I had a few ideas for what I wanted to do, and they all revolved around metalwork. Initially I wanted to combine metal and ceramics, but now I think it will be metal and glass. I've always adored puppets and I have quite a good collection of wooden marionettes and a couple of muppet style hand puppets, including a couples of Pelham Puppets. I think my love for marionettes in particular stems from the famous Sound Of Music puppet scene. Those puppets were so intricate, ornate, and beautiful and all so individual in their characters, created by the incredibly clever puppeteer/puppet maker husband and wife team Bil and Cora Baird.
When looking for the above video clip, I also found this montage of amazing marionettes by puppet maker Frank Paris. The detail and complexity of the characters is amazing, and it's almost hard to believe that they're really being operated by strings alone.
The skeleton in the final clip reminded me of a video a friend showed me recently of a modern day street performer with his skeleton marionette who mimes and dances to music. He's adorable, and proof that less complex puppets can still be equally as entertaining when being used by the right puppeteer.
I just love the simplicity of marionettes and how easily you can create really loveable characters with them. My two favourite marionettes from my collection are my Cowboy and Cowgirl Pelham puppets. They are the most complex marionettes I have; the rest are all very simple hands-feet-head strung, whereas the Pelhams have strings for seemingly every joint and are complex to perform. The Pelhams also have a lot more character details. They have proper painted facial features, and their costumes are a lot more detailed and elaborate than my simpler puppets.
I intend for my puppets to be a lot more obscure as I want to make them from recycled/upcycled/found metal objects combined with possibly casting hands, feet, or faces from dolls or possibly other puppets. The real trick is going to be translating marionettes from their traditional ceramic, textile, and wooden forms into metal whilst retaining the soft and life like element that makes them so fantastic. It's going to be a real challenge...!
I intend for my puppets to be a lot more obscure as I want to make them from recycled/upcycled/found metal objects combined with possibly casting hands, feet, or faces from dolls or possibly other puppets. The real trick is going to be translating marionettes from their traditional ceramic, textile, and wooden forms into metal whilst retaining the soft and life like element that makes them so fantastic. It's going to be a real challenge...!
The puppets in the gallery above are beautiful, traditional marionettes. Including, of course, the wonderful Sound of Music puppets. I don't plan to use any textiles for my marionettes, so I need to find a way to substitute textile for metal or glass in order to properly represent clothing, hair, or fur.
Above are some much, much larger scale marionettes. The polar bear was made by Greenpeace out of recycled items and bits of ships and is taller than a double decker bus. The fire breathing dragon marionette is designed by artists and puppeteers Stef Vetters and Anne Vanharen, and is used as part of a theatrical storytelling called 'The Unknown World Of His Lordship Ottfriedt'. The last two images are of the now very famous giant puppets made for the War Horse stage show. These are, of course, not strictly marionettes, but their simplicity is astounding given their scale, and I love the overall effect of them. This giant puppet and this collection of puppets are great examples of how to create creatures on a larger scale.
In my search for marionettes made with found materials, I stumbled across an incredible artist called Jessica Joslin. I absolutely adore her combination of items, which often include real animal bones, to create surprisingly non-creepy and very stunning works of art. Though most of her work is sculptural, she also makes puppets, as you can see in the images below.
In my search for marionettes made with found materials, I stumbled across an incredible artist called Jessica Joslin. I absolutely adore her combination of items, which often include real animal bones, to create surprisingly non-creepy and very stunning works of art. Though most of her work is sculptural, she also makes puppets, as you can see in the images below.
The caption for these images says this particular piece, named Ferdinand, is made of antique lamp parts and hardware, bone, universal joints, springs, and brass standoffs. Such a great combination of mediums with a very thought provoking and clever result.
It's good to see that the art of handmade puppets is still going strong. I discovered a gorgeous eBay shop called Indigbo Puppets, based in Staffordshire. They appear to all be a mixture of traditional wood and textile, and are finished in a beautiful traditional style. I particularly love the elephant with all the separate parts for his trunk. And then there's the incredible puppet shop/gallery in Palermo which features hundreds of gloriously complex marionettes largely themed around knights and princesses.
Now that I have a lot to go on, it's a case of simply working this very traditional practice to my unconventional chosen medium. My initial source of inspiration for this is an sculptor called John Lopez. He makes incredible, life size sculptures from scrap metal, though his main medium is bronze, and all his sculptures have a rodeo and Western theme.
It's good to see that the art of handmade puppets is still going strong. I discovered a gorgeous eBay shop called Indigbo Puppets, based in Staffordshire. They appear to all be a mixture of traditional wood and textile, and are finished in a beautiful traditional style. I particularly love the elephant with all the separate parts for his trunk. And then there's the incredible puppet shop/gallery in Palermo which features hundreds of gloriously complex marionettes largely themed around knights and princesses.
Now that I have a lot to go on, it's a case of simply working this very traditional practice to my unconventional chosen medium. My initial source of inspiration for this is an sculptor called John Lopez. He makes incredible, life size sculptures from scrap metal, though his main medium is bronze, and all his sculptures have a rodeo and Western theme.
Yes, there are some dinosaurs there. But one of them has a cowboy riding it, so that's still technically rodeo and Western themed, right? I am particularly in love with the bison sculptures as they have obvious references to the Native American history associated with the species. The addition of feathers on one and the fact of an Indian Chief on the other are wonderful hat tips and make the piece really historically authentic and abstract, whilst maintaining it's life-like purpose.
If I can combine the genius of John Lopez' sculptures with the dainty softness of traditional marionettes, I'll be on to a winner. Wish me luck!
If I can combine the genius of John Lopez' sculptures with the dainty softness of traditional marionettes, I'll be on to a winner. Wish me luck!
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