Making the puppets

We began making the body of our two main puppets today. We marked out the measurments onto two panels of soft wood and cut it out with the ban-saw. We then shaped the edges to make it more curved. We are using polystyrene heads that have been paper-mâché'd and painted. We cut out four hands and shoes and cut our bamboo for the arms. We intend to start attatching the sections together tomorrow.


The other day we were tasked with making a human size puppet out of cardboard that could be operated by three people and move all its limbs. We had a two hour time limit to do this in. My group and I made a large rope puppet with an inner skeleton to keep it together. It was controlled by bamboo on the arms and string around the feet of the puppet and opperator and held up at the back. This allowed it to move with the central opperator really well. We also attatched another bit of string to the bak of the head which could be gripped with the teeth to controll the head.
I operated the main body whilst Kirby and Hannah controlled the arms and hands.

Setting the scene assignment

We were asked to bring our digital cameras in today in order to try out some shots using angles and lighting. We had to take some photos using different techniques in order to make a scene that the rest of the class could debate about.

We were asked to do this in order to get us thinking about possible thematic settings for our puppet filming.

Feb 7 - AutoCad and film

Today we learnt how to use AUTOCad to a basic level. We'll be learning more advance methods over the next few weeks. We the watched a screening of 'The Little Shop of Horrors' in order to look at the puppet plant 'Audrey II'. Not a particularly favourite film of mine but the puppetry is very well done.

Starting Puppetry

Our next project centres around puppet making. We've been put into groups of three and given a beetles song. Ours is 'While my Guitar Gently Weeps'. We've started brain stroming and are generally intending to make two main puppets; a male skeletal puppet and a female marionette but we havnt decided on designs for them yet.

Today we began learning about puppet making. We were tasked with creating a basic stick puppet using a cotton reel, two poles, a straw, wire, masking tape, elastic and thin rope.
I cut the reel in half and made sections out of one of the poles for the arms. I then cut the wire and bent ten pieces to use for joints. I attatched the long pole to one of the 6cm pieces to make the body and shoulders and then began to use the bent wire and masking tape to attatch the other four sections for arms.
I attatched the two halves of my cotton reel using elastic and stuck the upper half to the pole using a drill and another piece of wire. I then attatched the rope to the lower piece and let it hang down the back. In order to make this neeter I attatched the straw to the back of the pole and threaded the rope down it with a loop at the bottom in order to make the cotton reel open and close like a mouth.

I will be adding a face and coverings to it this weekend

The past few months

For the last few months we've been doing a western themed project that involved creating props, costumes and set backdrops for a photoshoot.

During the props segmant I made a Winchester Rifle, A Tomohawk, A Totem Pole Head, A spit Roast Pig, a labled bottle and sherrif's badges.

During the painting segmant we created four backdrops; two canyon landscapes, an inner sherrif's office and an outer sherrif's office.

For the costume section I made a waist jacket and a saloon girl top.

We then finished the project with a photoshoot and I think it went really well :).

Just an Introduction

Hey this is Eleanor. I'm doing creative arts for theatre and film at UCA rochester so this blog will centre around my work there. Follow if you want.