Day #99: Filed for later...

Enough said!

P.S. Excuse the out-of-orderness....I had some upload issues!

Day #88: On a wing and a prayer...

I worked on the owl wings some more today along with a sample for the backdrop. The wings are tricky -- I mean, they have to fly (always neat), but I want them to look featherish without using feathers. I am hoping this wool will do the trick.

Inside part of the wing in progress. I had to fold the edges of the darker side to get the clean edge.

This is what the other side looks like now with the edges folded.

One finished wing, the other still in progress.

And a sample for an idea of how to handle the background...stay tuned!

Day #87: Winging It!

Our new show features a Great Horned Owl as one of the major characters. I've looked at bazillions of images -- they are pretty amazing birds. They have great expression and loads of texture and color. I feel lucky that they were the best choice for the show as an owl local to the region in which the show is set.

The wings are a key feature in this puppet, of course. They need to be expressive (like the hands of an Italian!). To begin our process, we looked at wing structure and made a mini-wing out of paper.

Rey drew this. Didn't she do a great job?

We looked at lots of youtube footage featuring birds in flight. We also watched "Guardians of Ga'Hoole." OK, so we used the project to justify our watching of the film -- but it's great for looking at owls. (And I totally loved the credits!)

I am making this puppet using wool and wet-felting it. This is the primary wool roving that will be featured in our creature:

Jacob roving dyed with natural dyes. Purchased last year with this owl in mind at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Fest!

Then I began laying out the fibers...Pandora was playing an '80's station...

See -- there Iam!

These will be big wings -- but the fibers will shrink a bit, so not quite this big.

Melanie is working on some raccoon parts in the background. Pool noodles are awesome. It's great that they are a TOOL.

We scaled up a bit to compensate for the fiber shrinkage...let's hope our guesstimates are accurate!

Ready for the next step...tomorrow!

And tomorrow...we will wet the whole thing out, flip it, lay out side two and begin ROLLING! (I have a pool noodle, and I know how to use it. Watch out!)

Day #85: Dinner and a Show (Farmer's Market inspired!)

A few days ago, my family headed out to the Byrd House Farmer's Market. It's one of two markets we frequent and always fun! We have a number of friends who farm and grow veggies (and are even trying our hands at it ourselves this year), but most of our stuff comes from Charlie and Gina Collins at Victory Farms.

My daughters love, love, love, love "Charlie's carrots," as they call them. We visited the farm last year and the girls were picking them out of the ground, rinsing them, and devouring them on the spot. (They are not so enthusiastic with other carrots, I must say.)

My sister-in-law spotted a lovely carrot at the market that is the inspiration for today's post: a "two-legged" carrot! I carved up part of a zucchini for the head.

Perhaps I should've taken a "before" picture?

Well, this is what we really did! (Thank you to my older daughter for being the videographer on this one!)

Day #79: The Tardis does a fly-by at our studio!

If you don't know who Dr. Who is, you can probably skip this one.

A few weeks ago, I did a tribute to The Doctor with a TARDIS puppet. Tonight is the Dr. Who premiere for Season Six, and I am taking the night off and watching TV. But I really do need a night off!

For today's post, I had to revisit the TARDIS and make some improvements. In doing so, I created a new piece.

First I had to cut a door...

Then I cut out some arms from a magazine and rigged them up on a spring. One arm for Amy, one for the Doctor. This is the rear view from what will be the interior of the TARDIS.

I took a plastic tube (salvaged from the innards of a dead pen), and ran some fishing line....

And...tah-dah! Go make a puppet (or at least watch Dr. Who...).

Day #77: Ode to the Slinky...

I know you have a good imagination, so we will all pretend that this was posted on Thursday, OK?

Spring is in the air, and I am in the studio with springs! I met with a VCU class the other day, showed them some of my puppets and talked about the materials used to make them. While talking, I realized that nearly all of the puppets I had brought had slinkies in them!

Today's post is dedicated to the fabulous Slinky -- the first of many springs used in building puppets in my studio.

First I had to drill tiny holes in the wooden balls. (We all have our vices...)

I glued the two balls to either end of a Jr. Slinky.

Day #73: For the DJ in my brain who insists on playing "Boris the Spider"

Isn't it crazy when you get a song stuck in your head -- especially when you have no idea WHY it is in your head. It sort of makes sense when the songs we play for our girls get played by the DJ-in-my-head, but why is the DJ spinning "Boris the Spider" today?

I dunno.

