Artist Stephen Bell aka Novelties by STEXE shares how he transitioned from his modelmaking work for Natural History Museums into creating wonderfully fun novelties for horror B-movie fans!

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LINKS for More Stephen Bell/Novelties by STEXE:

• Stephen Bell/Novelties by STEXE Official Website: https://stexe.net
• Stephen Bell/Novelties by STEXE on Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/stexe/
• Stephen Bell/Novelties by STEXE on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/novelties_by_stexe/

FULL Written Transcript: HorrorFam.com Podcast Interview with Stephen Bell/STEXE

*HorrorFam.com Podcast Theme Music Plays*

Lauren Spear: Hi, Everyone! I’m Lauren Spear from HorrorFam.com and this is the HorrorFam.com Podcast – Episode #28 – and today I’m talking with Stephen Bell aka STEXE of STEXE Novelties or Novelties by STEXE! And he makes all kinds of cool figures based on horror movies and B-movies and horror TV and all kinds of things that I know that you’ll be interested in and love… And here he is! Hiiiiiiiiiiii!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: What’s up? All right! Where do we start?

Lauren: *chuckles* Well, how about where you got YOUR start?

How did you get into doing this?

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Well, my background in modelmaking was… I started in Natural History museums! I was very fortunate that, in art school, I graduated with a sculpting degree and then I was interning at a museum.

So, right after I graduated, I got a staff job at another museum. Which happened to be Natural History. And then I ended up at a museum that did all its own modelmaking in-house.

So, I did sculpting and had a focus in figurative sculpture when I was in school, but I was lucky enough to go to a museum that all their sculpting, mold making, and casting, and production work was all done within the walls of the museum itself!

Lauren Spear: Oh, wow!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Otherwise, I wouldn’t have learned all the skills that I’m still using now to make this stuff.

And after that was over, I moved into doing some model shop works for commercial advertising, still photography, television commercials… I did that for a few years. And… yeah!

And I didn’t really start doing the work we’re talking about until I was about… pfft! I was in my early 40s! 

Lauren Spear: Oh, wow!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. I’d lost a staff job that I’d been at for several years and didn’t really know what to do. I was kind of burned out on working for Hollywood because those jobs are so… stressful!! And so time-intensive!

Lauren: *knowing exhale* Yeah. Yeah…

Stephen Bell/STEXE: They expend you to be there for 18, 20 hours a day to meet a deadline, you know? For a shoot.

And I just didn’t want to do that anymore in my 40s!

Lauren: Yeah. Yeah.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: And my wife and I became foster parents.

Lauren: Oh, wow!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: So, that meant a lot of time at home with all these people coming over and checking on you all the time. So, I needed to be like a stay-at-home dad for a while.

And so I just focused on the Etsy store and I feel like that’s been a really good thing. Etsy has been promoting a lot of my work for me; and the investment up front is so cheap. I mean, it’s 20 cents to list something for three months!

So, I went “I’ll list something for 20 cents for three months and see if it gets any attention and, if not, maybe I’ll withdraw that and try something else.” And it’s been a great place to experiment with what works and what doesn’t work, y’know?

Lauren Spear: Yeah! That’s awesome! I’m sure a lot of people who’re thinking about doing stuff like this are gonna feel inspired after hearing all that! *chuckles*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. I mean, I was just fortunate, like I said, to learn some of the skills that were necessary when I was actually getting paid for it on the job. But, you know, these days, it’s not really so much exclusive knowledge.

You can learn a lot of things from YouTube tutorials! I know I have. I’ve improved a lot of my methods just from watching YouTube! So, I think it’s a little easier to get into it.

If you can sculpt, you can probably teach yourself how to make molds and how to cast and things like that. You know. Do production work.

Lauren Spear: Yeah. Well, that’s great!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah.

Lauren: And…

What made you interested in horror movies and all that fun stuff?

Stephen Bell/STEXE: I kind of got into that slowly. When I started my Etsy store I was doing more, like, Natural History-type things.

