Thursday 25 December 2014

Marionette Gallery 22 - The ..??.. whatever he wants to be

Here is another character with a multitude of roles and sidekick appearances over the last .. forgot how many years. He was a priest and a museums curator and much more. Like a number of the characters I introduced, he is a marionette without legs. The shoulder piece of wood carries the costume, the hands are attached to the sleeves  and the head with a red cap on top. The index finger of the right hand shows slightly upward and gives caution. Of course like all of my Marionettes it is carved from linden wood.
Its a fun figure to bring out when he explained paintings and does not remember anything. These marionettes might be easy to assemble but harder to perform with. Keeping them on the same level so they do not float or drag their costume behind them takes skill. The Marionettes with legs always give you a clear reference when you perform.


Thursday 11 December 2014

Marionette Gallery 21 - The spy satelite


Part of Mustava and the Moon, it was inspired by the sputnik the russians send into space in 1957. That was a big thing back then when it released the little beeps from out of space. It was the cold war and well check it out on line. It certainly triggered the space race.

The marionette is created from laminated rings of plywood that I sanded once glued, to achieve alight and durable figure. The same technique I used for the Alien Alpha. You can see the mouth and by tilting the control the mouth opens and shuts. It had a broad american accent, well I can not do russian accents, sorry.

The whole show gave a lot of possibilities of follow up activities in schools. The set showed star constellations and had numerous reverences to spaceexploration. It does look like a simple marionette but as allways you have to come up with the idea and the first try does not work out many a times.