1. A story always begins with the norm. Everyday life or what is expected for the characters that are involved. This sets up the story, giving a time, setting and introducing the main characters.
2. The next step is for something out of the ordinary or unusual to happen. This could involve the characters encountering a problem or having to partake in a quest to achieve a mission. 3. The main body of the story is then the characters going on this 'mission' and what they encounter whilst on it, this could involve various other smaller problems and resolutions. There are rising stakes for the characters and changing fortunes. Their back stories are often revealed here. 4. Generally, the climax comes after this. This is where the characters solve the original problem, sometimes through a final fight. 5. As the problems are resolved, this shows the characters returning to normal or the aftermath of what they have just endured and encountered. 6. Finally, life returns back to how it was before, with the problems resolved and a sense of normality.
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We began to look at the joints on limbs of various different puppets so that we could work out a system of making our own. We found that all of the examples were very similar in the way that they had been made/put together with only varying differences being the shape (i.e. if it was for an arm or a leg) and where the 'stopper' on the joint was which would restrict the movement so that the limb wouldn't bend the wrong way making it more human like.
Having studying these examples and seeing how they worker we went onto carving our own limbs out of Balsa wood. Having previously been mainly working with foam, I found the change to carving wood quite challenging. Its a very soft, light weight wood which makes it easy to cut into however this means it is also easy to dent and damage. I personally found it quite difficult to not carve out too much of the wood, it was very easy to slip and due to the layered nature of the wood it if fairly easy to end up peeling an entire layer of the wood off. It took much more practise than the foam carving for me to get an idea of how to do it but it was also very easy to sand down to perfect the shape of the joint so that it was easy to move and didn't stick. To make my large scale foam puppet, I had to draw on skills that I had previously learnt whilst making the other puppets so far. The mouth of this puppet was made in a similar way to how the mouth of the sock puppet was made; by cutting out some card in an oval shape to fit your hand. The head was made out of three different foam parts, the chin/jaw, the face and the back of the head.
I spent quite a bit of time planning this puppet as the character was loosely based on the smaller foam puppet I had made the previous week. However, I found that once I started to carve the puppet out of the foam block, the puppet started to take on its own character so I decided not to follow my original idea so strictly. I spent a very long time making sure that the surface of the foam was smooth once i had carved out all of the general features of the face. This would make it easier to paint or cover during the later stages of the puppet making. Similarly to the smaller foam puppet, I found it hard to really round off the face and I can see, especially now that the puppet is very nearly finished that her head still appears to be quite square. Whilst I carved out her eyes and nose from the original foam block I had to work with, I decided to carve her ears out separately and I thought It would be easier to add them after as for a long time I had to work of the smoothness and shape of the side of the head meaning I was constantly cutting and changing the surface. Having painted straight onto a foam surface before, I decided that I didn't really like the look and want to aim for a smoother looking finish. I decided to papermache the surface of the puppet. This took quite a while to do due to its size and quite a while to dry properly as the foam absorbed the PVA and water. Once it was dry I was able to paint the face and hands which by this point I had also carved and papermached. I decided to make her body and clothing from some material I had at home. I stuffed her body to give her more shape and sewed half way down her arms to create elbows so the arms could be bent and manipulated. I am continuing to work on the finished look on this puppet and I am going to aim to add legs and make the hair more lifelike. Working with foam for the first time was a challenge. Having been given a block of foam I felt like I didn't really know where to begin, drawing onto the foam felt uncertain as I wasn't sure on how to tackle carving and didn't know yet what could and wouldn't work for it. I found that the sharper the scissors were, the easier it was to make sharp, clean cuts which made adding finer detail to the puppet much easier. To improve this puppet, I could make her head less 'square' looking and she needs another coat of paint however, I think carving her eyes went well and the general area of the foam is very smooth.
I actually found the hands easier to carve than the face as whilst they were quite a bit smaller I now knew and had practiced different ways of manipulating the foam and of how to cut it although once again, like the head, they look quite angular so work could be done to make them become 'rounder' and more 'organic' looking. The next step will be to add 'clothes' to attach the head and the hands of the puppet so that it can be manipulated by a person using the puppet. |
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January 2017
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