ON THE PUPPET PATH:

Halloween 2009 - Satyress

2009-11-03T00:46:39Z

This year, after tossing around 3 or 4 costume ideas, I settled on a Satyress.

I bought a pair of devil horns to save some time, then glued thread around them to get the ridges. I painted it a cream base and then splotched black and gold paint over it for texture.

I bought a black vinyl bustier I'd been eyeing and a few bucks of garland, but I happened to have a plethora of fur lying around. I've never sewn pants, so I didn't do a pattern, I just wrapped the fur around my body, cut it up the middle to creat two pant legs and then through a series of cutting and pinning, figured out where I needed to sew seams. I then sewed some elastic in the waist and pinned a tail on the bum.

For the hooves, I made them out of posterboard and then duct taped them to some mary janes. I then covered them in duct tape to ensure they had structure and painted them black.

Then I made some friends with other horned ladies.

In case your curious about these pictures, they were taken on our roof while we were chopping up gourds with a machete, hence the machete. It was a wonderful night filled with good friends (including Ms. Paola above) and mirth. :D

Speculum Puppets at Rude and Bold Women

2009-09-24T17:51:25Z

Two of my speculum puppets will be making their gallery debut at the Rude and Bold Women show in Binghamton, NY next weekend. If you are in the area, go check out this collection of cutting edge visual and performance art from local and regional woman artists.

RUDE AND BOLD WOMEN
October 2 and 3, 2009
Garland Gallery
116 Washington St, Binghamton, NY
http://www.rudeandboldwomen.com

PS: A very special thank you to Lynn Senick who ask me to enter this show and continuosly encouraged me even as I tried to ignore the schedule the puppets wanted to operate on. :D

Matrimonious CD Making

2009-09-24T17:23:34Z

I love making mix CDs, further I love the trend of giving out mix CDs at wedding functions - I think it's a great way to encapsulate your relationship into a take home gift that people will use and actually enjoy. My wonderful brother Steve and his stunning fiance Lauren are getting married next month and I made a mix CD for their wedding shower take home gift.

First I asked Steve and Lauren to give me songs that encapsulated their relationship and feelings about each other. Sickeningly, they both chose the same songs for everything... ah, amour.

Then the fun part - cover art! Steve and Lauren are both musicians, Steve professionally for many years. They are outdoorsy people who own canoes, love camping, and enjoy finding antiques and vintage repro furniture. The both love beer. So I decided on a vintage, rustic, country feel.

I dumped out all the random old time found objects I collect onto an old crate: some old bottles, guitar strings, glass beads, etc. I thne took some digital photos, loaded it into Paint.net (free photo editing program somewhere in between Paint and Photoshop) spent hours tweaking it and adding text, a photo of the couple and a digital label and voila! here are my results:

The CD Cover:

The picture I used for the circular CD label, the blank wood being the center:

This was a blast! I second Paul's desire to rekindle the Bite the Music Mix CD club; I'm addicted and want to make more!

Marionette making in Tucson, AZ

2009-07-27T00:16:33Z

Desert Dreams
Those of you who know me personally know that for the past 12+ years I've had a special relationship with the southwestern desert despite never having been there. I grew up reading several authors' gorgeous depictions of the land, its potential magic and mythos. Some of my favorites:

When I was young I hoped and hoped this magic was true; as I got older I realized that nature and imagination are their own magic and what is truth doesn't really matter when it comes to possibility. The desert then grew into a symbol of freedom, fearlessness, and true self which I've been holding in my heart all this time. Last week I finally spent a week in Arizona that was beyond my dreams.

The land in Arizona is vast and varied: red rocks turning into pine forests, canyons turning into plains, cacti standing majestically next to mountains. It's teeming with wildlife: mule deer (a larger, softer deer than our east coast variety,) elk, raven, rabbits, jackrabbits (huge! and they move as gracefully as deer,) lizards of all sizes, quail, coyote, javalina (wild pig-like creatures,) rattlesnakes, bobcats, etc. It's hot and bright, but you only sweat a little. You have to constantly think about your basic needs: food, water, cover from the sun, or animals that could harm you and that strips away alot of the bullshit of day to day city life. I felt myself return to the beauty of land, quiet my inner dialogue, and just take in my surroundings. It was incredibly nourishing.

