Woodland Creature Puppet

 This Little puppet was inspired by and made with natural objects. His eyes are the stem of possibly a persimmon... actually two persimmons connected by a woody stem. The fruit falls off and you are left with these two flower-like woody things. They certainly looked like a pair of eyes with one droopy eyelid. Then I took a small dried-out gourd I found hiking in California and held it up as the jaw and this sweet being emerged.  The feathers added that magical touch of movement he needed. 

 His arm is a bony twig, and his hand the bottom 'leaf' of a yucca plant and his foot a twisted woody marsh plant root.

'Toby' dancing. My friends' little girl calls him Toby....somehow it fits.

So this little guy is a bit too small to come alive for a larger audience so I am building an exact replica of him...bigger. Here are some process photos of this....

 

Started with the eyes

 piece of Basswood -got the general shape and sketched the eyes out on it

chiseled, carved and dremeled....

Tom in his woodshop. 

Tom and Martha are the artists of Elkland Handwerke in Todd North Carolina. I asked them if I might visit their place for a bit and work on puppet stuff. I have isolated myself for a long time trying to create the theatre by myself...with little progress. I have missed collaborating and just working and sharing with others. Even though I didn't spend a lot of time there it was and is the beginning of the end of my isolation. Thank you Tom and Martha. 

Here is their website where you can see their lovely work...

beautiful wood furnishings, hand woven rugs and puppets too!

http://www.elkland.com/

NOW I am in Ohio, working in a new woodshop

Stain and adding some color

This is where he is today. will continue to update this post with more photos as he progresses