Jelly's Celestial Shoebox from The Character Factory's Bingtopia Portal

Bingtopia

Excerpt from Jellybean's Notebook: Bingtopia

Bingtopia is my world. You've probably seen my Bings around the web and if you're really lucky (or unlucky—my Bingtopians DO tend to be a mischievous lot) you may have actually met one in person. If you have, you're halfway to knowing a secret that most people here in Cratersville don't know—my Bingtopians aren't just wistful concepts sketched in my Notebook, they're REAL.

You see, soon after my father's death, I discovered he had arranged for me to apprentice with a zany Creator known as Professor Zell. The problem with this arrangement is that Professor Zell lives in the Creators' Realm where creating Real Creatures is legal while I live in Cratersville where creating anything but mechanical creatures animated with magic is strictly prohibited. Thus, I have to keep my apprenticeship a secret (even from my mom).

This has proven difficult, especially when my characters come to life and invade the world outside the safe confines of my Notebook. I should apologize in advance for any damage they may do, though I bet the smiles they'll bring will make the damage worthwhile.☺

—Jellybean Reds, age 17

Bingtopia Bing

Bing!

Crater Creature 2008

Bingtopia Bing

Bing!

Jelly Bing - Smile Card Cover

Excerpt from Jellybean's Notebook: Flower Power

This is a Bing of me. Just so you know, my real hair isn't just rainbow-colored, there's a lot of black (I mean a lot of black) thrown in there too. And my eyes aren't really green, they're dark grey flecked with jeweled hues. All of this, of course, would be a nightmare to draw (the rainbow hair is bad enough) so you will just have to use your imagination to envision what I really look like.

Anyway, the reason I mentioned my Bing at all is to tell you about the card I made for my mom not too long ago. I used my Bing on the cover of the card just like you see here. I did this so the inside of the card would be a surprise when she opened it. After all, a card with a close-up of a face on its cover could contain just about anything. Anyway, I give her the card and she opens it.

She smiles.

Just so you know, she wasn't smiling much before I gave her the card (It had been a rough morning). Anyway, the card made her happy and that made me happy too.

But that's not where the story ends.

A couple of weeks later, my mom gives me a card. On the cover of the card was a close up of one of my mom's marionettes. Inside, the marionette was there again, holding a flower in one hand and a sign in the other. The sign said: Flower 4 you!

I smiled.

Just so you know, I wasn't smiling much before she gave me the card (It had been a rough day). Anyway, the card made me happy and that made my mom happy too.

Just remember, what goes around comes around. And if you're feeling blue, I have a 'Flower 4 You' too!

—Jellybean Reds, Age 17

Jelly Flowers & Happy Zing

Jelly Flower Square with Bings

Jelly Bing - Flower 4 You! - Smile Card Inside

Jelly Flower Square with Bings

Crater Creature Close-Up No.1

Crater Creature Close-Up No.2

Crater Creature Close-Up No.3

Jelly Flower Square with Bings

Jelly Flower Square with Stars

Jelly Flower Square with Bings

Yellow Weekle Bing - Girl

Weekle Bings - Flower 4 You! Card Inside

Yellow Weekle Bing - Boy

Peace Angel Square

Flower Power Card Inside

Peace Angel Square

Peace Sign Bing - Square

Peace Alien Bing - Square

Peace Sign Bing - Square

Jelly Bing - Number One

Jelly Bing - Viola

Jelly Bing - Peace Sign

Hug Me Bing - Hug Me	Excerpt from Jellybean's Notebook: My Celestial Shoebox Perhaps to understand what my Celestial Shoebox is all about I should first tell you about the one that inhabits the space between my town of Cratersville and the “diamond constellations” beyond. But before I explain that I’ll need to tell you a little about my home-sphere of Red Rainbow Minor. It’s called a home-sphere because instead of living on the surface of Red Rainbow Minor like you do on Earth we live inside of Red Rainbow Minor on a giant slab of flat land. This land effectively bisects the space inside Red Rainbow Minor’s protective shell. We Crater-villians live on the top side of this land-slab while the ‘inner workings’ that keep Red Rainbow Minor an inhabitable sphere take place below our feet, on the slab’s other side, hidden from our view. No one knows what the ‘hell’ half of Red Rainbow Minor looks like for sure because no one now living has ever been there. It was sealed off shortly after our home-sphere was deemed habitable and has been doing its thing in anonymity ever since. The ‘heaven’ half of Red Rainbow Minor where I live looks basically like an early twentieth century town on Earth that happened to spring up in the middle of a moonscape. Above us, roughly where the tops of the buildings are, is where the Celestial Shoebox officially begins. The Celestial Shoebox is a collection of baseball to beach ball to starcar-sized spheroids that inhabit the skies above Cratersville. Sometimes there are signs on these spheres, sometimes there are flowers, sometimes the spheres are spray-painted and sometimes there are initials carved on their surfaces. Most of the time, however, the spheres are just a plain jumble of pretty colors, much like a collection of marbles in a shoebox; thus the moniker—Celestial Shoebox. My Celestial Shoebox is based on this concept. There’s usually a Bing or Skidoodle involved in the composition along with other props such as flowers or signposts or spaceships. The drawings seem to be popular. Who knows, maybe I can create a fad.☺ —Jellybean Reds, age 17
Hug Me Bing - Smile Card Cover
Hug Me Flowers - Square