The Butterflies were 4 feet wide and cut from 1/2" foam rubber with a single black control rod at the bottom. Each side of the Butterfly was painted in a different design with Flourescent spray paints. Manipulation was simply a matter of waving the control rod up and down to create a natural enough fluttering effect. Under the blacklights the Butterflies appeared to be flying under their own power and could be quickly flipped over for a shape-changing effect. There were 8 of these puppets, filling the stage for a few minutes of delightful ballet.
The Aquarium sequence was a bit more complicated. There were 2 each of the figures seen above, again simple cut-out shapes of 1/2" foam rubber and painted with different colors on each side in flouescent spray paint. The longer fish and eel had two control rods, the smaller ones only needed one. These 12 fishes, which measured from 24" to 60" long, were carefully choreographed moving back and forth across the stage and suddenly flipping over to a different look altogether as they traveled back the other way. There was also an Octopus which was constucted of foam mounted on a large Umbrella frame painted matte black. As the umbrella was opened and closed, the Octopus seemed to be propelling itself diagonally in between the other fishes in the scene, causing them to scatter and then reassemble.
I should mention that the two main human characters in the story, the Grandfather and his little Granddaughter were on either side of the stage carefully spot-lit so that they appeared to react and interact with the blacklit puppets...during the Aquarium sequence I even had them making bubbles with little bubble guns I bought at Toys-R-Us which added to the whimsy of the scene.
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