Frootbats’ World of Whimsy: Where Muppets, Puppets, and Halloween Collide
An Interview with Frootbats on Painting, Puppets, and Personal Magic by: S.C.
Step into Frootbats’ world, brimming with feral puppets, haunted house memories, and canvases glowing with Muppet-inspired, glittery Halloween magic.
Whether painting, or crafting puppets from old baby clothes, she creates with heart, humor, and a merry and macabre passion.
We talked to her about her creative origins, her puppet roommate Luna, and the nostalgic threads weaving it all together.
Art & Origins
Frootbats’ art is a chaotic blend of nostalgia and creativity, rooted in personal breakthroughs and unconventional materials.
You call yourself a “roommate to puppets” — who was the first to move in, and did they knock politely or just materialize in your studio one night?
“Luna was the first to move in — but I use ‘roommate’ so loosely… they’ve never put a cent towards rent. But she totally materialized in my studio one night — well, that makes it sound graceful. It was more like her crashing through my window at 3 a.m. and immediately getting way too comfortable. And here we are now~ It’s cool though, I like her ;3”
Can you remember the very first piece of art you made that felt like ‘you’?
“Back when I was in college… we had a cubism assignment for one of my painting classes and I ended up doing a self portrait and having so much fun with it. Being able to really have fun — breaking a figure down into basic shapes, amping the colors up, adding things that wouldn’t necessarily ‘make sense’ — was really freeing… it opened up a whole new world for me.”
What’s a material in your art toolbox that might make people go, ‘wait, you used that?’
“Maybe the eyes for my puppets — people ask about those a lot. They’re just oven-baked clay glued onto their faces. My fave thing right now is using fabric from my old clothes and things from my childhood. Like Lucille is made of a leopard print jacket I had as a baby. Sticky has some fingerpaintings from when I was a kid ripped up and stuck on him.”
Puppets, Muppets & Monster Makers
Her love for Muppets and puppetry fuels creations that feel like they’ve tumbled out of a haunted craft fair.
Your work exists somewhere between Jim Henson’s workshop and a haunted craft fair — what’s your earliest Muppet memory that stuck?
“I think my earliest Muppet memory had to have been a dream or something… I just remember wanting to watch Muppets Take Manhattan SOOOOO bad… and it literally materialized in my grandma’s backyard. Fave certified Real memory though is my dad hiding in his lil walk-in closet and throwing clothes out while going HIIII-YA!!! and he’d be like ‘Miss Piggy’s attacking me!! I gotta fight her off!!!’”
If you could borrow any puppet from the Henson archives for a day, who would you bring home (and what chaos would follow)?
“Philo & Gunge — the trash rats from Fraggle Rock. The apartment I’m currently in is starting to feel like the trash heap… I think they’d have a field day at my place.”
Luna feels like both a character and a co-conspirator. How did she first come to life, and what part of you lives in her?
“She came to me on the brink of insanity… just kidding… maybe haha. I was DEEP in my Fraggle Rock deep dive videos… I missed having that sort of performance aspect in my life. I already make videos online, and the art thing can come in with puppet making… I could kind of combine all the stuff I like doing here. And Luna was born~ She feels everything I feel about 10x harder and more dramatically… she carries the part of me that just wants to go feral about everything. She’d say it’s whatever tho.”
If Luna ever had her own Halloween special on PBS in the 1980s… what would it be called? And who’s showing up as her guest star?
“It’s Halloween night! The last trick or treater has wandered off, the candy’s all been given out, fave horror movies all watched. Pepperjack (Luna’s lil mouse buddy) comes back, dragging in the night’s treat haul. She flies around looking for the coolest and spookiest places to crash… for sure she’s getting Vincent Price and/or Elvira and borderline messing up the whole special — trying to play it cool and actually couldn’t be doing worse… she’s nervous~ I think Muppet guests would also be fun to run into- maybe one of the places we stop is The Count's castle. I highly suspect [The Count] is her dad and she just doesn’t wanna talk about it…”
Horror & Nostalgia
Frootbats’ art walks a glittery tightrope, blending spooky thrills with sweet memories.
Your art walks that glittery tightrope between spooky and sweet — was there a specific Halloween, movie, or monster that cast the first spell on you?
“I look back on the Halloweens from my childhood pretty fondly… my neighborhood got really into it. I’ve always been drawn to the whimsy of it all, but something about Halloween feels more magical than any other time. I can feel it in the air and in my bones.”
You’ve brought cereal mascots, fast food toys, and horror icons into your world — is there a forgotten character you’re just waiting to resurrect?
“Honestly right now I’m trying to resurrect the Actual Muppets. Bring back The Muppet Show as it were.”
If you were handed the keys to either McDonaldland or the Tales from the Crypt set… which one would you live in and why?
“McDonaldland — it feels versatile… and honestly it’s a little spooky there too if you think about it or look at it for too long. So kinda best of both worlds… and I think they’d have free food right?”
Creative Chaos & Craftwork
Her studio is a playground of glitter and instinct, where ideas spark and creatures come to life.
Describe your ideal day in the studio: what’s playing, what’s being made, and what glitter-covered object has taken over the floor?
“With all the spots I have to work, [the floor] is my preferred space haha! Especially when it comes to puppet making — the floor is the only way for me. I usually have The Urge to make a puppet hit me and then I have to make it as soon as possible. I kinda just go into a trance and come out the other side with a whole creature.”
What does your creative process look like when you’re not sure what to make next?
“Sometimes I’ll have so many things I want to work on that I have no idea where to start — and when that happens I’ll try to just work on whatever my brain keeps returning to. Occasionally nothing is calling to me and that’s fine too — that’s when I’ll take a bit of a brain break… that's usually when I catch up on media I haven't seen yet, spend time outside if I can, spending time with people I love, even rewatching/playing things I used to love when I was younger things that refill the creative well, if that makes sense.”
Is there a creature, icon, or puppet design you’ve almost made but haven’t quite cracked yet?
“I’m working on a new puppet — she’s my hater. I don’t have a whole concept for her yet but her base is built minus her hands. I ran out of fabric and lost momentum but that’s okay… it’ll all come to me when the time is right.”
Spooky Philosophy & Personal Magic
Frootbats finds comfort in the eerie and magic in the everyday, weaving both into her art.
What’s something “spooky” that actually brings you comfort?
“I used to be afraid of pretty much everything when I was a kid… But eventually I was like ‘I don’t wanna be afraid of that anymore.’ So I started getting into the behind-the-scenes of the things I wanted to watch first… so I knew how they did it and my brain would understand that it took a bunch of people's effort and skill to make it seem real and now there’s a sort of comfort in it for me. I personally tend to gravitate towards the sillier ‘spooky’ movies rather than full on horror lately… just because the former are so much fun!!”
What’s your emotional time machine — a smell, sound, or object that instantly drops you back into your favorite Halloween memory?
“I swear there is a shift in the air like mid-summer that starts to feel like Halloween and I feel crazy every time — it smells and feels different. My Halloween mode kicks in. I used to wear a scent called Hallowmas by Witch Baby Soap like religiously… it smells like a little country store in the fall during a harvest festival mixed with the fall section of an A.C. Moore (may she rest in peace).”
If the Frootbats aesthetic were brewed into a potion, what color would it glow, and what would it do to whoever dared drink it?
“Totally purple/pink with some bright green in there somewhere, like a lil swirl of green and maybe it’s got a spooky greenish glow that you would look at and be like ‘why’s it doin’ that?’ Definitely shimmery/glittery. Maybe it makes you the peak version of yourself in all aspects but only if you’re pure of heart. If you’re a bad person then you turn into… a really ugly Muppet.”
Her art feels like a visual deep dive into the strange and nostalgic. Whether it’s stitched from baby jackets, painted during a cubist breakthrough, or baked in clay at 3 a.m., everything Frootbats creates comes from the same place: memory, chaos, and a deep love for making things that feel. Her art doesn’t follow rules — it follows feelings, scraps, moods, and the occasional haunted scent. And somehow…it all works.
A huge thank you to Frootbats for crafting The Merry and Macabre’s stunning logo and shining as our first Artist Feature. For so long, this project felt like a dream teetering on the edge of never happening. Her vibrant work, paired with my family’s unwavering support, gave me the spark to finally launch this site. Reflecting on Frootbats’ interview, I’ve taken away a vital lesson for my own creative path: just go with the flow. Create what speaks to you, and when nothing’s calling, that’s the magic brewing too.
You can find her work on instagram @fr00tbats
Art and more for sale at https://www.etsy.com › shop › FrootbatsArt
See more at https://frootbats.com/