Lauren Spear: Mmhmm.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: I was really interested in…

Well, what I specialized in as a modelmaker for the Natural History museum was invertebrates! That’s arthropods. Insects.

Lauren Spear: Yeah. Yeah! Nice!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Things like that.

So, I started sculpting… *looks around his desk* Yeah. Here’s a Colorado River Toad! *holds up a model he sculpted*

Lauren: Ohhh! Awesome!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: So, this is the original clay sculpture. I was able to pull the mold off without much – or any – damage.

So, I was selling things like that. And then I started to get more into the Novelties side of things. This is a flea! *holds up sculpture of a realistic flea on a spring*

Lauren: Oh, yes! I saw that in… You have that on your Etsy store!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: So, I started to do this cross-section between Natural History museums, curiosity cabinets, and, like, mid-century novelty shops.

Lauren: Yeah.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: And the first piece I did that was really like a monster movie thing was this guy! *holds up an Incredible Melting Man figure with a wick in his head*

It’s an Incredible Melting Man with a wick on his head.

Stephen Bell/STEXE (continuing): And you can burn him!

Lauren: Ohhh. That’s so cool!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: And he melts over the course of about… oh! *holds up a partially-melted one* Here’s one that…

Lauren: Oh! *laughs*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: So, I put this in my Etsy store and right away… This was the first thing I ever did that was really monster movie-related! And this was back before social media really took over the internet. When there were still blogs.

Lauren: Yeah.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Blogs were still popular and one of them was bOING bOING… I don’t know if you remember that. It was from the early 2000s.

Lauren: *laughs* Yeah.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: This would’ve been around 2010.

Lauren: Yeah.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Well, bOING bOING put my Etsy store up! They did a post about me!

Lauren: Oh, okay!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: And around the same time — I don’t know if it was right after or right before (I don’t know who did it first!) — but

Pee-Wee Herman put me in his blog!

Lauren Spear: Oh, NICE!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: And it was one of these! *holds up candle again* I don’t know if he bought it or… But he had, like, put up pictures of these.

Lauren: Oh, that’s awesome.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: And it drew a LOT of attention to my store! And I just started doing similar things!

And I’m trying to incorporate gimmicks into a lot of what I do! *holds up Tor Johnson wind-up toy he sculpted* Sometimes I repurpose wind-up motors…

Lauren: Oh!! Yes!! I saw your wind-up Tor Johnson!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: This is Tor Johnson from Plan 9 from Outer Space! *winds up Tor and lets his lil legs kick*

Lauren: *giggles with delight*

One of the things that I saw on your shop that I was just like, “Oh, that is PERFECT!” is the

House on Haunted Hill…

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Oh my gosh! That was SO HARD to produce!! But, I mean, sculpting it… *holds up a wind-up Hag/Mrs. Slydes*

Lauren Spear: Oh, that is SO perfect.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Sculpting it wasn’t hard, but this piece… I think there’s five molds that I had to do separately before assembling it. And the body is hollow so it could fit the car. *shows the pull-back car/wheels mechanism on the bottom*

Lauren: Yeah.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. And it rolls along, just like in the movie! *demonstrates*

Lauren: Oh, I love that. *laughs*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah, this was a popular item. And you probably saw the…

I didn’t do that many 80’s films, but…

You probably saw the finger puppet?

Stephen Bell/STEXE (continuing): *holds up Basket Case finger puppet*

Lauren Spear: Oh, yes!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah, there he is! *doing something off-screen*

Lauren: *leans back from her mic so her fat girl breathing stops making the Zoom camera snap to her* Oh! You’ll… You’ll need to do that again.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Oop!

Lauren: Yeah. There we go.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: There he is down here… *shows closed basket* annnd… *makes a rubbery Belial emerge from the basket*

Lauren: *giggles happily*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: So, yeah. Hollow-cast plastic basket with metal hinges on it.