Tucson
The last few days of my trip were spent at a space that is down a dirt driveway off of a dirt road in the Rincon Mountains of Tucson where many of my favorite writers/artists have traveled. In all honesty, I was not initially enamored with Tucson after spending the first leg of my trip on the most gorgeous land I've ever seen, but while not as breathtaking as Flagstaff, Sedona or the Grand Canyon, it started to draw me in. Part of it was to be in this space, with little bits of these artists left behind. And I felt myself wanting to leave my own little trace. I hit a craft shop for some clay, sinewy string, copper wire, and tools and that night I hunkered down in Quail House:

A cozy cedar shack removed from the main house, I was surrounded by scrub and darkness. I couldn't get the CD player to work, something that I thought would undo me, but I settled into the nightime sounds of crickets, quail, and something large bumping against the shack - I think it was javalina, it was most definitely deliciously terrifying :) I'd never used red clay before and it did not allow me to get much detail as it started to dry and crack very quickly, but the forced speed was probably good for me. I thought I'd make a mule deer head, but I was trying too hard, so eventually I just looked at a lumpy bit of clay and said, ok, what face is already there? I made these three and called it a night:

Starting left and then clockwise: mule deer/jack rabbit/snake thing, Mr. Spike Cacti Head, Grandma Stone.

The next morning I headed back to Quail House with my cup of coffee and a working CD player and began to comb the property for twigs, reeds, pods and other pieces of material I had noticed on my walks. Here is my collection:

I decided to focus on these long spiral reeds I fell in love with and the mule deer/jack rabbit/snake head and create this long, walker creature marionette. Here's the vague layout:

I had bought this faux sinew string and decided to use that to connect the joints. Starting with the arms, I cut the twigs in two at the elbow, hand drilled some holes and threaded the sinew through to create a joint. I then started to screw into what I thought was a circular piece of wood for the body and was surprised to realize it was a piece of horse hoof shaving! Which is very dense! I found some natural holes and began to joint the arms and head to the hoof. I decided to keep the head central and fairly stationary and ran a string straight through it. I found some dried cacti that looked like driftwood (natural holes, less hand drilling!) and made an "X" hand control. I started to connect the strings (which I had braided to keep cleaner and stronger) to the hand control and added a small dried cacti twig to the control for just the arms. By lunchtime, I had the basic jointing and machinism done:

After lunch, I worked on getting the tension on the strings right so the creature could move. I figured this marionette would be less functional and more decorative as I only theoretically know how to make controls and work with counter weighting. But I did want some practice, so I used little pieces of quartz to counter weight the joints. Meaning that if I want the arm to hang sticking straight out, but to lift up when I lift the control up, I need a weight to pull it back down when I return the control to its neutral position. So I wrapped some copper wire around the rocks and tied them off to parts of the legs and arms where I needed weight to keep the limbs in the correct positions.

I then started on more decorative elements. I love spirals, they are a beautiful symbol of time's passage and were a frequent symbol in The Wood Wife, and thus a nod to some of my inspiration. Plus I had those spiral reeds, so I decided to continue the spiral theme by wrapping the copper wire decoratively in the belly, on the legs and arms and as an ear piercing. I added spiraled pods as ram horns and a flowered reed tail. The spiral in the belly reminded me of those things you put on your desk that hold photos, so I decided I needed a piece of paper and a word.

But what word? What encapsulated spirals, my trip, where I was at? After losing my father this month, I've learned a great deal about acceptance. About having to accept something coming to an end whether you want it to or not, whether it's your father's life, or a magical trip, or a concept you have about yourself. So "accept" it was. Here is the finished marionette, Spiral Dream Walker:

But what happend to the other two heads!? Well they wanted to stay in Tucson in their element and keep an eye on the place:

Grandma Stone likes her new hairdoo.

Can you find Grandma Stone?

Mr. Spike Cacti Head blends in.

Thank you to the writers that inspire me, Terri's space, Will's kindness, Paul's love and support, and Arizona's beauty. I feel open and free of blocks! I'm curious to see what happens next!

Speculum Puppets at Womongathering

2009-06-19T04:24:28Z

Background
This past weekend was my third year at www.womongathering.com, a women's spirituality retreat that I highly recommend to any woman who is looking to bring goddesses and/or a community of women into their life. At Womongathering there is a space called the Red Tent Temple, a sanctuary which hearkens back to the menstrual tents of yore where women took time during their menses to be together and share stories, laughter, tears, and crafts. For more info on the modern day Red Tent movement, check out Alisa Starkweather's site: alisastarkweather.com/index.php or read the book The Red Tent by Anita Diamant for the source inspiration.

Two years I ago, I sat in a cozy Red Tent Temple at Womongathering, drinking tea, flipping through a book, when I saw a basket full of plastic specula. A speculum is the instrument an OBGYN inserts into a women's vagina to create space to do a pap smear and to visually inspect the area. It looks like this:

I picked one up and start playing with it, making it talk and thought - "Wow, this would make a great bird puppet! " The following year I shared this idea with one of the women who created the Red Tent Temple and she sent me home with at least 20 plastic specula for my crafting puposes.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when I'm at a puppet low and ready to walk away from it all (yes, even puppets can feel overwhelming.) I realize I still have these specula under my bed, a promise I have to keep to myself and my gifter. I drop her a line and ask if I can offer the Speculum Puppets as a craft in the Red Tent Temple. She says yes and I pep talk myself into wrapping this idea up.

