While I had hoped to continue filling in the holes of the ‘learn more about shadow puppetry‘ section on the Puppets in Melbourne blog, holiday season has meant a bit of a delay. I’m happy to say that my workspace is almost completely free of ‘junk’ (aka stuff I don’t use or want to get rid of), minus two boxes that are sitting on the floor. They don’t get in my way, but unfortunately my next project is time consuming: remaking my shadow puppet screen tutorial. I decided instead of creating a new version based on a better table-top screen, I’d go straight for the big real thing and post a how-to based on my 3 metre long screen. I hadn’t gotten around to hemming it, and that’s what I’m in the middle of now. Who knew 3 metres would be such a pain to hem?

In the meantime I’ve moved on to other areas of the updated site design so that I can have it finished sooner rather than later. I’ve moved all the ‘old’ puppet designs to the gallery page, where I’m still uploading images (some have to be redone), but at least all the descriptions are there. As you can see, the design’s not much different than before other than some minor colour scheme changes and the location of the navigational menu. My favourite bit is the re-use of the swirly black arcs from the background as arrows for the slideshow. That and the new oval-shaped images of the puppets gives the pictures a ‘portrait hanging on the wall’ feeling.

And what this post is all about: I’ve fixed the about page. That, and the various subheadings (see the menu option on that page) are more up-to-date, with the exception of the separate-but-similarly-subheaded policies page. Again, changes are minor: colours and images are updated, I’ve now added in a small section on my bio for listing my educational background; and added in more recent changes for previous jobs, etc.

I still haven’t gotten around to the blog page, so fixing up the commenting form will have to wait. Apologies til then.

I probably won’t be updating the rest of the design for another few days, as I’d like to put in some time on some shadow puppets I’m designing. Over the past week, I’ve had an ingenious idea that I’d hoped to make but wasn’t sure of how to do it. It turns out that the people who sent me my new puppet materials - which I’ll post more about in the future - also provide a service that might actually suit my ideas. The question of course, is how much it will cost, and so I must sit down and work out how many puppets I can get from my materials, how much the minimum order is, etc. If it works out, I’ll be making them the first priority for selling in the new year.

I may also have some more news in January: I’ve applied to present two events at the upcoming Melbourne-based National Puppetry & Animatronics Summit, as mentioned over at School of Puppetry. One event would be a discussion/intro to puppetry on the net, as it’s my eternal struggle to get more Aussie puppeteers online and using it regularly. Part of the submission was to include a live chat/workshop on the net, so it’s not just about preaching to the uninterested/choir, but actually providing something exciting and motivational. The second event is based on the Summit’s offering to showcase experimental performances (works in progress, etc). If my idea above pans out, this would be a perfect opportunity to develop or promote it. Normally I steer - widely - clear from performing, but that’s just how good this idea is and I’d be willing to humiliate myself () just to get it on stage somehow. I’d love to say more about what it is, but the idea is one best viewed/experienced, rather than explained. … If it’s possible that is.