These things are a lot of work! These are probably the most work-intensive thing I do…

And then a solid-cast soft rubber with airbrushing and paint. *wiggles Belial*

Lauren: Oh, I love that. *laughs*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: What else is in that vein…? *looks around* Oh! Yeah. Here’s a Tingler. *holds up a motorized Tingler he made*

Lauren Spear: Yes!! We have that one too! *reaches behind her and grabs the Tharp/Spear family’s STEXE Tingler and holds it up*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: You have the Tingler?? Oh, okay! Yeah. It’s got a hexbug motor in it to make it move on the table.

Lauren: Oh, that’s awesome.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: So, I guess, um… Yeah!

When it comes to subject matter…

Stephen Bell/STEXE (continuing): It’s got to be something that really resonated with me in some way.

Lauren Spear: Yeah.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Most of these movies, I saw them at kind of the right time and in the right conditions. And a lot of it is stuff that goes back to elementary school.

Because I’m 55 now, so I grew up in the ‘70s and we didn’t get cable television until I was 12. I think we got a VCR when I was 14. So, before that, it was almost nothing but old black and white movies on UHF – local Chicago stations, y’know?

And they played constantly! You could watch them on Saturday morning instead of cartoons. So, yeah…!

The Mushroom People thing that you…

Stephen Bell/STEXE (continuing): Did you show that one yet? *holds up his green Matango figure*

Lauren: Yeah!! *holds up the Tharp/Spear family’s pink Matango figure* We have a pink one!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: I have dim memories of watching this when I was like five years old.

And, likewise, the War of the Gargantuas figures. *holds up the Sanda and Gaira figures he sculpted from The War of the Gargantuas* I did one each of these. Same studio. Same era. You know? Japanese… TOHO… Ltd film.

Lauren: Yeah.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: These have a polarized mechanism. *shows the bottom of the figures to the camera* Polarized magnets inside of them so they work like the old… *has the figures chase each other*

Lauren Spear: Oh! Those dogs!! The Tricky Dogs!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah.

Lauren: Yeah!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: So, one can sneak up on the other and then the other swings around and punches him! *demonstrates*

Lauren: *laughs* That’s so cool!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: So, yeah. These movies… Seeing them at an early age, some often by yourself, you know, on UHF on a fuzzy screen. It takes on this strange kind of quality that lives in the back of your head for a long time.

So, that’s the stuff that I’m intending to go for. It’s that era.

Plus, I want to sculpt things that I don’t think hardly anyone else has done. So, I’m always trying to…

If it’s visually interesting, even if it’s a movie I don’t like… *looks around* Here’s a good example of that! *reaches for a figure* This doesn’t even happen!

Nothing like this even happens IN the movie!

Stephen Bell/STEXE (continuing): This is just the image from the poster! *holds up his Beast of Blood figure*

Lauren Spear: Ohhhhhhhhh yeahhhhhhhhhh. Sometimes the posters are cooler!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. Beast of Blood, which is an old Filipino movie from the 70’s – early ‘70s – that I consider to be unwatchable.

Both: *laugh*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: But, yeah. GREAT poster image!

And this is a two-piece set of Frankenstein and the Space Monster. *holds up the figures he sculpted from Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster* Also copying the poster artwork.

Lauren: Wow. That’s awesome.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah; these are always sold together.

Lauren: Yeah. We have like a TON of your Zanti misfits. *plucks one off the stand behind her*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Those are popular. Yeah. *chuckles*

Lauren Spear: I’ll hold one up close so it shows… *holds a Zanti up to the camera*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: People always ask me if I can make those more closer to the actual size.

Lauren: *chuckles*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: And I guess that I didn’t mention that

I don’t do 3D printing.

Stephen Bell/STEXE (continuing): Everything I do is sculpted in clay and cast in silicone rubber. And, so… yeah.

The most common question I get for just about anything is, “Can I get this larger?” or “Could I get it smaller?”