Building the Theater and Puppets
I was lucky enough to have my friend's house in quiet suburban NJ all to myself for a weekend, and luckier still to have a Michael's craft shop and a Joanne's Fabrics down the street. I used most of the weekend to build 4 puppets and to brainstorm how to construct a theater that is light weight, folds flat, has multiple curtains, an ornate proscenium and at least slightly suggests a vagina. I spent hours in each craft shop choosing just the right fabrics, finding better wood choices, and hunting down sparkly things for decorations. Most importantly though, I got excited, excited to finally work on one of my ideas and share it with others. Here were my results:

Theater with moon phases and framed picture of Sheela na Gig (the sculpted Sheela na Gig burned in the oven...)

Fiesty Mermaid:

Magpie:

Spiral Snake:

Super V!

At Womongathering
To spare you all a psychiatric diatribe, let's just say that this weekend was a huge lesson in life affirmation, stepping up, ending fear, and GRATITUDE. The craft was a hit with young and old, for those who knew what the specula were and those who didn't. I am happy that many were entertained, but I'm more in amazement by how women were healed and discussions started. I was told of one woman who made a puppet to heal her younger self's traumatic experience, of girls whose puppet antics led to a solid discussion on safe sex and their bodies. I watched young girls scrunch their faces in grossed out trepidation of the speculum only to laugh later as they made their puppet sing and dance. It was beautiful. Here are some of their amazing creations:

I love this furry bandit.

This one has pink puff balls for a tongue!

This young woman spent a lot of time on this bearded dragon and it shows.

This is Fertilda. Yes Fertilda the Speculum puppet. I love her.

A very joyous Spec!

Puppets and Moon Time Theater in the Red Tent Temple space.

The Speculum Puppet Movement

I am re-invigorated as a puppet maker and so thankful to have had such a rewarding weekend. I watched what was originally just a silly idea become a craft that gave power and broke down communication barriers. I am inspired to take it further.

I will say it here, I am starting the Speculum Puppet Movement.

I don't know exactly what shape it will take or how it will manifest, what catchy name will attach or if anyone will be interested. But I'm going to put it out there.

There is a power to these little plastic puppets and I'm honored to have them in my life.

Vagina Puppet Theater

2009-05-30T20:04:03Z

I'm currently building puppets made out of plastic speculums (gynecological duck lips) and a vagina theater for them to play in. Why? I first got the idea two years ago at my yearly women's retreat when I realized speculums would be great for bird puppets with those long beaks. This year, I'm offering it as an informal craft or just something to play with.

POLL:
I'm trying to decide on a centerpiece for puppet theater's proscenium. She will be made of silver Fimo clay and attached overtop of a full moon; there will be framed moon phases to either side of her. She shal serve as the spirit of the theater space and anatomically she will be where the clit would be.

Shall I go with Sheela na Gig with her coy smile and wide vagina? I would make her a bit less bald and tired eyed than the Christians did:

Or the Spiral Goddess, arms up raised to the moon and a spiral to her womb?

Giant puppets at Green-wood Cemetary!

2009-05-20T16:25:38Z

This past weekend I wrapped up Spring Awaken Giant Puppets Tell All! at Green-wood Cemetary. It was a historial walking tour with an incredible live band that used puppetry to bring the dead's stories back to life in this stunning cemetary. When I say stunning, we're talking acres of sprawling hills and valleys filled with 100's of years of history with views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. It's open to the public to explore and I highly recommend a visit.

The wonderful Teresa Linehan who co-directed and was head puppet guru on The Martian Chronicles assembled a wondeful team of puppeteers with even more wonderful backgrounds and stories. With very little rehearsal time, we created a show that spanned a chunk of the cemetary and looked pretty sharp. All I know is the kids and adults seemed to eat it up:

Our fearless leaders, the Parrot children.

The spaceman puppet from Martian Chronicles was ressurrected. I'm right foot this time. Tapped my heart out to Erie Canal.

Michelle up a tree in her piece that was a cabinet of curiousities. I did some sound cues for her and loved following her silent character explore marionettes, found objects, and hand puppets. Just gorgeous!

Here we have Minerva, goddess of wisdom, meeting Liberty. I'm hidden on Liberty's arm.

Minerva and Liberty create a Maypole dance. Parrots, children, adults, and the band rock out. The lovely Teresa is in the bottom left corner sporting the fez.

* I cannot say enough about the creativity and kindness of Teresa. When she introduces you, you try to keep from blushing from her accolades. As I struggle to figure out where I'm going with puppetry, Teresa's faith in me as a person is a very dear gift.

