creatures

Waving his sweat stick

Posted by hil

hippo suit

Of course, I’m wondering about the making of the 90 kilogram hippo suit, with the head cast apparently made from a real hippopotamus, and finished in fibreglass! But the whole story, with pictures, is pure laughter. (Don’t miss the video) Favourite quote:

He got close enough to them but they passed by him on the opposite side to the one on which he was waving his sweat stick.

What exactly was he was going to do with his sweat stick, tickle under their arms perhaps? And can’t you imagine the advertising for (lets hope synthetic) wild hippo sweat sunblock? And will we find some baggage handlers careering around in the hippo suit one day? :)

Wonderful zany shadow puppets

Posted by hil

Take a look at Professor Litmus Lenticular III’s photoset of wonderful zany shadow puppet characters.

A little heffalump

Posted by hil

Elephant

I’m starting to get fond of the little elephant that I have been making over the last few days. That’s always a good sign.

Elephant

He can do tricks! And now has cool trunk to look down modestly while trying to pretend he isn’t a Brave and Clever Elephant.

Elephant

I have to set him aside to finish in March now, as I have to move on a couple of other projects that are vying for my time.

Warhorse: in pictures

Posted by hil

warhorse

Warhorse, showing at the National Theatre in London, has some absolutely stunning life-size horse puppets, designed and made by Basil Jones and Adrian Kohler from the South African Handspring Puppet Company.

Made of cane and gauze, plywood and bicycle brake-cable, nylon cord and leather, they are moved from the inside by actors, who can clearly be seen through the horses’ skeletal bamboo frames; another human steers the head, so that the steeds nuzzle, twitch their ears, shiver with fear, rear in fright, roll their lustrous eyes; they also neigh and snicker. The actors are the inner lives of the beasts: when one horse dies, sinking to its knees and then lying, as a silvery grey skeleton, on its side, you see the puppeteers rolling out of the frame as if they were a band of souls leaving a body. After battle, the stage is covered in emptied carcasses, like dressmakers’ dummies. – Suzannah Clapp, review in The Guardian

The Guardian also has a gallery of images that tell the story, as well as providing the best photographs of the puppets that I have come across. Of course, much of the magic is in their movement: there is a glimpse of that in this ‘what the audience thinks’ video.

There are some other reviews at The Independent, Daily Telegraph, The Times, and the London Theatre Guide.

(via Puppetry News)

Previously:

Hairy-handed gent who ran amuck in Kent

Posted by hil

wer</a>ewolf

Missmonster at Instructables details how she made her fabulous, scary and very furry werewolf costume. This photo is pre-fur!

(via Puppetbuilding.com)

Kicking up my heels

Posted by hil

Amophoid

Playing around after discovering the wonderful drawings of Jim Woodring.

Amenoid2

Amophoids3

Crow time

Posted by hil

Crow

A crow was casting a hopeful eye at our ducks yesterday, and said I thought it was too early for it to be expecting any eggs yet, with spring still some weeks away. This morning, there was the first egg of the season. Crows are most amazing! I brought the egg inside and then managed to drop it on the floor.

Cool cuttlefish and blenny puppets

Posted by hil

Cuttlefish

Raggy Rat has made a couple of beautiful marine-themed puppets for Portland’s Seafest: a cuttlefish and a tompot blenny.

Blenny

There are some great photos and commentary on the making process here. I love the mixing of different types of fabric, and the wool in particular reminds me of Mimi‘s use of wools. I’m looking forward to seeing photos taken at the festival, too. (And look at this cool jellyfish cake!). Thanks for letting me post your photos, Cat!

Les Machines de l’île de Nantes

Posted by hil

Thanks to Darthbob from Laprise.org who recently alerted me to a new project related to Royal de Luxe, Les Machines de l’île de Nantes, which opened over this last weekend.

Machines

Planned as a new artistic, cultural and tourist venture, and part of an urban renewal of the docklands, it consists of numerous large mechanical creatures to build dreams around, imagined by François Delarozière and Pierre Orefice. They are installed in the great naves of the old shipyards on the island of Nantes, France.

First, there is a great elephant, similar to the Sultan’s, but a bit bigger at 12 metres high, which can take 30 passengers on its back for a 30 minute journey. It will journey every day.

Then there will be a huge tree, with branches that you can walk within. In time there will be herons in the tree, and people will be able to take rides in baskets below their wings.

Herontreerdl

The third part is a gallery of imagined machinical marine creatures, also rideable:

Le Luminaire des grands fonds:

Angler

(photo credit: Claude Joannis)

La Larve de crabe:

Larvae

(photo credit: Claude Joannis)

Le Poisson pirate:

Piratefish

(photo credit: Claude Joannis)

Le Calamar à rétropropulsion:

Squid

(photo credit: Claude Joannis)

La Raie manta:

Manta

(photo credit: Claude Joannis)

I think there is also a royal crab planned.

Other links:

Royal de Luxe – this unofficial French site is always the best for all up-to-date RdL news.

At Nantes Métropole:

  • dossier presse Eléphant
  • machinesfr.pdf
  • Les Machines de l’île : check links from this page
  • Les Machines de l’île: this site has plans, sketches, video and photos:

    • video 1: intro, bits of elephant and branches, maquette of the tree
    video 2: adapting the original buildings, building the elephant, in particular its feet!
    video 3: making the models of the creatures – very cute little squid, manta
    video 4: piecing the iron and wooden shell of the elephant together with crane.

    photos 1 – 18: the opening, with elephants first parade
    photos 19 – 26: models
    photos 27 – 49: making the elephant
    photos 50 – 55: the buildings

Maville.com’s special coverage: check out the manta, the angler fish in particular.

France 3: Les Fabuleuses Machines de l’île has a cool photo gallery – the best photo of the crab larvae so far.

At Flickr:

L’Internaute Magazine photo gallery: cool workshop making photos (added 19.7.07)