More Pirates! Week Ending 1-4-2009

More Pirates!

Thanks to my rules, copying is allowed. This isn't exactly copying but close. I decided to go through the many 'how to make puppet books' I have and to actually make one of the puppet projects! For this week (ok last week - I'm late in posting) I opened the Laura Ross "Scrap Puppets - How to Make and Move Them" book to page 26. There you'll find directions on how to make Pirate Pete. The main materials are toilet paper tubes, felt, yarn and glue. I added a second tube to fit over two fingers, some rods for the yarn arms and some beads. The rods are from a discarded umbrella I had saved.
I think I'll use some white paint to help the blue/black fellow stand out from the curtain, and perhaps give them some legs and boots. These guys are small enought that I'll keep them around for a while.
All I need now is a treasure chest,a skeleton,  some sharks, seaguls, swords and shovels and methinks I have the makings of some puppet pirate skits.

Week 2 is finished...50 to go!

Oh - the stage you see is a work in progress.  It's a gift from my friends Nancy and Bob.  There were originally 6 windows and no playboard.  I cut the support from the top 2 windows to make a play area  and fashioned the playboard from a piece of 1 x4.  The stage actually needs a coat of paint because it had been in storage for a while and shows some stains.  The remaining windows will get a panel of something until I decide how best to use them.  They can be curtained or perhaps turned into a sort of a window box for a marionette.

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

Halloween Skeleton

I like to make at least one new Halloween Skeleton every year. Sometimes they are paper and sometimes they are not. This one is made from recycled stuff.
1 @ 1 gallon water bottle
2 @ 1 liter clear soda bottle
2 wire coat hangers with the cardboard tube hanger
1 can of white spray paint
2 paper plates
black sharpie marker
some plastic rope
some packing tape
some fishing line

The control, not shown is the paddle from one of those bouncy ball whappers

Halloween

Lauren doesn't loose her head, she hangs onto it!

Old McDonald Had A Farm

I've been working on some shadow puppets. This is the cast of Old McDonald Had a Farm. Old McDonald may be living close to a nuclear reactor!
dg