I love these bunraku trees!

I saw this song performed live several years ago and had the opportunity to see these bunraku type puppets up close at a workshop. Joe Bruce and his family are an amazing and talented bunch. I've been wanting to make some trees like this ever since I first saw them and I am finally doing it this year! I'll be posting soon my progress on this project. My trees will be swamp trees and will glow in black light. I am only making two. They are going to be so much fun!

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Our Newest PVC Stage

Our team has always used a stage made of PVC for budget reasons. I've reconfigured it a few times over the years. The one we have now is the one I like the best so far. Someone asked me to share it with them so I thought I would post it here in case anyone else was interested. First of all there are 3 parts to the finished stage and one person could put it together alone, but two make it easier. There are two poles that go across the middle horizontally to hold everything together. And there is the actual stage part that folds up like an accordion. Here it is from the side folded up. Here it is unfolded and the two long pieces placed horizontally in the back. One at the top and one lower. This second bar really adds to the stability of the whole stage and keeps puppeteers from moving the back curtain as they go in and out. Here is how we add the curtains. Our curtains are in 4 parts. The front, 2 wings and the b...

New Puppet: Giddy

I made a new puppet over the weekend. She is going to be used in some skits for Wednesday night kids' lessons at church. We use a pre-written skit from a company called High Voltage Kids and this unit calls for a girl named Giddy. Giddy is a little country girl who wants a pony. Here she is: I used this shape as a base and adapted it as I went. I wanted to try something different and I like the elongated mouth shape. I think she turned out very cute. She is the first puppet I ever made for myself and I can't wait to use her next week! I will use this pattern shape again, but with more modifications. I didn't sew her mouth, it's glued. I prefer to sew, but when I'm working with a new design I sometimes get ahead of myself and forget a step. It may sound silly, but it happens. Just like I never remember to take pictures of the process. One day I will plan the photos and actually remember to take some. The best part about th...

How to Begin a Black Light Ministry Introduction: What is a Black Light Show?

So, why black light? First of all, using black light is just cool. It's so vibrant and colorful. But mostly there are things you can do in black light that you can't get away with in regular lighting situations. Black light can be magic! If you want to start a black light ministry you need to understand the principles of black light theatre. Black light is UV lighting that reflects white and fluorescent colored items like paint, fabric, poster board and paper. The principle of a black light show is to have everything blacked out so that only the colors of the puppets, props or clothing show. You can create anything your imagination dreams up for a black light show! Generally the colors that glow best are white (not all whites glow), neon pink, neon orange, neon green and neon yellow. Occasionally you can find some neon blue and purple but they don't show as bright as the other colors. Since you have a limited color palette you mus...

Puppet Space

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