Lone Wolf Tribe Wrapped up

2009-05-20T16:03:54Z

Two weeks ago I finished this leg of building props for Lone Wolf which resulted in 2 partial skeletons, 4 dog collars with giant spikes and a dozen or so mini IV bags for a sculpture.

As always, I love working with Kevin and Gloria - two incredibly talented artists. I'm thankful that Kevin gave me a shot to try performing and puppeteering even though ultimately it stirred up too much anxiety, I now know where my line is in regards to puppeteering (second puppeteering good, performing and first puppeteering over my head.) And I'm thankful for Gloria's un-ending knowledge of materials and techniques and her willingness to share them with me. Thanks again for a great learning experience.

Me, Gloria, and the Butoh sculpture of Eugene at Lone Wolf Tribe's fundraiser.

More pictures to follo!

Lone Wolf Tribe - more ribcages and how to let go...

2009-02-02T16:01:03Z

I'm working for Lone Wolf Puppets again building 2 partial skeletons consisiting of hips and full ribs mounted on a pre-existing spine. First the negative:
- I feel like this is taking forever
- I am learning that I hate building ribs, it's tedious a frustrating. Creating an accurate pattern then carving out tunnels for wire, then affixing wire, then adhering a backing layer... I do not enjoy the process
- I am having problems getting the ribs affixed so that they are proportional, this is driving me batty

the positive:
- I carved 4 gorgeous hip bones out of foam, this is the first time I've worked with foam so I'm happy I was able to get it
- Gloria gave me a little pep talk and encouraged me to stop looking at the resin skeleton for reference and just look at the prop and make it look right. No one is going to judge it on its accuracy. This feels very freeing and I hope when I go in on Tuesday I can begin to have fun with this again
- I'm almost at the texturizng and painting stage, which I really love.

By the end of next week, I will have these puppies finished.

Halloween '08 - Water Sprite

2008-11-02T22:38:01Z

In the midst of the elections craze, I threw together a quick costume. I was a water sprite, who also happened to be a bit punky. If you've ever read Will Shetterly's books "Elsewhere" and "Never Never" I was shooting to be an inhabitant of Bordertown, a city on the border between Fairie and the human world.

HedgieJess

2008-09-22T04:43:18Z

Hmmm... how to introduce this one? Let's try bullets:

Jess is a hedgehog
In email exchange Paul says "Score one to the hedgehog in a gingham dress trying desperately to eat a grape in one bite"
Jess requests a drawing of that
Paul requests the drawing from me
I suggest "I can't draw, but I could make a stuffed hedgehog in a gingham dress eating a grape"
I sew said hedgehog out of faux fur, fleece, stuffing, armature wire, sculpey, and gingham
Paul freaks out
Jess provides photo documentation of her and HedgieJess

Catching up... "The Martian Chronicles"

2008-09-08T04:43:36Z

I was lucky enough to build a couple of props and puppeteer in the first stage adaptation of The Martian Chronicles approved by Mr. Bradbury himself. It was co-directed by my former directing professor, Elizabeth Margid, at Fordham University and marked the first show of the Fordham Alumni Company. I didn't quite know all this when I jumped on board, I just wanted to puppeteer martians and build bee guns...

With an ensemble cast singing and doing the character driven puppetry, I was brought on board as an extra hand and to be the lone puppeteer-only person while helping with props. This show is a full length musical that uses puppets ranging from small marionettes to giant spacemen to abstract landscape tents; it also involves video projections. It was a huge production hoping to attract industry interest with a short rehearsal time and it was a work in progress still evolving. I was in rehearsals usually 5 days a week, eventually 7, and by showtime I was fried. In the end I learned a lot and was excited to re-establish some Fordham connections, work with Elizabeth, meet co-director Theresa of the Puppeteers Co-op and get in synch with her imaginative puppet brain.

Background:
Here are two of the props I built for the first scene where we meet the Martians Yll and Ylla. After learning that Ylla has been dreaming of the Earthman in a rather romantic way, Yll heads out to "hunt."
"...he murmured something, went to a closet, and drew forth an evil weapon, a long yellowish tube ending in a bellows and a trigger. He turned, and upon his face was a mask, hammered from silver metal, expressionless, the mask that he always wore when he wished to hid his feelings, the mask which curved and hollowed so exquistiely to his thin cheeks and chin and brow. The mask glinted, and he held the evil weapon in his hands, considering it. It hummed constantly, and insect hum. From it hordes of golden bees could be flung out with a high shriek. Golden, horried bees that stung, poisoned, and fell lifeless, like seeds on sand."

