This puppet is no longer for sale.

But not quite the one I had meant to post about. (Link to the purchase page is given below)

After three months, I’ve given up on the next puppet in the ‘Flying Dragon’ series. If it’s not the time spent on making a puppet that barely does what I want it to do (mainly out of my lack of performing skills, but still), it’s time wasted on getting film footage that, in the end, looks shit on my computer. And that’s with editing using Sony Vegas Pro.

Annoyed at not being able to post something new and keep people interested in my products - the more frequent you add new products, the more likely you’ll get a sale or two - I decided to just move on to something else in the meantime. So I printed out a pattern I already had (made for the classes with Reach Out, I was planning on turning it into a downloadable pattern, but am using it for this instead) and set about making a start on a new series of puppets.

This time around the series is ‘Miniatures’. Quite literally, miniature shadow puppets. Head to my Flickr page for larger views and more pics. Video at the bottom of the post.

Though I’m not a big fan of puppets for kids - so many times puppets for kids = toys - but I’ve been getting quite inspired by miniature items for dolls’ houses and the like. People on Etsy tend to buy anything doll-related, from realistic clay food, to weird accessories. So why not make a miniature puppet?

Actually, this has been an idea of mine before that, thinking of making easy-to-sell and cheaper shadow puppets that fit into a mini suitcase-style performance. Toy theatre as it were, only with shadow puppets.

So I introduce you to Mini Marie (Antoinette), a 1:12 scale shadow puppet that is not just for dolls’ houses, but is actually workable and has moving parts and rods. You can operate it yourself, or give it to your Barbie doll to hold .

The added benefit of making this one is it’s very quick to do, with a few hours spent at the most. The hardest part is working with the detail of the top piece, the body.

She’s got some nice detail with some fantasy film (in fact, practically the whole puppet was made using scrap materials, ideal for using up all those leftovers from other puppets), jewelry wire for rods, all smaller than the palm of your hand. (I was tempted to go 1:24 scale but for now this is as small as I want to go. Cutting out that detail is tricky)

I really love the way the fan came out in particular, no more than half a centimetre square, it gives the female figure a bit of style.

There’s no video to this one, mainly because I’ve been having a crappy time with getting any video at all to work, but I may add one later when I get the chance. I wasn’t going to post video, but since the internet’s been down for most of the night, I took the opportunity to try and make a small one. Check it out: