It's Pi Day!

Ok so even if I slack on most every other resolution, I know I at least need to post something on Pi Day.

After a round of fisticuffs with bronchitis (not to mention the near-constant disease our son has had since December), I'm back to updating my Etsy shop. I'm making a few projects for non-etsy clients, which have all been a lot of fun to work on.

The top two puppets have gone into the shop & the bottom 3 are for other projects. The Chicken & the Pig will go to my friends Lisa and Chris in Seattle & their children's band, The Bears Upstairs (who has chosen the same blogger background as I have, because we all like grass and making wishes).

I used a pattern for the bases of the two on the top. It's nice to use an easy pattern when making non-specific projects, just because it gets the puppet done quickly & I know what I'll get from it...and I can get it done quickly without much troubleshooting. I know a lot of other puppeteers on Etsy are using the same pattern, but hey, there's a reason. It's a good, solid pattern. I don't use it for the hands. At this point I'm rambling. Does anyone really care why I don't use their hand pattern...or even that I use a pattern?

So the 3 patterns on the bottom are mine. The pig is done in my typical hap-hazard way, but the Chicken and the Sheep are more elaborate. I'm taking more time with some of the bigger pieces, and I think it's paying off. The chicken and the sheep are both fully lined, which should help them last longer. That and their heads are constructed in a different way than I normally do. I'm also getting more & more into arm rods. While I've been a puppeteer for quite some time, for the last 10 years or so, the shows I've done usually have had me use 1 puppet on each hand, so instead I just sculpt the arms. (It also makes shipping them a lot easier if you don't have to account for giant stick). But rods are fun (sex truck!) & it's time I bite the bullet & use them in my live shows more.

I'm hoping to spend time making some more larger puppets. I've still got a lot of projects in my queue, but I think with the deadlines, it will allow for making some extra puppets for me/Etsy/Comicon. Should be fun!

Note to self: Next time I'm going to post about puppetry manipulation & workshops... Wheee!