I did find a cool spider "molting" in my studio the other day. It might sound crazy, but I really love spiders. They are fabulous bug-munching arachnids and they are such great characters in folklore and mythology. They have been credited with bringing fire to humanity (Cherokee) and bringing stories to people all over the world (Ashanti). Their webs are just amazing architectural creations, and spider silk is fabulously strong and can be quite beautiful when woven by humans.

But still, Boris the Spider? All day? In my brain?

So today, even though it bordered on the creepy, I took my spider molting and hung it from a string to create a shadow puppet on my stage mock-up. Sounds kooky, but I actually consider a good omen that a spider molted right by my mock-up...

Stringing up the spider...

Creepy, crawly, creepy, crawly...

And frustration of frustrations, blogger won't let me upload any videos right now -- not yesterday or today. I'll keep trying and update when I can. (I recorded it with the song stuck in my head and everything!)

Fixed!

Day #71: My Fantasia

I love the segment in Fantasia of the Sorcerer's Apprentice. You know, the part where Mickey Mouse uses magic to bring a broom to life and have it do his chores? Well, I wish I could have brooms just doing the work of cleaning, scrubbing, or whatever around the house. Maybe they could wash all of my dishes? That would rock.

I know, I know. Enlightened people are into the whole "chop wood, carry water" philosophy of immersing yourself in your daily tasks as a form of meditation and living in the present moment. I would just rather have most of my present moments engaged in not cleaning. Spending time with my family, time outdoors...and studio time! 

I was wishing that cleaning the house were like operating puppets. Of course, I'm still doing the manipulating and moving, even if I can attach a string...but I can fantasize! I can even attach a string:

OK. It's actually harder to do it with a string.

But there is the reality...it's really just me. Cleaning. And cleaning.

I realize that were I manipulating this as a puppet, I would still be doing it. I guess it would just be more FUN if it were a puppet...

Day #67: It Came From My Husband's Desk (version 2)

I was baked. Or better yet, I had baked. Two loaves of bread, two pizza crusts and crackers. Yep, crackers. The crazy things you have to do when you discover you cannot eat gluten.

I was heading to bed waaaaay too late. And I still needed to post. I sat down at my husband's desk and glanced around. I didn't think I should cut out the picture of Lanny McDonald from his 1999 ticket to the Torotonto Maple Leafs vs. the Washington Capitals game no matter how desperate I was...though I could see how quick and easy that would be to make into a puppet!

Tempting, but...

 Oh well. I looked around some more. Scissors, bills, keys, wallet, batteries, juggling balls, mouse pad, bottle caps...Hmmm....rubber bands...

Hmmm...

 

A little video-recording made by my husband (um, thanks, hon, I know it's really late!):

Goodnight!

Day #64: Breakfast Theatre

Puppets: Part of your complete diet!

Ahhh...if only I were able to devote hours each day to this blog.

Today we will take a trip into Heidi's brain. This will be a bit of imagination theatre on your part, because I want you to envision the puppet act that I saw at the breakfast table today.

There was one lonely leftover pancake. So sad. We were all full. The pancakes were great -- I've been working on my gluten-free variations. Today I added chestnut flour that my sister-in-law brought back from France. It gave everything an extra special touch.

But there was one left. I hate to waste it, so I wondered if I could make a puppet...

This is what my brain saw... Imagine a beautifully laid out breakfast table. Pancakes, maple syrup, a bowl of fruit and some almonds. Coffee. Tea.

Cue music. (Something classical with flute.) A banana moves upright and peels itself. The peel wanders over to the plate of pancakes and taps it with one of the peel pieces. One of the pancakes "stands" up. The peel separates and morphs into the legs and arms...and hair...

Two little almonds then leap from the bowl along with an apple slice. They bounce along and leap onto the pancake to make a face. The puppet does a pirouette, wanders around the table, burns its peel on a bit of hot coffee, explores the breakfast table...

I could go on and on...

I would have to build a break-away marionette (of sorts) to make this work. I'm sure if I was having breakfast with Phil Huber or Joe Cashore or Albrecht Roser I could totally have pulled this off!

Play with your food and have a great day!

Day #63: Spring!

It was such a beautiful, glorious day. Sunshine. Flowers. Yep! It was a great day...but I spent most of it indoors working in the studio. Mixed bag.

On the plus side, I did receive a package in the mail -- so at least I had new goodies to "play" with at the studio. (Fiber fans will understand when I say I have the softest Cormo roving in the most luscious shades of dark moss and chocolate....Mmmmmm.... Really, it's just amazing that I haven't drooled all over the keyboard just typing about it!)

Um, back to the post.

I took a bit of colorful pencil-thin wool roving...

Day #60: Winging it!

