I love the creative process and the evolution of a puppet. I had an idea for some hair on a new puppet that changed into something else and the character started to inform a new direction. I have a spark of an idea and see where it takes me. I wish I could be one of those people who draws a sketch and follows it through to some amazing puppet likeness but, I'm not there yet. I've played around with some different eye shapes [above] for the new character and have revisited it at least 3 times already and feel like I'm closing in on something soon but, I appreciate where the process has taken me and the new things I discover along the way.
My puppets caught the attention of a friend who works for a local children's museum and he asked me to consider doing a workshop with the kids who might be interested in building puppets. With permission to use the Project Puppet Simple Series patterns, I gathered some friends this past weekend [below] to see how much we could get done in a certain amount of time with just me doing the sewing. With six participants in the 'test', they got all of their patterns traced and cut and the head and body sewn. It was enough to gauge how many kids I could handle in the workshop, volunteers needed to assist, additional sewers, etc. The first workshop at the children's museum is scheduled for March 14 and I'm equally nervous and excited.
7 comments:
Are the project puppet patterns worth the cost?
Most definitely worth the cost. The Simple Series that I'm presently using are so inexpensive too. You are only limited by your imagination.
So I got the Glorified Sock Puppet Pattern and I love it. It really showed me what was wrong with how I was making puppets before. So when you do the workshop are you going to machine sew the entire puppet? I'm not sure how well the small amount of hand sewing, suggested by Project Puppet, will go over with the kids. I couldn't imagine hand sewing more than one puppet in a day.
I should have 2 other volunteers sewing on machines with me. When I sewed for 6 by myself - it was a little overwhelming but still do-able. Class max is 10 - with 3 sewers, we should be golden. I want the kids to understand the creation process but not get bored so - yes - mostly machine sewing and I'll be using my own process of gluing in a modified mouthplate which the 'kids' will be able to do. Class age is 12 and up - and appealing to those who are hopefully budding puppeteers or crafters.
Awesome! It sounds like you have all the bases covered. I bet the kids are going to have a blast.
good blog.
Thank you Shamim!
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