June 02nd, 2016

new hands and new handles!

The nature of the show is that THE puppets ARE seemINGLY made from old foam and cardboard, whICH is true, however beneath these materials are proper joints and mechanisms. This was the case FOR EVERYTHING EXCEPT from the hands of the puppets which were carved purely from foam. We constantly found that they tore during the performance and would only last a limited number of performances. To ensure this does not happen again we gave the hands armatures. These armatures consisted of a small piece of 5mm plywood with wire to maintain shape and webbing running through to ensure strength. These were then sandwiched with two layers of thin foam giving the same aesthetic. For the puppet, Ned, we went to town a little more giving him individual fingers as his hands were a bigger than the others. We used exactly the same process: creating the armature with wood and wire, then sandwiching with two layers of thin foam and then trimmed to shape.