Today I have been working on an owl prototype. My materials are cardboard and duct tape.

Gotta start somewhere!

Before I make the "real" puppet, I work on the proportion of the puppet and basic movement. Of course, the movement of this puppet isn't exactly basic. In the works are blinking eyes, rotating head, and wings. Wings that fly!

OK, blinking I can do. Rotating head is easy. Wings? Not just flappy wings, but realistic flying wings.

I've spent a lot of time on You-Tube today. There are great visual references, which is what I need! These are the "wing-tips" I am saving for future reference:


Computer animated flying bird

How Bird Wings Work

The Avariel

Articulated Wings in Motion

Four Bar Mechanism

Hmmmm....

 

Day #59: Flea Circus

I was in the studio snacking on some raisins when I came up with this idea. Perhaps I'll do more of these in the future with staging and props!

Day #58: Go Rams!

They didn't win "the game," but they had a fantastic season!

Day #57: Doctors and Scientists Shocked as Woman Gives Birth to Puppet Child in this Exclusive Report!

A Richmond hospital became the  buzz of the scientific and medical community today when a local woman gave birth to a living, breathing puppet.

Exclusive photo of Mary Annette!

"It was the strangest thing," reports a nurse who spoke under condition of anonymity. "There was no umbilical cord, just a mass of strings. Then this wooden structure came out -- one of the orderlies got a splinter!"

 Doctors are baffled and unable to explain this strange event. "We're not sure how to fill out the paperwork on this one. Filing the insurance paperwork is going to be a nightmare!"

The mother reports that she had strange, unexplained cravings throughout her pregnancy. "We brought the crib home, and I kept sneaking downstairs to gnaw on the railings. My gums were in terrible shape, but I couldn't help it."

The baby, Mary Annette, weighed in at six pounds, five ounces. "We're not sure how to properly measure her length," reported the attending physician. "The strings are rather long."

The parents are thrilled with their new daughter. "She has great movement. We already figured out which string to pull to make her close her eyes and sleep! Most children grow up pushing their parent's buttons, but we will definitely be pulling her strings."

Happy April Fools' Day from Puppet-A-Day!!

Day #50: Blink!

Working on a mock-up for the eyeball mechanism inside the owl puppet.

Knowing when to use a mechanism and when not to use a mechanism is a true form of wisdom. I'm always very picky about what I use -- always taking my cues from the script.

What does the puppet NEED to do?

You can make a puppet do all sorts of things; it's making good choices that can be tricky. I mean, you need to make sure that you have the right number of hands and fingers to actually operate it, right? Our owl puppet will need to fly onto the stage (wings that open/close/flap=one hand). The head needs to turn...and I'd like the eyes to blink (that's the other hand doing those two things). I still need to figure out if I have enough fingers to give him a moving beak....but that's another post.

I like to work out my mechanism issued before they are inside a real puppet. (This is especially helpful because half the battle can be figuring out how to get them inside the mechanism -- or knowing what stage of the build you need to incorporate the mechanism!)

It's a prototype, and we like to "recycle" when we make these.

Here is the part of the bottle we will be using for our owl puppet mock-up. I have a giant collection of Styrofoam balls that have been passed onto me. I really hate Styrofoam. I won't buy it new, but I will use it if it is received as a "hand me down."

Speaking of recycling stuff -- old, dead pens have a great plastic tube inside of them that is great for puppet mechanisms. They perfectly fit the wire. (If you are in Richmond and have old pens and want to pass them onto me -- please do!)

Puppet Innards

P.S. For those of you who visited yesterday, I feel I must state that, yes, I did think about the amazing Dr. Who episode called "Blink" when I titled this one!

Day #46: Based on a true story

I was in the studio working away and wondering what to do for the blog today. I'm itching to post up one of the new puppets, but they still need some tweaks (and they need to be dry!).

What to do?

That's when the phone rang. It was my ten year old daughter, calling past her bedtime.

"Hi, mom."

"Hi, Sweetie. What's going on?"

"Um...I lost my tooth and Daddy is asleep already."

"OK...you lost a tooth?"

"Uh-huh."

It dawned on me a moment later. "You are worried that if you don't tell me that maybe the tooth fairy won't figure out that you lost a tooth tonight, huh?"

"Um....well...uh-huh."

So tonight I will get home and need to make a special delivery to underneath my daughter's pillow.

Before we hung up, my daughter asked me what my puppet was for the day. I told her that I hadn't figured it out.

"Maybe it could be about my tooth?" she suggested. "Maybe you could even make a tooth fairy puppet!"

