Day #70: Flying Thomas! (A four year old's fantasy come to life...)

My younger daughter is crazy about trains. Totally. I don't know exactly how it all happened, but it did. She has a ridiculous number of trains (the "Thomas" variety -- thank you, Craigslist!) and knows all of their names. She gets so frustrated when you mix up Thomas with Edward or Gordon. (Sorry, they are all blue!). Don't mix up Percy or Henry either!

I love the way she plays with trains. They have conversations, they talk, they interact, the have arguments -- they relate! And she will do it all while wearing a pink tutu.

Yes, pink. Her favorite color.

We were talking this morning and somehow the conversation moved to trains. Somehow? No seriously, every conversation moves towards trains. Well, today we talked about how cool it would be if trains had wings and could fly. So I had to make this:

Flying Thomas!!

Made with yarn and a plastic coat hanger, because that is what I had at home.

Tricky to manipulate while holding a camera...

 But I did manage to get some footage! Can't wait to show my daughter in the morning; she will be so excited. I just hope she doesn't want me to make all of her trains fly...I'm not sure we have that many coat hangers!!

Day #69: A Scarf Marionette

Yesterday, I whipped up a marionette from scraps in the studio. But there is a type of marionette you can easily make from a square of silky fabric -- a great introduction to marionettes. The scarf marionette.

I've made scarf marionettes before, and thought I should get around to putting one up on the blog. Here we are!

One piece of fabric, wooden balls, head ball, string, dowel rods...

Tricky to capture motion when you are manipulating the puppet and holding the camera!

 I thought about placing directions here, but I found some online... Directionss for making one of your very own! Great for children!

View from above...sort of.

Day #68: Studio Marionette

We will begin with a history lesson, of sorts.

In French, the word "marionette" refers to any kind of puppet. In English, "marionette" specifically refers to string puppets. The origin of this word goes back to the early Christian church when there would be processions of string puppets of Mary, Joseph, Jesus, and other Biblical figures. So the word "marionette" translates to "little Mary," as in Jesus' mother.

Today I was going through some supplies and found this:

Huh? Did I mention that I really don't work with marionettes?

attached to this:

Double huh?

What on earth?? I have no idea what this is or where it is from. I mean, I know what it is -- a dangling light bulb cover. Aluminum. Why was it attached to the string and hanging from a mini-controller? Well, it looked like the start of some weird marionette...so, why not?

Some rope and part of a yogurt container -- voila!

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 #66: Whoooooo almost forgot to do this tonight?

Oops. I was leaving the studio and realized there had not been a post yet! I quickly cut this out, pulled out a shadow screen, taped on a rod, and snapped a photo. (Thanks, Katy, for holding the puppet!)

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 #64: Cast-Off (well, actually, ON)

I've collaborated on several of my posts. Today's post I created with some "help" from my four-year old.

Yep. That's my girl!

I must preface this by saying that my youngest daughter knows no fear. She is an active child who loves ice skating, gymnastics and climbing over everything. Our couch is a balance beam and a diving platform.

So, guess how she broke her finger? Doing one of these dangerous things? No. She simply fell off the couch while watching a movie with her sister. (TV is dangerous.)

She has been a trouper. We didn't even realize she had broken anything right away -- the child has a crazy high pain threshold and doesn't like anything to stop her. She never complained about the pain, but the big purple bruise and swelling finally swayed us that she needed medical attention. Now she has a lovely pink cast -- the inspiration for today's puppet!

The cast was set with her hand "bent," so there is a great angle and a spot to put a long tongue. I used a bit of yellow wool roving for hair and found some eyeballs from my "stash." Voila!

My husband was quick to point out that the cast wasn't even an hour old before it became a puppet!