Puppetry Perspectives

 Divising a puppetry performance in respone to the work of Dineo Seshee Bopape

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Rehersalls this week in the bute are going well !

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Figuring out how to attach the tail to the fish, evoskick limited the movement of the tail so I'll figure something else out tomorrow ! I cable tied the body segments in place and scrimmed them to blend them into the tube. This gives the body segments enough movement but keeps them in place. I kicked one of the peices and it snapped so I glued it back together. Using pegs to clamp it in place.

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Scrimming the fisherman's fish plasterzote head with pva and muslin to give it strength and an even finish I can paint onto of.

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Some more development on the giant fish head shape!

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Tea break with Celeste

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Fisherman mask is gum stripped !!

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Cutting out layers of the skirts all afternoon, it's been a long job, but almost done !

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Drafting a skirt pattern. We are using my measurement because I'm the tallest and then cutting the waists to fit each of us later on once they are sewn together

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I came in one weekend to make the bamboo frame for the giant fish. I then began making the shape from witheys using my drawings as a guide. I'm finding witheys tricky to work with but I'm hoping I'll get the hang of them.

There are a few options for binding the witheys and bamboo which I'm interested to try out

Knots and superglue

Pva and masking tape

Electrical tape

Latex scrim

Pva scrim

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Paper hand puppet company are making faces which are quite similar vibes to my Fisherman face which was lovely to see and is great for some inspiration. I love the natural colours of these !

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I made my wire Armature with some help form Rorie. I made 3 of the armeture bases for Alex molly and I as I wanted to get things done quickly. Then I started moulding chicken wire around the base in the shape of a fish. I quite like how it turned out.

Lucy mentioned that maybe the fish shouldn't be upright to be inkeeping with the rest of the fish in the show. I agree, I'll change this ASAP.

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Drawing in our break

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First rehersall !

Today we rehearsed the chase scene with the wolf, hare, bear and scenery. We need to figure out how to achieve what we want with the scenery cloths because they are difficult to hear and move in. It might be a case of removing the plastic cover from the back of them. We will have to see how this affects the shape and movement of the cloths.

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More layers of paper mache this morning as I came in early to get stuff done ! I wanted this to start drying so I could work on it again later in the day and it was a nice way to start my morning and ease my way into the work.

I am really Tring to use my time to my advantage and work around how I feel each day.

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I also added another layer of tissue paper to the mask for the fisherman

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Today I came in and made another frame but this diddnt work, which is fine, it's all part of the process!