That looks awesome! So how many rods are used? I only saw two but the motion came out really nice. It really helped to have two pieces for the tail. The motions are really beautiful.

Thanks! I'm really pleased with the design as well.

Only two rods are used, but because the tail is in two parts, it gives the puppet a really nice flowing movement.

Hi I finally got time to play around with the mermaid on my rear projection shadow puppet screen/stage. The laminate outline really shows - do you have a suggestion for lighting and type of screen to try to minimize the lamination outline. I noticed if I used a color theatre gel in front of the light, it is less evident. Hoping for some thoughts. I made her some creatures to keep her company - the stute fish, octopus, rainbow angel fish, crab, etc. Thanks for any ideas. Diane:biggrin:

@Diane - I have found that there is a minimal line caused by the lamination. I'm not sure exactly if there's a way around it, and I suspect that different lighting (as well as of course, the distance of the audience to the screen) will improve things but probably not by much. I'll tell you what I've been using: a bisilk screen, with a fluoro striplight behind it (it doesn't matter if it's above or below the screen, although I've found that above is barely noticeably better). I've not used theatrical lights, but trying different lamps at home does change the effect quite a bit. Of course, I'm performing mainly for my own camera, so it's possible that in the process of editing the grain of the film masks any edges that might appear. (I think maybe I should do some more experimentation on this actually) (Another thing is that if the laminated areas get bent, it does tend to make the shadow of the laminate much more obvious) I do agree that gels improve things; perhaps using a frost in front of the light will help for those times you don't want a particular colour? I'm glad she has company - I'd love to see some shots if you've got any!