Of course, I can totally make a tooth fairy puppet. Thanks for the inspiration! So here we have it -- our sparkly tooth fairy.

Wings!

(For those of you who have been visiting a while, you might recognize the head...yes, it's the same head from Gramma of the Little Red Riding Hood finger puppet series! If you remember, I had to attach the head with Velcro so I could "disguise" the wolf!)

Good night! I am heading home to figure out what the going rate is for a molar...

Day #45: Wild about rod puppets

I've had fun putting together all the Little Red Riding Hood stuff, because I enjoy stories and their various structures. But, structurally speaking, I love rod puppets most of all.

I spent a good chunk of time in the studio today and I knew that I wanted to build a non-glue-stick puppet today. Rod puppets are my forte, but they are usually time-consuming and detailed and...wait a minute! Surely I could think of something that I could put together somewhat quickly, right? I mean, that's what all the stuff that I have in my studio is for, isn't it?

I will say that my studio is pretty well-organized. Supplies are categorized and accessible. I have a great studio.

I took stock. Dowel rods -- of course,  I have lots! And tubes...and paper cups...and lots of fabric...and cardboard.

Great texture on this sponge-painted fabric made by some former students.

Sometimes I get my inspiration from fabric. I love fibers and textiles of all sorts! I have several pieces of hand-painted, sponge-textured fabric that were made by students I had done a residency with about a year and a half ago. Great kids -- and they loved anything that had to do with painting! We made these really large giraffe and zebra body-puppets. I still had some of the fabric. Ah-hah!

Well, OK, but does it really move?

The method behind the movement of this rod puppet is pretty straightforward. There is a dowel rod attached to the head. Surrounding the rod is a tube that is connected directly to the body of the puppet. This means that the head and the body can be moved independently. It's very simple and we've used this for a number of puppets -- mostly in our Little Bread Hen show for all the chickens and the sheep dog.

Enjoy the video -- especially the backside wiggle at the end!

Day #44: Happily Ever After? (Contains puppet violence)

Let's be honest, "Little Red Riding Hood" is a pretty gruesome tale. Wolves, strangers, dark forests, big teeth, devoured grandmothers, and an axe. Not your typical Disney special.

In 1976, Bruno Bettelheim wrote a book called The Uses of Enchantment: The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales. It's been a while since I read the book, so I will just quote from Wikipedia (please excuse my laziness...it's late!).

In the book, Bettelheim discusses the emotional and symbolic importance of fairy tales for children, including traditional tales at one time considered too dark, such as those collected and published by the Brothers Grimm. Bettelheim suggested that traditional fairy tales, with the darkness of abandonment, death, witches, and injuries, allowed children to grapple with their fears in remote, symbolic terms. If they could read and interpret these fairy tales in their own way, he believed, they would get a greater sense of meaning and purpose. Bettelheim thought that by engaging with these socially-evolved stories, children would go through emotional growth that would better prepare them for their own futures.

Point is, Bettelheim makes a case for the necessity of sharing dark stories such as "Red Riding Hood" with young children. How else will children develop and be able to confront the darkness within our world if they do not have the basic archetypes within their consciousness to grapple with it or to even acknowledge its existence?

For today, I think you know what's in store...We've seen Little Red, The Wolf, and Gramma so far. That leaves us with just the Woodsman.

I feel I must state that no real wolves (only a symbolic, archetypal wolf who really deserved it) were injured in the creation of today's post. The next few images are as graphic as it gets in the world of finger puppets. (You have been warned!)

And they all lived happily ever after...except, I suppose, the wolf.

THE END.

Day #43: ...What Big Teeth You Have!

Today's post is a tribute to Georges de Mestra. Who is this? Well, this is the Swiss gentleman who invented Velcro back in 1941. This man did not know it, but he revolutionized puppetry! Seriously, what puppeteer could imagine having to hang curtains with hook and eye and other contraptions.

Friend to all puppeteers!

A puppeteer friend of mine even suggested that my husband and I name our firstborn child "Velcretia." We, um, didn't go that far.

But for today's project we are continuing with out "Little Red Riding Hood" theme. These are all finger puppets made from studio scraps placed over the plastic tubes from leftover glue sticks. We've done Little Red, The Big Bad Wolf, and Gramma. Today we have:

What big teeth you have!

"Gramma."

The fun thing for me was that this puppet involved a little bit of Velcro and not much time. I took the wolf finger puppet and decapitated it. (Yikes!)

When I made Gramma, I attached her head with Velcro. So all I had to do for today was switch heads and -- voila! -- new puppet! Now I can even do scary things like this:

Very scary...

Which leaves us with just one more character in this story...