Lauren Spear: *holding a STEXE-made Monster of Piedras Blancas* Yeah, that was one of the things…

My parents had a friend over and they were looking at your figures like… *mimics the friend’s stunned gazes, turning the Monster over in her hands* “Wait! This isn’t a 3D print! This is… This is something else!” *chuckles*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. It’s silly. I mean, I know that…

I’m not sure if I’m ever going to get out of working in clay. But now they do sell such cheap hand-held scanners where you can just scan one of these sculptures from multiple images and the scanner does the work on its own in combining that into a 3D object that you can adjust the scale of. Or you can just sell it as a 3D file for other people to print out.

Lauren: Yeahhhhhh… But, I don’t know…

Stephen Bell/STEXE: It may be something I’ll have to get into soon. But a lot of the work I do sell is assembled and painted.

Lauren: Yeah.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: So, there’s always going to be some market for that.

Lauren: Well, I think it’s great. And I’ve had… *looks up at a 3D figure she has up on her shelf, considers standing up to grab it, but quickly remembers doing so would knock over her faux brick wall* I’ve had some 3D-printed toys and they’re not as… STURDY.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. There are some people who get their prototypes 3D printed and they still go through the work of moldmaking and casting with solid resin. But I think that the resins are getting better quality all the time, so… I can’t. I’m not going to pretend that traditional casting is better at this point anymore. Because I really don’t know that for sure!

Lauren: *laughs, looking up at her broken 3D-printed figure* …Yeah…

Stephen Bell/STEXE: It’s something that I should probably learn. For sure.

Lauren: Maybe I’ve just had bad luck! *laughs*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. I mean. It’s improved greatly in the last few years!

But that is a thing!

I do 100% of my production work.

Stephen Bell/STEXE (continuing): So, I’m busy ALL the time with my Etsy store!

On Etsy alone, I sell a little over a thousand individual pieces per year. And I making every one of those pieces myself. So…

Lauren Spear: Yeah. That’s a LOT.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: I’m not shopping it out or anything. So, it’s like, I’m just BARELY successful enough there I’m always busy doing that, but not quite successful enough where I can send my work out to other shops to do it for me. Because then I wouldn’t have any profit margin.

Lauren: Yeah. *rueful chuckle*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Which is why I want to start thinking about the 3D printing and stuff. Because it’s, uh…

Lauren: Yeah.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: I’m lucky if I get to do a handful – four or five – new sculptures as year at this point.

Lauren: Plus, yeah, there are some benefits to a very light… *thinking of how 3D prints are usually more lightweight* You could do, like, puppets!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. Making things hollow is not a problem.

Some of these hollow pieces that I do, it involves putting it on a rig that spins it 360-degrees until the plastic cures. Which is about 10 minutes. So…

Lauren: Oh, okay.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: That’s per cast. And with 3D printing, you can avoid that. You can make things lighter by printing out hollow parts.

Lauren: Okay.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah.

Lauren: Well, that’s pretty cool.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: This is some stuff I just finished! *reaching off-screen again* Maybe I’ll show you these.

Lauren: *chuckles*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Because these… I haven’t actually started moldmaking these yet. *holds up a sculpture to the camera, but it’s blurry*

Lauren: Oh, yes. The…

The C.H.U.D?

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Oh, yes. This… *holds it so it’s clearer* The C.H.U.D. is over here. *points off-camera* This is the Humanoids from the Deep figure.

Lauren Spear: Oh, yes! I’m sorry.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. So, these are going to be rubbery Jigglers. Cast in soft rubber with a string coming out of the top.

So, that’s Super Sculpey – polymer clay – and I already cooked this in the oven so it’s solid. I’ve been doing a little bit of sanding. You can… You know, you can tool this stuff after it dries.

Lauren: Yeah.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Which is really nice. Get rid of some hard edges with some sandpaper or a scalpel.

And here’s the C.H.U.D. *holds up the sculpture*

Lauren: Ah, yes.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Same thing. They’re both going to be rubbery figures.

So, yeah. I’ll get the molds started on those.

