Remember the scene in The Sound of Music when the children perform a puppet show about the girl and goat herder? Didn’t it make you yearn to put on a puppet show of your very own? Well, even if it didn’t, you now have an opportunity to create a one-of-a-kind marionette of your own design. We will begin by sculpting a head with polymer clay, and then creating articulating limbs. Clothe your creation in simple-to-sew, colorful garments and then learn how to rig the puppet to the strings and bars. With a little practice, your marionette will be dancing on a stage. The techniques we will employ will be sculpting basic facial features, creating different textures using everyday objects, using paints and dyes to develop brilliant effects, hand-sewing simple garments, and rigging the puppet.
Materials Fee $20 paid at beginning of class includes:
Supplies available for use by students: acrylic and alcohol inks, stamps and other objects for creating texture, acrylic paints, wire, foil for armatures, muslin fabric, wooden dowels, string, fabric scraps
Supplies Needed to bring for Class:
1 lb. white oven-bake polymer clay
Sculpting tools including silicone-tipped sculpting tools and metal ball styluses in a variety of sizes (example: example sculpting kit)
Paint brushes in a range of sizes and styles
Black acrylic paint
1 roll paper towels
Water basin for washing brushes
Hand-sewing tools such as needles, thread, and scissors
Fabric scraps and trims (optional) for creating garments for the puppet.