Hair Today 2 ( deleted from earlier post)

 In reviewing my posts I discovered that I inadvertently deleted the second part of the Puppet Hair tutorial, so here it is belatedly:

Aside from the pom-pom maker for creating the puppet's hair, the simple cardboard jig shown above will assist you in making long lengths of yarn hair. Roughly 12" long by 7" wide with the center section cut out.

Here the yarn (two tones of color to create texture that will read under the stage lights) is wrapped around the width of the jig about 40 times and secured at the outer ends with wooden clothes pins. The open center section allows the entire jig to be positioned on the sewing machine. A tight stitch is run down the center of the yarn. Clip the sides with scissors.

 The first finished section of hair, laid ear to ear on the back of the puppet's head and then stitched with heavy carpet thread to the same colored fabric backing.

 I use a curved upholstery needle for this type of sewing. Much easier to handle. Tie a knot in every other stitch to secure the hair firmly in place.

Sew three sections up the back of the head to the upper center and flip the last section around to form the bangs. Give the hair a trimming and GOLO the Giant has a very serviceable head of hair. I will take a few stitches to secure the strands above the ears later.

[ Not Shown, but equally useful: To create curls from the yarn you will need a 12" length of 1/4" wooden dowel and a plastic soda straw which you will slip over the dowel. In a small dish or tray ( I wash and reuse the ones that frozen dinners come in) mix some ordinary white school glue with an equal amount of warm water and stir together thoroughly. Cut about a 20" length of the yarn and dip it into this glue mixture until it is saturated. Draw the yarn through your fingers to remove some of the excess liquid. This is messy, so you might want to wear plastic gloves while you work. Using a wooden clothes pin, clip one end of the wet yarn to the top of the straw over the dowel. Gently roll the yarn around the straw being careful not to stretch it. For tight curls, wrap the yarn so that each round touches the first one...for looser curls wrap the yarn with a bit of space in between the rounds. Clip the other end of the yarn to the straw & dowel with another clothes pin and set the whole thing out in the sun to dry. If no sun use a small fan to blow on the yarn to dry it. This takes about 4 hours. Don't remove the yarn until it is completely dry. When you un-clip the ends the curled yarn should slip off the plastic straw easily. That 20" piece should yield three or four good sized curls or you can sew it on the head as is in a curving formation, adding additional lengths as needed.  These glued curls will hold their shape forever and the white glue doesn't alter the original color of the yarn at all. ]

Puppet Costuming!

 The question I am most asked involves how I draft the patterns I use to both construct and costume these puppets. This seems to be the biggest impediment today facing young would-be puppeteers. "How to I start?"
Pattern drafting is an art, and it can be learned. I started by studying commercially available clothing patterns and playing with them to adapt to theatrical uses. Later as a young man I had the good fortune to study the concept of clothing design with some really top notch designers like IRENE CORY and JOE TOMPKINS. I even took a tailoring course in my 20's, which really gave me a background in anatomy and the ability to "fit" a garment to an individual's often uneven body.

Of course all of this was years ago...today you have the benefit of amazing online tutorials. But the old, hands-on training is still the best. It taught me how to look at an idea, visualize it and make it happen.

The bodies of the LILI puppets all end at the waist, as if they were true hand puppets. In fact they are rod puppets controlled from just under their heads against a black background. So their costumes must establish their characters without the use of hips or legs. I created the puppet's bodies from patterns I drafted to allow for the puppeteer's hand inside the torso. Next I lay ordinary sketch paper over the puppet body and with a pencil, draft a body fitting pattern, called a "Sloper". This pattern would hug the body precisely, following it's every curve and bulge. From this master body pattern, it is possible to sketch out any clothing pattern needed, or to adapt an existing pattern to fit. I have done this in the photo's above using a tuxedo pattern I drafted for a marionette of smaller scale some years ago. This will be REYNARDO'S purple tailcoat. I like the original pattern and have just adapted it to fit the current puppet's body. This required some additional pattern length at the shoulder and the waist, with a bit of length added at the waistline. Pinning all this to the puppet's finished body gives you a good idea of how it will hang and fit.

[ Basic Rule: Always allow MORE seam before fitting the costume to the finished body. You can always REDUCE the costume, but ADDING material is very difficult. Buy yardage accordingly. Screw up once, have enough material to fix the problem if needed.]

Puppet Arm Assembly

 With the puppet's bodies completed the arms are the last element to be added before final costuming can begin.

Unlike conventional puppet or marionette arms which are flexibly jointed, these puppets will have bendable elbow joints. At the upper left above is the simple armature: 2 - 3" X 3/4" dowel pieces with a 7" loop of 16 gauge wire inserted into two holes drilled in the top of each dowel and epoxied in place.

I used the same heavy double knit material with which I covered the bodies to sew upper arm pieces. These are stretched over the wire, the cavities stuffed firmly with cotton batting, and the lower edges attached secuerly to the dowels with hot melt glue.

Finally the felt hands I made earlier are hot melt glued securely to the lower end of each dowel as shown. Here the finished arms are bent to the "20 minute" position, as on the face of a clock. After the costumes have been completed and the sleeves are in place the arms will be bent further into position and the control rods will be attached just below the wrists.

Each puppet character will have his or her arms sewn to the shoulders of the body with heavy carpet thread as shown above. I use a traditional overcoat button stitch in which the loops of thread are wound tightly around the center before finishing the stitching off with a drop of hot melt glue atop the center. This shoulder joint will last forever.

Puppet heads are completed. Bodies are completed. It Is   TIME TO COSTUME!!!!

Puppet Body Construction

 The  LILI  puppet's bodies are constructed from the same 5mm foam sheeting which was used to form their heads earlier. Above you see the Shoulder Blocks which were cut and sanded from 1/2" cedar. I use conventional cedar fencing material which you can buy at any Home Improvement Store. Cedar is the right thickness, very lightweight and has the added benefit of offering some protection from moths and insects which might later atempt to prey upon the puppets during their use in the outdoor environment of the Hip Pocket Theatre!
I form paper patterns to size and create hip blocks accordingly from the same Cedar. Each character will have a slightly different body type, especially MARGUERITTE who requires a female form with some shoulder and bosum exposed.

Here on the left  you see an example of the Foam and Cedar pieces attached together with contact cement. A Yoke piece attaches between the Shoulder Block and Main Body. The bottom of the Main Body is glued to the Hip Block. This widens the body in the middle to allow room for the puppeteer's hand and the controller within the body cavity.
The entire assembly is then covered in a heavy double knit fabric with a carefully placed section of cotton batting in between to soften and shape the torso into shoulder, chest and waist as shown on the right. This double knit "skin" will allow a base for the finished costumes to be sewn to. Since the puppets exist from the waist up only, I have covered the bottom of the Hip Block with black felt.

Next up: The Arms.

LILI Adapted and Designed for the Stage by James Maynard

The HIP POCKET THEATRE 39th Season was officially announced this evening. My show will be third in the lineup:

LILI
Adapted and Designed for the Stage by James Maynard
From the Screenplay by Helen Deutsch
and the Original Story by Paul Gallico

With Music Cues taken from the Film Score by Bronislau Kaper

Opening August 14 for a four week run at the Hip Pocket Theatre, Fort Worth, Texas.

Above in my workshop in New Mexico with the Final Set Design for the show.
A copy of this was unveiled this evening in Fort Worth as the season was announced.

In the coming weeks as I prepare the set pieces and costumes I will be posting my work in progress and detailing my ideas for staging this unique show.