A New Show

For the Aki Matsuri this year, I'm putting together a new show. It's the story of a really short boy who follows his dreams and becomes a samurai despite his size. He shows more bravery than his fellow body guards in saving a princess from a humongous oni.
Proving that bigger isn't better, taller isn't braver, and stronger isn't smarter.
The title is:
The Inch High Samurai
Check back for pictures soon!

Market Memories

This last Sunday, the puppeteers of Momotaro were out at the Day of Puppetry at the Pike Place Market. Everyone used their main puppet to interact with the passers-by. You see below my sister Mandy, who plays the Gold Oni who ended up getting a long lecture by this girl on how to be scary...

This young lady was not talking to Mandy at all. She addressed and lectured the Gold Oni. Mandy was a bit smiley, but the Gold Oni was taking notes the whole time saying "Ah I see" or "Really? Maybe I should try that!" So cute!
We also handed out a flier for our show at the Aki Matsuri. If you would like to print one and help us, here it is:

If you click on the picture, it should show you the complete 8.5" by 11" page. You can print it landscape, then cut it into three and PRESTO! you have three of our fliers to hand out. Thanks in advance!
In other news, Punch and Judy was presented by yours truly at the Market again this year and what do you see in this picture below?



Look carefully now...












Give up?

Okay, I'll tell you...it is in fact the very green bag full of Swazzles I was lamenting in my previous post! Frank found it not 24 hours after my post--in his car in fact. Three cheers for Frank! Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray! Hip Hip Hooray!

Feeling Behind

I want to start rehearsals for Momotaro in July so I have a little more than a month to finish the script, build a stage, make props and finish all the puppets. Here's where I'm at with the Gold Oni:

It's really the script I'm worried about. I really want to do a good job but...this is my mindset:

PUNCHOh Hello! Hello! Hi! How are ya! Hello! Hello! Judy! Judy-judy-judy!

JUDYHere I am Mr. Punch now what is it you want?

PUNCHA Kiss!
JUDYA Kiss! I'm not going to give you a kiss in front of all these people!

PUNCHWhy Not?

JUDYWhy not? I'll tell you why not. Because they'll all laugh at me and make that terrible 'Woooo' sound!

PUNCHNo they won't!

JUDYOf course they will.

PUNCHNo they won't.

JUDYYou think so do you? Well I'll prove it to you. And Ladies and Gentlemen this is your chance to redeem yourselves and prove me wrong, so no laughing or woooing! Very well, Mr. Punch, I'll kiss you but first I must blow my nose. (loudly blow raspberries while wiping nose on curtain. PUNCH makes gross noises) Here we go.

PUNCHKiss!

JUDYOh Mr. Punch I heard them didn't you?

PUNCHI must have missed it.

JUDYYou missed it! How could you miss it? Very well I'll kiss you one more time and you better pay attention! Ladies and gentlemen this is your last chance, so no laughing and no wooing!

PUNCHKiss!

JUDYOh Mr. Punch you're worse than the postman!

Hands Up

I took you up through the Papier-mache step in the previous post. From that point, the hands don't differ from the head. I added details with paperclay, painted them, added fun-foam fingernails and put a sealing coat over the whole thing. Here's the result:







So...now we have my boy in all his naked glory:







Next is costuming...wanna see that too?

A Step Back

I didn't go over the body. Boy am I rushing ahead of myself! Look, there I go...





There is a trick to this, which I learned at the Puppet Rampage...the back of one's hand needs more space than the front. Who knew? Thus...the body has three parts:







Which then comes together so:







All in all, a roomier style.



But here's a trick of my own...some puppeteers use wires, but I find boning to be much better:







Why? Because it does the same job as a wire but it is lighter and much easier to pack.



Yes...he needs hair:







All the pictures I found always show the red oni with hair at least on the back of the head with the bald samerai forehead. This really does set him apart from the western devil. A good thing to be sure!

Hand-some Oni

Can you stand it? Metal hands...Terminator Oni!







This was another trick I learned from Brian Kooser. Start with metal...he often uses a thin wire to begin, and I was going to as well. But I couldn't find my wire, so I grabbed the tinfoil.







Cover it with masking tape and use that to flesh it out a bit more.







Then you add the papier-mache layers. After this...details with paper clay...I can't find a picture of that step though. Sorry. I just blazed through without stopping.

Yes, I learned how to paint at a gaming con...

Ha ha! You thought it would take longer didn't you? I gotta say...a glove puppet head is a lot easier to paint than a role-playing miniature...and it takes a lot more spit too! (Don't ask unless you really want to know)





Priming with black...it works well on miniatures so...why not?







Gaming Con Painting 101: Skin first!







Something you don't do with miniatures...varnish (matte of course). Yes, I went back and forth on the horns--really though, it matches the face better this way.