This mask is made out of the fancy dancy Friendly Plastic (F.P.) products that look like glass (almost the same material I used on the skull below.) They start off as a a flat stick of plastic, the top layer is the cosmetic shiny plastic. I bought a plastic craft mask and fitted it to the actor, then took it home and covered it with a thin layer of Sculpey clay so the Friendly Plastic wouldn't stick to the craft mask. I then laid down white F.P. to build up the initial structure of the mask. Then oh so carefully laid the cosmetic light blue stips of F.P. over that cutting them in ways to highlight parts of the facial structure. I couldn't mix or touch the F.P. too much or it messed of the clean metallic look of the material. By the way, with F.P. you lightly dip the plastic strips in boiling hot water to soften them and then create shapes; so I literally slaved over a hot stove for 3-4 hours on this one.

The bellow of the bee gun has an internal structure made of galvanized wire and some screen to create the ridges. I then covered that in fabric and hightly the contours with paint. I somehow THANK YOU LIFE stumbled on a collection of Christmas french horns and trumpets and was able to create the tubing out of that. I used a laquered golden piece of driftwood from a fugly mirror I bought as the handle and the bellows handles, and accentuated/strengethened some intersections of metal with the Friendly Plastic. The symbols along the edge were to echo the symbols/glyphs painted on the abstract martian puppets. The directors requested I darken it up a bit to give more dimension and cut down on the brightness - in the end, I agree it could have looked more "evil."

Catching up some more... "pointless"

2008-08-21T23:01:02Z

*Above is a 3-part series of videos from the Saturday night performance of "pointless". Not the best night as the lighting and sound was a bit messed, but thank you to Ray for capturing the brilliance.

On the same day I got the internship with "Arias" Paul's script "pointless" was accepted to the Shortened Attention Span Festival. He and I jumped into a 3 week rehearsal process that involved me helping to cast 7 actors, stage manage, build/procure props and assist with directing while I was working on the other show and working a full time job.

Needless to say, it was a very stressful period that I wrote about below, a process that seemed doomed at every turn. But, not only did we get the show up, we won the viewer's choice for that weekend!!!! WOO!!!! We also got back in touch with some old Fordham faces including Elizabeth Margid who was about to go into rehearsals for The Martian Chronicles which is the next show I worked on. Fortuitous again!

Here is a review from nytheatre.com:
"As God exits, Death enters, juggling three clocks as a young woman holds up a sign that says "a metaphor." This marks the beginning of the final item of the evening, which is pointless. The eight performers of pointless offer 20 vignettes written by Paul Guyet, with frequent, often very humorous, announcements reminding the audience that these sketches are all, well, pointless. In one, a man stands alone onstage. Another enters, and asks him what he's waiting for. He replies, "Godot." In another skit, a banana is murdered during a party. In a third, Edgar Allan Poe is caught dancing to "Too Sexy" and says he's having a "laudanum freak-out." Some of the vignettes are very funny and others just very vulgar, but they are all performed by a very strong, energetic ensemble."

And here are some props that I built for the show:

Dead Pigeon:

...yeah it's a plastic parrot that I painstakingly glued feathers onto, but from far away it worked. We hid a rice cake inside so it made a sickening CRUNCH! sound. Would you like a bite of my pigeon?

Angry Banana:

Surprised Banana:

I bought $30 of that faux fur just to get those eyebrows and mustache. And at lease 2 dozen bananas died in the making of this play.

Catching up on the past couple months... "Arias with a Twist"

2008-08-21T22:42:58Z

Back in April and May I was part of the build crew for Basil Twist and Joey Arias "Arias with a Twist" - it was a fortuitous happening thanks to Dicapria's heads up and Ceili's magic. Basically I would come in a few hours each night about 3 days a week and pick up some random step of prop/puppet construction; could be sewing fur on a leg, cutting out foam core to make buildings, making fabric pieces of moss, putting wire in a giant snake, making blooming flowers, or using copious amounts of spray adhesive and colored paper stock.

The best part of this internship was getting to meet the hordes of awesom puppeteers that came through the doors - all with varied experience and backgrounds. My only complaint was that I wish I had been constructing full pieces instead of picking up whatever step that needed to get done that day - bit too assembly line for my taste, but as I was only able to give so much time on such an involved show I can understand. In the end, I had to leave this show and focus on producing "Pointless" with Paul. Here are some stills from the performance:

This is a picture of Joey with a band of marionettes behind him. I helped make the bandstands which involved large amounts of foamcore and sparkly contact paper, and incredibly frustrating angles. But they look pretty here!

Here's Joey entagled in some frisky tentacles. Sewing spandex, not the easiest, but I think these look great.

And here is Joey with a kickline of voluptuous babes. Believe it or not, they all kick at the same time - go Ceili for getting that to work right!

