Tiger Kandel and Heather Schloss are the co-founders of Tigercandy Arts, Inc. Working as a professional design team for ten years they have combined their individual talents and experience to create the whimsical and fanciful Sockett® puppet line as well as the process-oriented Sockett® Kit aka The World’s BEST sock puppet kit and Stick Puppet Party!® They are frequently commissioned to create custom sock puppets for teachers, doctors, therapists, music videos, TV commercials, professional training videos, public service announcements , sitcoms and live performances making them arguably the most successful sock puppet designers in the country.

With an MS in Art Therapy and a BA in Art History and Child development, multi-media artist and educator Tiger Kandel has designed and implemented numerous art workshops and puppet making techniques for educational, recreational & therapeutic venues. She has successfully utilized art and puppet making to address social issues such as violence prevention and conflict resolution with children from K-12 as well as in a therapeutic capacity with children in short-term treatment facilities. In addition to working with children, she has extensive experience utilizing art therapeutically with adults and seniors suffering from mild to severe medical and cognitive impairments. At times she conducts professional development workshops educating others in her original methods of teaching puppet making and 3 dimensional art to regular and special needs populations.

Heather Schloss has an MS in Art Therapy and a BA in Costume and Theater Design. A multi media artist and designer Heather is well versed in folk art, costuming, mask making and puppet design and has incorporated her experiences in the theater and her knowledge of design history to create the highly detailed and fanciful look of Socketts®. She began developing educational art activities for pre-school and kindergarten children while working in early childhood centers in Vermont and New York. Her primary focus was to create developmentally based pre-art and art therapy activities for children dealing with separation, developmental and medical issues.