car… yes the trunk gets hot, but the interior of the car gets even hotter with the sun shining through the windows. When stopping for any length of time take the trunk in with you. Yes it’s a pain in the butt, but nothing compared to expensive repairs or replacement!
Just a thought,
Gary