Sadly, I have not actually seen this show, though it's getting great reviews.
http://theater2.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/theater/reviews/19twist.html?scp=1&sq=arias+with+a+twist&st=nyt

AND! It has been extended at HERE Arts through Decemeber 31st. So go check it out:
http://www.here.org/see/now/

Puppet Portrait of Janio

2008-06-01T01:04:47Z

Last night I finished my puppet of Janio who is a member of Fordham Underground Comedy Troupe. FUCT is an incredibly... wrong? vulgar? nude? painful? funny? collection of fellow Fordham almuni, and this puppet will be used to emasculate it's muse and inflict harm on some poor member of it's guild.
http://www.fuctnyc.com/

Janio:

Janio the puppet:

Janio:

Janio the puppet:

For pictures of the anatomically correct puppet genitalia under the towel, go behind the cut:

\

Meanderings

2008-05-29T06:34:10Z

This website is my new best friend:
http://www.puppethub.com/
And my page there is:
http://www.puppethub.com/profile/Christina

Essentially it's a facebook/myspace/blogspace for puppeteers and fans of puppets. It's amazing, chocked full of incredible work and links to so much information. I had to tear myself away at work.

So perusing the puppets led me to perusing puppet festival and workshops which led to looking for mime, clown, circus, and commedia workshops, which led to looking for movement classes, then dance and yoga classes... once I get going on internet research tangents, I find everything. Many of these are programs I know that I want to do, some I entertain the idea, some are pipe dreams, but I want to do it all. My head is reeling because there is so much to do and the only limitations are time and money. To clear some of this out, I'm going to make a list here of everything that caught my eye:

- take regular yoga and pilates classes, potentially at the Yoga Room:
http://www.the-yoga-room.com/
- take conditioning classes at NY Circus Arts
http://www.nycircusarts.com/
- Study at the Le Coq school of movement
http://www.ecole-jacqueslecoq.com/
- take Commedia del arte classes with Antonia Fava
http://www.commediabyfava.it/
- go to the Puppeteers of America National or Regional Festival
http://www.puppeteers.org/festivals.html
- go to Puppet Fest Midwest
http://www.puppetfestival.org/
- go to the Orlando Puppetry Festival
http://orlandopuppetfestival.com/
- take a workshop at the Toronto School of Puppetry
http://www.puppetmongers.com/schoolabout.html
- marionette carving workshop in Prague (Winter '09?)
http://www.kidpraha.cz/index.html

And I would like to find some good movement or dance classes here in NY. I loved bellydance, which I should continue, but I'm thinking more impulse movement or modern dance which would condition my body and work on isolation.

So many things I want to do and experience, places to live and learn, ways to grow. I am so overwhelmed right now I almost sent in an application to the Prague program tonight just to check one off :D

Puppet Serendipity...

2008-04-30T04:44:04Z

Due to a random IM and divine intervention, I just started an internship working on a show called "Arias with a Twist." Besides the fact that Basil Twist, the puppeteer, does incredibly awesome work, my friend Ceili from The Ludicrous Trial of Mr. P (the first puppet show I worked on) happens to be heading up the build crew. I'm so excited to be working on a show, for a great talent, with an incredibly awesome woman as my boss. Feeling incredibly blessed and nurtured by the world right now.

Other gigs are in the works, we'll see what come of them...

... but I think it's safe to say I'm about to be busy busy for the next month or so and I'll try to post pics of the fun.

Body Painting and Potential Puppet Work

2008-04-07T15:54:53Z

Just came off of a busy week doing art department stuff for the fabulous Pope, director of incredibly beautitul video art pieces. Throughout the the week I picked up costume pieces and did some minimal prop creation which mainly involved tea dying/dying fabrics to distress them and splattering them and jars with paint. Needless to say I accidentally painted my floor one night, turned my hands black, and kind of made a general mess of our apartment - but I like messes. The shoot itself involved lots of body painting of beautiful dancers, and the general set dressing, touch-up make-up and wardrobe, etc. And folks, it was gorgeous. The dancers openess and presence on camera, the process of an artist painting a subject, the composition of the shots framing this amazing choreography - I'm very humbled to have been a part of creating something so honestly beautiful. When it has a public screening, I hope you will all come see it.

Today I am meeting with a director about building puppets and masks for his puppet horror show. Basically to see if we're a good fit, get some more info, see what it will entail, yada yada.... I'm really excited and a bit terrified.While I've worked art department several times now, both free and paid, I've only done free puppet work for The Trial of Mr. P, and for Lone Wolf Tribe, and Lone Wolf was more prop based. There is a safety in offerering myself up for free, somehow it relieves some of my self-consciouness and insecuirities. With payment, or higher responsibility comes those feelings of failure - actually even heading up art department illicits those feelings. But - I want to learn to work through these, because what I've found is, I come through. Even if I've never touched a medium, even if I need some more guidance on what the director is looking for, I turn out a product that I'm happy with, that I think shows good work ethic and a growing skill. So I have to learn to trust my abilities. That sometimes I don't have specific experience, but I have a collection of skills that allow me to adapt and grow. And as I grow more comfortable taking on more and more responsibility, creating designs with less direction - what am I capable of? That question is scary too - will I live up to my imagined potential? I suppose sometimes you have to just stop asking these stupid questions and do it and find out.

