I had a pretty good day yesterday. I have most of the foam body built for the moppet pattern, with just the last of the shoulders to do before moving on to making the neck; I’m getting better at making the patterns because of what I learned from the last one. Which can only be good news.

But the really happy stuff is the table-top puppet. Over the weekend I made up the actual pattern, which was complicated; despite two minor flaws in the pattern, I got it pretty much spot on from the prototype that I made and the subsequent changes that needed to be done to finalise it. Last night I sat down with the printed pattern and made it in front of my video camera so that I could both get the majority of the video done, and double check my work. And it’s all good! As mentioned, I did have two problems, both of which are fixed easily and don’t mess anything up with the video. What’s more, I also realised that it works perfectly fine using only paper - I had thought it would work better in cardboard, but nope, paper will do. 

Confused? You’ll just have to wait til I’ve finished the video to see what I’m talking about. Suffice to say that it should be done by the start of next week… I’ve just got to do a little more filming of some examples of what you can do with the puppet, and a short filming of my more kid-friendly version of a table-top puppet. If you’re lucky, I may manage to finish it all off by Friday night. I’m also tempted to make another table-top puppet using the pattern but with a different material: say, coloured paper or cardboard, just to see what it looks like.

The cherry for me is that a last minute design idea during prototype building has worked just as I’d hoped, adding another dimension to the puppet, making it even cooler than it was before. You can even ‘light up’ your puppet with a small torch!

This table-top puppet is quite literally, print, fold, cut, glue. In that order. 

Even cooler… I can print out the pattern and take it with me to PNF ‘09. I wanted a puppet to take with me that I could maybe use whilst there, and shadow puppets are my thing but wooden rods are an issue (Australian customs are absolutely fanatic about wooden products, since we have lots of issues with non-native pests crossing the borders. I really don’t want to have to declare my rods and wait half an hour in customs for them to be checked) and obviously any larger puppet would be a nightmare to carry and just as problematic getting through customs. So this pattern can be printed out at home, taken in my hand luggage and I can buy glue and scissors in the US - simple, easy and it won’t require me declaring anything!

What’s more, this puppet idea is soooo much better than what I had initially planned for my bunraku tutorial. That was just going to be a recycled toy with rods attached. Blech XX(  No, this is far better, more original, much more professional, and I know everyone will enjoy making one of these. I’m now even thinking of offering this as something to be done at schools or something, because it’s an excellent example of rod puppetry and table-top puppetry, without necessarily needing a lot of materials. All you need are the basics of any art classroom’s tools and materials, and some willing students. … Anyway, you’ll all get to see it very soon!

… Oh, and if you haven’t voted in my poll about the next tutorial, do so now! Once the table-top puppet is online, I’ll be moving on to whatever wins in the poll. So far the winner looks to be a video of the marionette teddy bear.