a scary skeleton

[CvdC]

I made this ghost. Its mouth opens and closes, its neck extends. The arms are not moveable except by jerking the puppet to wobble them.
The jaw can be opened and shut with the puppeteer's thumb but it is for for the scary effect rather than being ventriliquil.



also I made a constable. The helmet is papier mache (using watered down pva). The heads are carved wood.

Both I will take to Adelaide next weekend for the Puppet Palace event:
http://www.puppetpalace.com.au

[Chris]

Policeman's eyes definitely better - but still too much white. But why is he wearing gloves with black lines on them? Is that an Australian uniform?. Our traffic cops, when on manual point duty, directing traffic, always wore white gloves. But they didn't have any black lines.

[James]

It's not just the policemen...

[CvdC]

Thanks Chris I will fix those gloves.
I keep trying and one day ...


http://www.punchandjudy.com/festivals/october06/imagepages/image10.htm

[Chris]

Good. I'm sure you will find it an improvement. If you think about it Chris, the reason that you carve a puppet in three dimensions is so that it will make its own shadows. In a two dimensional flat drawing (Mickey) the lines are necessary because there are no contours. Thus the dark painted lines between the fingers of the puppet negate the subtle, real shadow created by the carved groove. The whole purpose of paint on a puppet, apart from tinting, is to enhance the natural shadows caused by the contours of the carved features - not to cover them up or change them.

As for the picture you refer to: Firstly I didn't paint any of those. Secondly if you can't see the difference between the subtlety of their painting and your own then I may as well give up. Theirs may be said to enhance the natural shadow not obliterate it. Thirdly, I suspect that at least one set of hands is not fully carved and therefore would need the artificial lines.

[Prof Dan]

I personally think the hands look fine, and if it didnt have the `lines` it would take away the realism.

[Chris]

Have your own hands got lines on them Dan? I'm sure you are real.

[Chris]

<img src="http://www.dogtoby.co.uk/uploads/Tony_Blair.jpg" width="300" align="left" hspace="5"><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>Regarding painting to enhance the carving or modelling, I was just looking again at the Tony Blair head which was posted by James on Punch Chat. This fine head by Geoff Felix is beautifully painted to do just that - dark tones of the base colour are blended into the hollows, while lighter tones are used to highlight. The paint is used in the same way an actor employs grease paint for a straight make-up.<br>A clever lad, this Felix chappie!<br><br><br><br>

[Prof Dan]

Yes, but Chris lets remember that it is only a puppet. Although some puppets can look quite beautiful, I dont think it calls for a work of art - at least the children in my audience wouldnt probably notice the difference.

[Chris]

How very sad.

[James]

Have to disagree with you Dan. Some puppets may just be craft pieces, but some are very much works of art.

[David Wilde]

Quite agree,If you said that to a lot of makers past and presant I think a few of them would be quite upset at that remark!

[Prof Dan]

By `work of art` I meant is it really necessary to argue over little detail like `lines`, although I do agree they can enhance the puppet alot.

All I was saying was that I found that lines on the puppets hand enhanced it - I didnt intend to offend anyone !

[Tony James]

Now then Dan, no backing off at this stage. A work of art is subjective but a practical working puppet has to be objective.

It's not just that it's a puppet - it's a long distance puppet. I don't know how youcan project an image of a hand, fingers and thumb rather than a mitten hand, without using lines of whatever colour.

You may prefer a particular colour but without some definition it looks like a flesh coloured blob.

Close up to a few is one thing, but when you're working large crowds..................what do you do?