Again, as flowers start to bloom, as my best friend is currently in labor birthing a daughter, as my sister is installing her graduate show - the culmination of years of sculping female figures from dirt, as another 3 women near me are growing babies in their bellies, I am fully embracing this season of birth and renewal and the growing and birthing in my life. I am wide open to new experiences and adventure.

My First Puppet - Pinky!

2008-03-28T04:23:46Z

I decided to make my 7 year old cousin, Carly, a puppet for Easter. Her favorite colors are pink and purple, so while at The City Quilter, I found a pink felt and fun string and sparkly embellishments. Unfortunately the felt did not work out well because it showed all the stitches, it was a bit too thin, and the pink was not that vibrant. (Sidenote: this rejected puppet, named Puppet, is Paul's new friend and I was severely scolded when I wanted to dismantle him. Puppet will be making some appearances here in the future.) I decided to switch to fleece. After about 6 stores, I finally found this nice fushia, and stumbled on the pink and purple fur - both great finds on 38th St between 7th and 8th Ave.

I decided to do a fairy because... I think because it was girly, but whimsical and I didn't need to get crazy with originality here. Also, I've had this plastic fiber that you can heat into shapes and I really wanted to play with it - I used that to make the wings and the star. This puppet was made using Project Puppet's Elevated Sock Puppet Pattern. It's a great intro to sewed puppets, I will probably buy some more of their patterns, if nothing else, as a base to alter.

So I'm really happy with Pinky, mainly because I finally made a puppet and I really enjoyed the whole process even when I was seam ripping and re-sewing to get a better product. But there is definately room for improvement here. I did not nail the eyes - I like the size, but the loose attachment is not working for me. She needs more 3D eyes, like ping pong or foam balls. Also Paul thinks she is too busy... after a few days of reflection, I think I could have streamlined the poof balls and hair and worked in detail in different ways.

She is my first puppet. I gave her away about 10 minutes after I finished sewing her eyes while on the train; it gave me a purpose and I felt no remorse giving her to a 7 year old girl who loves to craft. Paul taught Carly that the appropriate flying noise is "Shoom!" We hid Easter eggs in her. She has flown the coop and left me revitalized and ready to make more.

Special thanks to Paul, my puppet model and protector of Puppet the puppet.

It is done.

2008-03-26T18:00:02Z

Ah, the lag time between posts. But you know what?

I made my first puppet last week.

Using the Project Puppet Pattern - it happened quickly and effortlessly if you don't count me obsessively searching for fabric and supplies Monday-Friday. I feel the huge "I've wanted to do this for 2 years and still have yet to make a puppet" weight lifted.

Pictures up... tonight maybe? I haven't felt a rushing desire to validate this one like the other projects I've posted here, because I didn't have to convince myself that it was good to do. It just happened, it wasn't work nor was it stiffled by feelings of failure. Why is that?

Paul has been so supportive, trying to nudge me into creating again. It's spring and I'm just so happy to shake off the winter and all that stagnation. Lately, I've had lots of fears come up about losing my individual self and regretting what I haven't done, what desires I have ignored or not made a priority. And it became obvious that the best way to combat this was to be as adventurous as possible. And what could be more adventurous than making a furry puppet fairy?

That's Felting, not Feltching.

2008-01-14T23:23:18Z

In the past week, two of my friend's interest in making puppets caused me to buy the "Elevated Sock Puppet" pattern from Project Puppet and schedule a puppet-making day this past Sunday. I decided that I wanted to make my own felt for this project, so I hunted down some raw wool on Friday. I also broke out my sewing machine for the first time since I inherited it 2 years ago.

The results? So far Ray has made an awesome puppet named Sal and we troubleshot the design of his next endeavor. Other Christina has an array of awesome supplies and remembers how to crochet. And I remembered how to navigate a sewing machine and made my first swatch of felt! It's like magic. It's raw wool and with a little hot water, soap and friction *POOF!* it's fabric! I want a sheep farm!

I will now be making the rest of the felt over the week, sculpting the eyes out of sculpey and hopefully finishing this beautiful monster in the next week. Photos will follow as more gets done.

What have I learned? I was becoming a misanthrope and I need to be around people more. Specifically crafty people who want to toss around ideas and just make things happen. I am so thankful that Ray and Christina enlivened me with their energy - I felt like I was on friend crack.