Lauren: I liked the Jiggler that you had for the Fiend Without a Face!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Oh yeah? I have… *reaches off camera* I’ve got that one right here! *shows it to the camera* The Fiend Without a Face figure!

Lauren: Oh! Now people can see the jiggles!! *chuckles and then leans back so the camera will snap back to STEXE*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Mmhmm. *gives it a slight jiggle* And this is my most popular Jiggler.

The Norris head from The Thing.

Stephen Bell/STEXE (continuing): *holds up his Norris head Jiggler to the camera and gives its legs a tug/stretch* Yep. Totally unbreakable.

Lauren Spear: *chuckles*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: THIS was a molding FEAT!! I cast this in ONE PIECE from a VERY complicated mold that took a lot of trial and error to make.

*sees something off-camera* Oh!! And here’s a fun one! Do… Do I have a…? *frantically looks around* No??? No. Nevermind.

Well, here’s a painted up guy…

Lauren: Oh! Xtro!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: …from Xtro.

Lauren: *laughs*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. Oh! I didn’t talk about my cryptozoology pieces!! Those are my MOST popular ones! *digs around off-camera*

Lauren: Oh, yes! I noticed those!

You have a lot of cryptids!

Lauren Spear (continuing): The Mothman and…

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. Those are the most successful things that I’ve ever sold. I’ve been selling those for about 12 years. And I’m up to number 27! So…

But, yeah! These are about two-inch tall figures. This is the, uh… I don’t know how to pronounce this! The Fouke Monster…? I think it’s the Fouke Monster. The Legend of Boggy Creek? He’s a sasquatch.

Lauren: Yeah! They made a movie about him. *laughs*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: A very popular movie. Yes. Very successful movie. Not acclaimed, but…

Yeah, but, um…

Some of them are based on sightings. Some of them are extraterrestrials. Some, like this one – *holds up a wrapped figure to the camera* – the Squonk is just old 19^th century American mythology. *turns Squonk packaging around to show all its features* And they come with the packaging and they come with a little information card. And… yeah!

The cheapest thing in my store, too. I spend a lot of time making these. And making new molds for them.

Lauren: Yeah. You had the Flatwoods Monster, the Chupacabra, Mothman, Jersey Devil, “Boggy Creek”…

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah.

Lauren: And that’s just five!

You said you have 27 different ones??

Stephen Bell/STEXE: 27 in all. Yeah.

Lauren Spear: Wowwww! *laughs*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: They’re starting to get a little obscure but sometimes I… Sometimes I do a callout on Instagram and ask what I’m supposed to do next. And I’ve gotten some help that way.

Lauren: Nice!

And you also did the Fiji Mermaid and some other, like, novelties… Curiosities!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Oh yeah! I’ll show you! I have a Fiji Mermaid, uh… *looks around behind him* Right over there!

And I have this one right here! This is my biggest seller right now: This Monkey’s Paw! *holds up a faux monkey paw to the camera* I’ve sold it before in other incarnations. But this one is the largest one that I’ve done. And this is doing really well right now!

Lauren: Is this the one that’s also a flash drive? Or a USB drive?

Stephen Bell/STEXE: No.

Lauren: No?

Stephen Bell/STEXE: No. Yeah. I also sell… *looks around* The USB drive… That one’s smaller and… *still looking around* Ah, man. I don’t have it! Oh, well.

Yeah. The smaller version of that is a USB drive!

And that also has an album on it of the music that I do on my own.

Stephen Bell/STEXE (continuing): It’s kind of electronic, dark, ambient music. So, I put some of that on there.

Lauren Spear: OHH!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Another big seller is the Monkey’s Paw back scratcher! Which I do from the same mold.

Lauren: *laughs* Oh my gosh! That’s so cool!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Mmhmm.

Lauren: And you mentioned that you ask for feedback for the cryptids on your Instagram?

Did you want to talk about that and other ways to reach you and contact you?

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. The best way to contact me is either through my Etsy store or Instagram.

So, the Etsy store… It’s just STEXE.

