Missmonster at Instructables details how she made her fabulous, scary and very furry werewolf costume. This photo is pre-fur!
(via Puppetbuilding.com)
puppets
DIY Jabba the Hutt
A thread on Star Wars Crafts documents the making of a cool giant Jabba the Hutt parade puppet. This photo is from about midway through the process, before it is skinned. It’s made from all kinds of things that I am very familiar with working with – mattress foam, irrigation pipe, tons of hot glue, spray adhesive, stretchy fabric and so on! And it has a suitably gross tongue, seen in action here. (It reminds me of the Big Heads.)
If you are interested in the making of the original Jabba, follow the links in this post at PuppetVision.
(via Boing Boing)
Tyrannosaurus sex
This is a snippet of the sizzling action in Philip Millar’s Puppetvison show Tyrannosaurous Sex sex which is on at the Northcote Fringe Festival until 13 October, as part of the Melbourne Fringe Festival. I’ve seen this – its terrific! Puppetvision is also presenting Tadpole and Pure Puppet Palava, which means you have a good chance of seeing that blokey beer-swilling koala with attitude, Ken Koala:
(Philip Miller’s Ken Koala MCs the puppet cabaret at the 2006 National Puppetry Summit. Photo credit: Laura Purcell. From Terrapin Puppet Theatre’s Summit gallery.)
There are other puppetry offerings at Northcote, but only a day or two left to catch them.
Australian hand shadow puppeteers
The Sydney Morning Herald today talks to Raymond Crowe, a self-described ‘unusualist’ – ventriloquist, magician and hand shadow puppeteer from Adelaide – who, after 26 years in the business, has found at least temporary fame on YouTube with his Helpmann Awards shadow performance of Louise Armstrong’s What a Wonderful World:
Sean Kenan, another Australian hand shadow puppeteer, also has a presence on YouTube, and has recently been invited invited by the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop to perform at the World Performing Arts Festival in Lahore Pakistan later this year.
UNIMA 2008: registrations open, looking cool
Aha! The new UNIMA 2008 website has been launched, and registrations are open for a wonderful time next April in Perth! Looks like there are going to be some fabulous international puppetry acts, performances from many Australian puppet companies, exhibitions, master classes, carnival day, and an attempt to set a new world record for the largest number of puppets on display in the Million Puppets Project (you can send a puppet, even if you can’t get to Perth). Appropriately, given the festival theme of ‘journeys’, a bunch of intrepid puppet companies are making the journey to Perth overland from the eastern states in the Puppet Caravan road trip, giving performances and workshops along the way.
There are a range of Festival Explorer Packages and if you get in early and book one now, you can take advantage of early registration prices. This exclusive priority booking period ends at midnight Monday Oct 1, Australian Western Standard Time: (GMT+8.00), so go to it!
I’m hoping to go, not certain yet.
Unima 2008
Unima Australia
Spare Parts Puppet Theatre
Million Puppets Project
Million Puppets Project on MySpace
The Puppet Caravan
The Puppet Caravan on MySpace
Cool cuttlefish and blenny puppets
Raggy Rat has made a couple of beautiful marine-themed puppets for Portland’s Seafest: a cuttlefish and a tompot 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!
Peppa Pig theatricals
Sweet images from Peppa Pig on ABC kids tv yesterday. Peppa and her brother and cousins made some puppets and put on a show for their parents. It’s a made for preschoolers, and I thought it hit the mark very well with skillful scripting and attractively clear images.
Dragon
Dragon is a beautiful animation ad made for United Airlines. It’s made using paper cut-out stop-motion puppets, and you can see the process and team, lead by director, Jamie Caliri, in The Making of Dragon. Caliri also directed the ending animation for Lemony Snicket.
(via Lines and Colours)
FurryPuppet
This lovely creature was made by Maria Gurevich, one of the team at FurryPuppet, who make cool one-of-a kind custom puppets, art dolls and mascots. You can see them all in the gallery section, and also keep up to date with their creations on their blog.
