Kinetic Sculptures
I’d read about this artist, Theo Jansen, but have never seen his sculptures in motion before. These are all powered by wind. Thanks to Grant Kruger for pointing this out.
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Puppetry
Audrey II is officially gone
I just got off the phone with Carlisle Shipping, the shipping company that lost my Audrey II puppets. They are going to initiate a claims process because they have finally admitted that they can not find the puppets. I though I’d lost hope on this a while ago, but I guess I hadn’t because I
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Handmade Puppet Deams
I’ve been meaning to blog about this for awhile, but now I have a really, really good reason. Go watch the trailer for Handmade Puppet Deams. This is a collection of short puppet films curated by Heather Henson (Jim Henson’s daughter) and the trailer shows some of the most exciting puppetry I’ve seen. There is
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Cleaning the basement
One of the chores to do before we move is to clean out the basement. This is my workshop, so I have ridiculous quantities of puppet making supplies down there. I haven’t had to be selective in years and now, suddenly, I do. I’m sorting things into the categories Take, Store, Give Away. My thought
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The Rag (show)
The Rag (show) is a weekly puppet video blog with very short (like 45 seconds), funny pieces using “wayang xerox”* to hit some topical subjects. This week? An iceberg discusses global warming. *I promise that makes sense and is funny to a puppeteer. Wayang kulit is a style of traditional Indonesian rod puppets, they are
World Puppetry Day
If you can, today, seek out a puppet show whether that’s a live show or something on video or film. Puppets are one of the oldest forms of theater and have had so many different incarnations, it can’t be hard to find one. You just have to look for them. Don’t know where to start?
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Svankmajer: The Unknown Horrors
Oooo! Wired has a great gallery up of Jan Svankmajer’s films In honor of the DVD release of one of cinema’s unsung heroes, we revisit the films of the Czech surrealist animator Jan Svankmajer, who has been making bizarre, grotesque, hilarious and unforgettable movies from Prague since 1964.
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Monkeys in Rehearsal
If you are curious, there are pictures of the Monkeys in rehearsal. They aren’t finished yet. Emily still has hair and “makeup” to do, but she’ll wait until closer to performance for two reasons. First, they’ll get dinged up in rehearsal. Second, she’ll have a better idea of what the needs of the paint are,
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Audrey II update
Well, the plants are still missing, but we have a bill of lading number now and an idea of where they might have gone. When they were shipped out of Kodiak, Alaska, there are two shipping orders for them. On one of them, the plants would have been put on a full trailer that was
Puppet Buzz » Puppeteer Recognition
Frankly, I doubt any good will come of this, but it’s an interesting petition. Puppet Buzz is advocating for Puppeteer Recognition at the Oscars. Whilst watching Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back and listening to the commentary; George Lucas stated he tried to get Frank Oz recognized for his role as Yoda as Best Supporting Actor
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Bear Tail
I completely forgot that I’d taken this video when I was building the polar bear. When I went back in December, one of the things I wanted to do was give him a more substantial tail. The existing one hung down and was not very attractive–I didn’t make that one–so I wanted something that fit
Monkeys finished, heading for home
We met with the cast today and heard their first table read of Serendib. It was very exciting to hear it, and confirmed that I really like this play. After the read, Emily put them through a quick puppetry experience, which she’ll go more in depth with later. It’s a relief to see that they
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Monkeys
So tired I hurt. Watch this video about the toque macaques, which are the monkeys that Serendib is based on. Sorry the quality is so compressed. This one is clearer, but it’s in French.
Additional things said at work.
Today was a banner day for things I get to say at work. I’m forgetting some of them and am not even going to try to explain what all of these mean. Do you want me to sew his ass shut or should I use hot glue? I wish I could get him to spread
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Mouth mechs
I installed the moving mouth mechanisms in two of the puppets today. The female version works great and can be operated with one finger inside the head, but the male one is going to wind up needing to be attached to his rod. There’s something not quite right about that sentence… Today’s comments included, “I’m