On Instagram it’s @Novelties_by_STEXE with underscores.

And… yeah! Get in touch with me either way from there.

Lauren Spear: And for people who’re just listening, that’s S-T-E-X-E!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: S-T-E-X-E. Yeah.

Oh! And my website is STEXE.net! But currently it’s just a domain.

If you program websites, PLEASE get in touch with me!!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Because I would love to get a real website going!

I designed my own in like 2003 and it was… uh… not so great.

Both: *laugh*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: I finally got rid of that a couple years ago and, yeah, I would love for someone to redo it for me.

The domain name forwards to my Etsy store now, so…

Lauren: So, if you go to STEXE.net right now, it’ll take you directly to his Etsy store and you’ll be able to buy all these cool things that we’ve been showing off!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Mmhmm!

So, I guess I can… *looks around* I’ve got a few more things here. Oh yeah! My biggest seller of ALL TIME!

It’s not a monster toy. It’s just a solid rubber cast of a tardigrade! *holds it up to the camera*

Lauren: Oh, yes!

A water bear!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: I’ve sold… A water bear! Yes.

So, yeah. It’s just a solid rubber cast. It’s nice and squeezeable. *gives the tardigrade a firm squish* Very portable.

Lauren Spear: Oh! Like a stress ball!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. I actually called it the “Tardigrade Stress Ball” for many years, but then I started getting all these bad reviews on Etsy saying, “It’s not a REAL stress ball! Stress balls are supposed to be more squishy!!” So, I was like, “Okay. Fine! It’s not a stress ball.”

*laughs* Now, it’s just a rubber tardigrade.

And… *looks off camera* Oh! These are fun! I made these figures for a vending machine that I sometimes take with me to the shows.

I do art tables at shows.

Stephen Bell/STEXE (continuing): Oh! My next one is Monsterpalooza! In Pasadena. That’s coming up in late May, I think.

So, I put these in, like, the two-inch capsule venders.

So, here’s the guy from From Hell It Came. *holds a tiny figure up* These are all kind of mid-century films. *holds up another* Horror of Party Beach… *holds up another* What’s the name of this? It Conquered the World! *holds up another* Monster That Challenged the World… *another* What’s this thing called… The Crawling Eye?

You can buy these on Etsy in sets of FIVE now! You don’t have to go to one of the shows and buy them from the machine. *chuckles*

And… *holds up another* What’s this guy? Invaders from Mars? Oh! *holds up another* A small version of The Tingler! 

So, yeah. At the shows, these are like five dollars each.

*holds up another* Ah. The Octaman. I think this was Rick Baker’s earliest creation! *holds up another small figure* Invasion of the Saucer Men. Annnnnnnnnnnnd… *holds up a final figure* The She-Creature!

That’s how many I have in that series so far. These little – TINY – blacklight-reactive figures.

Lauren Spear: That’s awesome!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: What else can I show you…? *looks off-camera* Oh, yeah!

I did THIS because my dad took us to the drive-in movie theater! And, oh man, I was like eight or nine years old and we saw [Spawn of the] Slithis!

Has anyone heard of this movie??

Stephen Bell/STEXE (continuing): *holds up a beautiful Slithis sculpture* It was filmed in Venice Beach… *laughs* It’s a terrible, TERRIBLE movie! But…um… Just because I had this personal history with it, I sculpted this.

Lauren Spear: Oh, I love that. That’s great!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: When we got to the drive-in theater, they gave us a Slithis survival kit! *holds up a pamphlet and opens it*

Lauren: OHH!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: And you were supposed to fill out the form and mail it away to a fan club! So, I printed these out and I give these away to anyone who buys one of these figures.

Lauren: Ohh, that’s so cool!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: To get to recreate that experience!

Lauren: Wow! *chuckles* Oh, man…

And you said that your next show is Monsterpalooza in May and that you go to BOTH Monsterpaloozas…? So, you go twice a year?

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. I’ve done every Monsterpalooza for the last 12 or 13 years!

