Ribcage puppet....process

ok, He's not just a ribcage...He also has two arms and a head....and yes, no legs.

the ribcage from the Crooked Leg Puppet was the inspiration for this being...I was so taken by how it moves. By how it appeared to take in breath and release it... I just had to make another one! a ribcage breathing study ! Soon I hope to start posting videos of me working with puppets moving.

You can see how much larger it is than the first one.

Here it is, jumping ahead, I stole the arm from the crooked leg puppet(c'mon puppeteers I know you all have stolen from another puppet!) and then this funny head came out of nowhere...

Someone said they thought his head/face looked like a Parisan fruit vendor..hehe. Not only was he completely spontaneous he taught me a new way to work with the foam...

Instead of gluing on an eyebrow..I looked at the top of his head and there were these lifted spots that I wanted to cut off and smooth out...but instead ....I took a razor blade and cut a very thin piece of foam from the top of his head down to where his eyebrow was located without actually cutting the piece off...then I folded it over and glued it...vwalla an eyebrow designed by the ethers! I do so love this kind of creation!
And although he is amazing and perfect he isn't quite right for the ribcage creation.



So, I went with a more simple face....

ok, I like this little creature....he is speaking to me. so, for now...I go with this 

He says he needs antlers

so

antlers comin' up...

For reference i used a small real antler I already had(too heavy to use on the puppet). I started with a piece of armature wire and sculpted over it with this amazing stuff called Creative Paperclay.

omg love this stuff...it is dreammy,  creamy smooth paper molding compound.

Two antlers...one broken off a bit! Me loves assymetry

This stuff is beautiful

Me pilfering through my other oddities, feathers, fur and earth elements for just the right additions to this little one

        

I liked the 'neckgrass'

So, heres the sweet monstery one. As much as i like his apparent personality, his sweetness- there is something odd about this puppet...it keeps speaking to me and wanting to morph into something else....not  because something about him 'isn't enough' but because it is searching for what it has/wants to say.

When I look at this sweet creature with human hands...something doesn't fit...so I sculpted a more creature-hand with 2 fingers and a thumb and that didn't make it fit either....what really wants to sit on top of this ribcage is a human head....like the Parisan man but more abstractly human... something that embodies more of a general human experience....an archetypal figure versus the more personal

 I really really like how these hands and the ribcage work with a more human head

 

as well I love this sweet head with the antlers

so, out of all this back and forthing a vision came of how these elements were going to come together.

A vision of how the performance and piece would unfold..of how the human puppet and the sweet creature would merge.

so, I just attempted to "explain" what this vision was and was having a hard time doing it...i think a description will have to wait until I can show you the different elements on video.

To summarize, in short, the pairing of the two puppets.. ....I will make a mache mask that looks like the little monstery fellow including his antlers. I will wear this mask on top of my head(not over my face) and then at the appropriate time in the coarse of the performance ..the mask will come off my head and cover the face of the human puppet. I will repost this entry once that happens.

I also plan to post updates on the Shaman Puppet in the next coupla weeks. Not quite ready to post him yet.

ok stay tuned!

Crooked Leg puppet... in process

This little guy is in process. I will add to this post as he finishes....

I started with feet because I wasn't sure what his head looked like! During this particular time I seem to be swimming in a lot of unknowns about the puppets that are coming to me. I have many other puppets that I am excited to build and I know exactly what they look like. And for now the journey seems to be about allowing the 'i don't know" to unfold and remembering how to trust this. So, I started from the bottom up.

Using mostly scissors. I am finding foam to be wonderful material for me...inexpensive and very easy to make exactly the shape you are feeling in the moment.

I thought I would originally do wood for the legs...wood makes such oh so lovely joints!

However I found the wood on the foam behaves strangely...the stiffness of the wood torques and twists the soft foam soooo...

   

Foam legs it is....

   

 

A crooked leg for this guy. Hmmm, how will this effect the joint? hmmm. only one way to find out... unless of course you're already a joint genie-ass.

 

  

intense joint cud-chewing...huh

 

 A little Jesus wrap for the feet.

 

Hmm, i like. And the joint, with some added reinforcements moves rather nicely

For his hip joints/rotator cuff I used these spools. they spin nicely allowing him to walk

With the bungee in between they do this action -which enables the legs to move out to the side.

A funny squat, albeit a squat. I knew for some reason I wanted this guy to be able to squat. I'll take a funny sqaut...is that spelled right? what a weird word.

ok, now for the rib cage...

I am quite taken with this little rib cage replica ...it breathes and moves about...me loves it. I like it so much that I would start my next puppet with a large rib cage..no legs...just a ribcage, arms and a head. (easier to puppeteer that way!)

       

and arms... love these arms!

I will post more photos as he progresses

  

Puppet guts at the rendering factory