Lone Wolf Tribe Puppets

2007-10-13T05:21:36Z

So tonight, I finished my internship. I've been working there 1-2 days a week building puppet props for their upcoming show "The Bride" - check it out, it's an incredibly ambitious show filled with puppets from 3 inches to 9 feet tall, flying puppets, dancing puppets in a heart wrenching tale about spirituality.

As life has gotten hectic and I feel myself pulled in too many directions, I decided to end my internship. I had a great time with Kevin, Gloria, Nina and Dicapria, got to play with several new mediums and make lots of fun stuff. Here are a few things I really enjoyed:

I know it's cliched, but Yorick just seems right. Kevin had started a section of the face by cutting up a skull and piecing it back together using Easy Plastic as a glue and filler. He handed it off to me where I continued the process bulding up the the sides and back of the skull, then creating a top and eventually attaching the jaw (after I used a dremmel to take out some teeth.) After smoothing out all the plastic and creating ridges of scars I painted the skull in acrylic adding shading for that dirty look.

Remember the ribcages!? Well this is an armature after it's been covered in 1/4" foam, painted with a thin layer of liquid latex (which seals up the foam so it takes paint better and also acts as a bit of a glue for any bits of foam that didn't glue properly) and then painted with acrylic.

This is a ribcage after bending with shading to give it an aged, dirty, more 3D quality. I used a watered down brown/black acrylic and shaded in natural dips and crevasses, shaded curves and sides to help punch out the flat front, unfortunately the lighting doesn't do it justice. This guy will look even better when he has a spine so he can be shaped properly.

A gaggle of ribcages. These ribcages were the bane of my existance. Every step was a challenge, rife with problems like running out of supplies, or the glue not adhering or the second glue not adhering or the wire not bending well... I tried to be a perfectionist about each step and was frustrated when I couldn't meet that expectation. This is what I learned:
1. Armatures don't have to look good, they get covered in material.
2. The foam doesn't have to be perfect when it's getting a layer of latex.
3. Latex is very forgiving and masks some impections. It is also a great glue for when the glue failed you.
4. Elmers Spray Adhesive Extra Strength is anything but that.
5. Paint hides alot of flaws and makes others work to your advantage when shading.

And last, a ragged bloody stump of an abused puppet. The bone is PVC pipe, the flesh is torn foam that was colored with pastel and marker. I had way too much fun making this.

Seasonal Imp: The Beginning

2007-10-09T04:16:42Z

Here is my the start of my first imp:

This was a quick sketch I did just to get some basics down. I started with the idea of horns and then big eyes seemed right and then I thought, he's a silly bugger and should have his tongue out, but why? Ah! Catching a leaf.

At first the Super Sculpey seemed really hard and tedious to work with but I figured out the trick: roll it into a ball and then just push it into a basic shape. Add on more clay as needed. The metal tools were amazing! They are the Froud series from The Compleat Sculptor and the amount of detail/smoothing they allow is incredible. I imagine as I get used to the medium I'll get better giving more depth and detail to my little imps.

I couldn't decide is I liked the striped horn or the satyr horn better, so I gave him both. I almost used marbles for eyes, but wasn't quite happy with the effect so clay for now. In the future I'd like to give the heads more depth, he's a little too 2D for me. But he's still a wonderful bugger - he made me laugh out loud until Paul came in to see what was so funny - he was!

This imp has since been baked in the oven and is awaiting painting. I'm awaiting some free time so I can pick up paints.

Seasonal Imps

2007-10-05T18:06:30Z

Soon to make an appearance:

Seasonal Imps!!!

Last weekend, in a fit of inspiration and frustration at stagnation (so many tions!) I started working on a little side project that would boost my skills in Super Sculpey before I apply them to marionette-making. It's a way for me to stay in touch with the changing seasons in a playful way, and a potential money-maker aka break-even if the local gallery wants to sell them. Seasonal Imps: Autumn are crow-maidens, bonfire goddesses, wood elfs, and satyrs. So far I have one little satyr-like imp head done waiting for painting and several others floating in my head. Paul gave me a list of about 6-8 imp names written in their hand for fodder; Pleek and Beeboo the sock goblins are next.

Pictures to follow once the first guy is gussied up.

Ribcage Armatures 2 (pics) aka: Thank god for learning curves!

2007-09-03T03:28:24Z

Here is the way I was attaching the armature wire to itself on the first ribcage.

Here is the way I attached it on the second ribcage. The difference is instead of attempting to wrap the hard and not so flexible armature wire around itself, I remembered that I had another spool of armature wire, significantly more pliable and flexible. So I used that to attached pieces and save my hands more pain and blisters and knocked off about 4 hours of time!

Therefore I got a nice, solid, straight, anatomically correct ribcage armature!

Me and German Smoker Bear approve of this wonderful, felxible wire purchased from The Compleat Sculptor.