Lauren: Okay.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Ever since I got… I dunno. Ever since I got on The List, I guess.

Lauren: *chuckles*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. It’s fun. I end up seeing the same people coming by every year, asking “What’s new?”

Lauren: All right!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: They seem to have a small base of people who buy most of the stuff that I do. So, it’s always nice to see the same people again and again.

Lauren: Yeah. *chuckles*

And do you ever travel for other shows, or do you stay with…?

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Not so… Not so much. You know, like…

Our kids are getting a little bit older. We have two kids who are still in elementary school. But I might travel a little more?

It seems like I don’t do too well outside of the Monsterpalooza shows! I’ve done some other shows here in LA and I’ve driven up to Las Vegas for at least three shows. And I… I barely break even! In any of those scenarios, after my artist table and especially after hotels and things like that…

Lauren: Mmhmm.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: I would love to travel more though! If it was… If it was just more profitable. You know?

And it’s also hard to get into some of these shows! You know? That are in the Western part of the United States that are really popular. You know? But, I don’t know…

Lauren: Well, the best…

Stephen Bell/STEXE: I dunno. If anyone has any suggestions…

If anyone runs any shows or is a vendor, please let me know!

Stephen Bell/STEXE (continuing): Because yeah. I’d love to get out there a little more!

Lauren Spear: So, the best ways for people to contact you is through the Etsy store. And, if they’re local, to go to Monsterpalooza.

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. Yeah. Etsy messaging is the best way to get to me.

Lauren: All right!

Well, is there anything else that to share or to show off or to talk about?

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Mmm… *looks off-camera* I think I’m running out of things that I have in front of me here!

Lauren: *laughs*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Nah! I guess… I think that’ll about do it!

Lauren: *laughs* All right! *holds up a STEXE-made Monster of Piedras Blancas figure* Well, I’ve got the Monster of Piedras Blancas, if you want to talk about that! *laughs* That was one that I did a painting of and my mom has done a mask of!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Oh?? That’s…! I’ll have to check that out!

Yeah! That was a film… I don’t think I’ve actually seen that one! So, as personal history goes… No. I didn’t really have much of a connection with that! But I just loved the imagery.

Lauren: It is. It’s a COOL looking monster!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah. I love the imagery of… I think it wasn’t poster art. It was just, like, a publicity still. And then it ended up on a punk rock album that I had! As a 16-year-old. By the Angry Samoans!

Lauren: Ah, okay!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: So, there’s a LITTLE bit of a connection there!

But, yeah! That’s a piece where… You can probably tell; looking at it! That I wanted it to be hinged where the arms would be able to move? Because I cast them separately from the body.

Lauren: Yeah!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: But it didn’t work that well…

Hang on just a sec! *walks off-screen and then comes back with another figurine that he holds up to the camera* Yeah. I did a similar one here!

Lauren: Oh! Yes. Yes. The… The… Hotel Hell?

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Motel Hell! Yes. This is one of the earliest ones I did, actually! I did this one very shortly after that Melting Man figure.

But… yeah! Thanks for asking me to do this! And thanks for being such a big customer of my work!

Lauren: Wellllll… you’ll have to thank my mom! *laughs*

Stephen Bell/STEXE: *chuckles* Well, yeah. Her too!

Lauren: Well, it was very nice meeting you!

And for everyone watching or listening, that was Stephen Bell — Novelties by STEXE! You should check out his stuff at STEXE.net — S-T-E-X-E dot net — and that will take you to his Etsy store. Or you could just look up “STEXE” on Etsy and you’ll find it! Just look for the stuff that we’ve been showing off.

And, um… Yeah! *laughs* It was nice having you on, Stephen! Thank you!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Yeah! Thank you!! All right.

Lauren: Byeeeeeeeeeeee!

Stephen Bell/STEXE: Again: Thanks, Everybody!!

Photos for this transcript were provided by Stephen Bell aka Novelties by STEXE except for the screenshots from the actual episode and the screenshot of Paul Reubens’ Facebook post.