PuppetLab Part 1: Here's This Rabbit Puppet

I began constructing this 4 foot puppet for no apparent reason in August.  I had built glow in the dark rabbit masks (featured elsewhere on this blog and The Perfomative Print) during the summer, using handmade paper pulp from old proofs.  I had a massive bucket of fiber left - and one day I just started building.  These are often the most satisfying creative endeavors.  It wasn't until I had nearly completed the individual parts of the marionette, that I received word from Heart of the Beast Puppet Theatre that I was chosen to participate in their Jerome funded PuppetLab.

The puppet is made entirely with paper and wire.  The paper is three years of bad prints beaten loosely to a puke colored pulp.  After the pulp formed dry, I coated it with copious thick paint.  The head is mache.

I designed the puppet to move like a rabbit and a human - but the engineering has yet to be resolved.

More on that later.

I really amped up the black light using an exposure unit I found in my basement.  I have four more high power black lights on order, and have acquired a small fog machine.  There's a lot more to show - but it'll have to wait til' part two.