Day #86: Puppet Pondering

Well, we returned safely from the wilds of West Virginia and western Virginia (not to be confusing). We had performances in Charles Town, WV and then camped near Brucetown, VA.

I spent a lot of time in the woods and learned about lots of things...which I photographed. I, unfortunately, could not locate the camera with the photos. I just found out that it's because the camera was never unpacked from the truck.

Oh.

I guess that would explain that.

So I have been riddled with guilt and angst about not posting on the blog. I must confess that I have had a tough time coming up with puppets that I could execute in one day that were interesting to me. It was fun and mentally challenging, but it has become draining. But I want to honor the spirit of the blog by continuing to work at it and complete my days of posting.

Today I visited with my friend and fellow puppet-builder and puppeteer, Terry Snyder. We both talked about our processes and how fun it was to see how other people worked. The process involved in the act of creation. How you take "stuff," work with it, work with it, work with it, until it becomes way more than "stuff."


Then I remembered Rule #6 for Puppet-A-Day....that I could change the rules at any time. So...here we go!

There will still be puppets -- have no worries! My focus is going to be changing to more stuff about process. Documenting in more detail the puppets featured in the show that I am building. I've actually photographed much of this process that I have not posted on the blog (because I saw it as unrelated). Well, now I see it as very related. Now I can have a day devoted to owl wings -- a day for the face -- a day for the body -- a day for the rod -- a day for troubleshooting -- a day for the mechanism -- you get the picture. I think this will actually be potentially useful for other puppeteers. And I like the idea of documenting stuff.

Most of all, it is imminently "do-able."

I will still intersperse some wacky stuff in here (for fun), but I will mostly post up "a day in the studio life of a working puppeteer and puppeteer."

And, yes, I count this as a "day." After all, part of the process is thinking about your process!

P.S. If I double up on my posts for the rest of May, I will catch up. Wish me luck!