Pirate Puppets - Week Ending 12-28-08

These puppets were made from a pattern I got when I took a series of hand puppet classes with Carol Fijan.  

They are made of felt and are part of Saturday night's Hanukka gifts.

Have you seen one of the A "" A Day or 365 ""s projects

There are some great projects documented on the web.  The first one I saw was A Skull a Day blog.  It took me to 365 Masks blog.  I also like sites that involve projects and problem solving.  Have you ever visted Cockeyed.com?  I find these projects inspiring.

I can't imaging creating a puppet a day (and then having time for photographing and posting it).  Perhaps something more manageable like A Puppet A Week, or A Puppet A Month.  

The economy is bad - in fact I've just been laid off.  I'm not sure what my next move is going to be but it feels like it's time for a change.  So while I'm exploring (and probably running out of cash) I'll need some goals that I can achieve.  I may not make it to A Puppet A Week, but I think I'll try.

Here are some rules for me.

1. TV only with meals or family.  No TV during down time.  (TV is evil and has eaten years from my life)

2. Do not keep the puppets!  There's enough clutter in this house.  (The Water/Soda bottle Skeleton has already found a new home).

3. It's OK to copy a puppet I've seen somewhere else.  This is an exercise in creation and as such, anything that helps me learn is worth doing.

4. Take notes.  Since the puppets will be leaving home I'd like to have a journal of the journey and a set of instructions I can draw on for future projects.

I'll make up more rules as I go.  

Alice In Wonderland - Jabberwock

Of course in the rush to finish and deliver the puppet, I fail to take finished pictures.

Here are some almost finished pictures.

In the final version the support pole is trimmed and becomes a hand-rod inside a dryer vent neck.  The neck is covered with a gold sequined fabric which runs up my arm to my shoulder.  I made a one armed tunic.  The arm from the tunic velcros into a large 3 fingered claw.

The head shape is made from 2 large salad bowls.  Styrofoam rings are used as spacers between the bowls and they are held together with threaded rods, lock washers and nuts.  The skin is glued on felt.

The eyes are built up from a nerf football, a ball-pit ball and some plastic bottle caps.

The mouth is a tupperware bowl.

The teeth are fun foam.

I wore blacks under the tunic and a black hood.

I wore some 3 toed (or clawed) foam-fabric feet that the ballet company had.

The puppet worked well in the ballet.   

There are 2 issues with this puppet:

1. Once inside the puppet, I needed help to secure the velcro and to get back out.

2. The foam I used as hand grips did not absorb moisture.  My hands were hot and humid.  Next time I'll find a way to attach a wash cloth or something inside that can be washed and dried.

dg