Date: Sat, 2 Feb 2002 14:49:48 EST
Subject: PUPT: re: dodecahedron


Hi Mary,

Bil's geometric marionettes are remarkably simple, and they pack down very 
small, too.

It will help you enormously to know that the figures depicted on page 19 of 
Bil's "The Art of the Puppet," are two dodecahedron puppets, beside each 
other. The one on the left can be identified more clearly. Each has four 
strings. I suggest you look at the photo as you read my description.

The top and bottom faces are squares made of equal lengths of hollow plastic 
tubing. Two additional lengths of tubing run from each top face corner to 
each bottom face corner, creating four vertical sides that have a joint at 
their center. (The total puppet will be composed of 16 equal lengths of 
tubing.) At rest, the figure outlines a rectangular box, twice as high as it 
is wide. Curtain cord runs through the hollow tubes, holding everything 
together, creating the joints. 

The controls are simply two bars, same length as the tubes, strung from each 
end to each of the top four corners, making it a four-string marionette. The 
joints in the middle of the vertical sides can be manipulated to fold toward 
the center or away from the center of the rectangle to create a beautifully 
kinetic dodecahedron. With a little practice, you can do amazing things with 
them! HTH.

     -Steven->


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