To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2008 19:03:14 GMT
Subject: [Puptcrit] Coconut and apples. & other organic materials for pppet


Potatoes have been used for short term puppets---make a neck hole with an apple corer, stick on eyes with pins (a la Mr Potato Head)- use a cloth handkerchief for the body  and tiny rubber bands over thumb and whatever finger you use to represent the puppet's other "hand".

Current discussions have already touched on gourds, which can make good heads  and small gourds can represent hands. I just packed up an elephant hand puppet from Africa made from a gourd.---- the trunk is the gourd's neck, so you have to select the right shapes. 

Steve Carter has made some neat puppets from branches. Basil Milovsorov experimented with such materials.
Jeff Karsner has created puppets from plant material at the Gardens of the Huntington LIbrary in San Marino, CA.

To my surprise I learned one can grow Spanish Moss in my area--there is a wad of it growing on a tree in my yard---it is an air plant---makes great hair for organic puppets. Seed pods come on many shapes---can be good for ears, eyes, tongue, etc.

I have a pair of Rumanian cornhusk rod puppets which are basically dolls on sticks, but can be effective in dance routines.

ALAN COOK


-----Original Message-----
From: Caro Stewart
Sent: Friday, December 19, 2008 1:16 AM
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Coconut and apples

Gorgeous dolls, Grego. The faces are expressive and funny, indeed.=EF=BF=BDNever heard before of apple being used as doll material. You are also good at choosing beautiful clothing for your dolls.
In Romania as children, we used to make dolls from dried Yellow Crookneck squash, corn husks=EF=BF=BDand chestnuts. Not as sophisticated as yours, though... For the babushka squash we only needed a bandanna. The teddy bears required more attention and after picking the green capsule (each with a pair of chestnuts inside) off the chestnut tree, we were rubbing the=EF=BF=BDcapsule against an abrasive=EF=BF=BDrock. The freshly exposed furry looking surface was drying fast and changing color from green to chocolate. Then we were connecting the parts with toothpicks. 
Good luck at the Festival!
Carolina

--- On Thu, 12/18/08, grego-AT-neko.pair.com <grego-AT-neko.pair.com> wrote:

From: grego-AT-neko.pair.com <grego-AT-neko.pair.com>
Subject: [Puptcrit] Coconut and apples
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Date: Thursday, December 18, 2008, 8:43 PM

Mathiew, this teaser is probably too late to use with your existing
coconut shells, but in Laos people sometimes cut and dry them to resemble
shriveled grotesque faces. The results are used in puppet performance. I'm
sorry I can't provide more details at present, but may be able to
elaborate in the future.

The idea of dried fruit as doll material will remind some people of the
American folk art of apple dolls. This is something that I started messing
with a few years ago, and am now introducing to asia. Hence a question
I've been meaning to ask here; does anybody know of these normally
decorative darlings being used as puppets? And if any of you are or know
people who are experienced and up on the minutia of finer apple doll
construction, I'd love to make contact.
You can see some of my results, including apple dolls in kimonos, at
http://www.gregoland.com/am/am.html
You won't be able to read the text there, but if you click around on the
links there are some fun pics.

Currently writing from Bangkok, (gulp) where, thankfully, a cooling of
political tensions has allowed us to go ahead with a performance festival
that starts today. I don't know how much of this food you've tried, or
how
authentic, but I might be needing an asbestos rectum.

-G

-G
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