Archives for category: Hand Puppets
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Peacemaker

December 16, 2015 //
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fairy godmother flowers

It’s so typical. First the Dedes insult me, then they send a peacemaker to say they are sorry. Obviously they weren’t entirely serious about sacking me as an artist. I am not sure whether they had a meeting last night, as I was out with real friends. So they had the chance to discuss our relationship without running the risk of me eavesdropping. Anyway, today Fairy Godmother brought me a bunch of flowers she picked from the garden. She apologised for the rude behaviour of her peers yesterday. At first I thought it was very sweet, but then I had the feeling it wasn’t heartfelt. They must realise that they need me as much as I need them. Maybe they are aware that I might drop them if they continue to treat me as if I was their lackey. We are in it together. Sure enough, she then added “but there is a bit of truth in what they said yesterday.”

“I know” I admitted. “But honestly, I don’t know what to do anymore. You guys expect the impossible.”

“Look, I can see where you are coming from” said Fairy Godmother in a conciliatory voice. “I’m in the same boat. Everybody expects me to work wonders too, but it is evident that I have hit a brick wall on more than one occasion” and she pointed to her forehead. “You simply have to keep going!”

“I need more support from you, though. You have all these wonderful ideas but you just dump them on me and you never stick to anything!”

“What do you mean?” Fairy Godmother asked surprised. “Don’t forget we are only puppets!”

Now my dear readers. What do you think? Are they an ungrateful bunch or what? Does anyone have an idea what I should do with them?

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Social Network

Moving on

December 15, 2015 //
0

moving on

Now we are at this stage again…. the Dedes are getting impatient with me! We had the big book launch, which went very well, thank you. And then they went quiet again. It’s coming up to Christmas and the Dedes will soon have their fourth anniversary. When I reminded them of that and asked what they wanted to do to celebrate it,  Snotty Nosed Prince thew his hands up in disgust. “Four years! We should be more well known by now. What have you done in all those years, girl?” And he had support from the others. “You are useless as an artist, I think we should sack you!” Loudmouth crowed angrily and didn’t waste any time packing my suitcase.

I couldn’t take it anymore, “Well,” I said when I left the studio, “writing a book is the easy part, marketing it is much more difficult.” Personally, I think they should be a bit more supportive and come up with some ideas themselves. After all, I am only one person and there are 64 or so of them.

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Categories Absurd, Art, Books, Comedy, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships, Self-publishing

Giveaway

December 13, 2015 //
0

Time is flying. It seems like only yesterday that I had the booklaunch, but no, it is already two weeks ago. Must be because it is Christmas and there are so many things to organise before the end of the year. Anyway the Dedes are working in the background and for now, because it is Christmas, they have set up a giveaway on Goodreads. It runs from today to the 3 of January. All you need to do is enter by clicking on the link below. No questions asked (at least if you are a goodreads member, if not, you will have to answer a few questions about your reading habits to become a member) :)

Goodreads Book Giveaway

The Artist's Survival Cookbook by Dietlind Wagner

The Artist's Survival Cookbook

by Dietlind Wagner

Giveaway ends January 03, 2016.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter Giveaway

https://www.goodreads.com/giveaway/widget/166074

Categories Absurd, Art, Book Launch, Books, Competition, Fun, Hand Puppets, Promotion, recipes, Self-publishing

Book launch impressions

December 3, 2015 //
0

Carly sent me the images she took at the launch of The Artist’s Survival Cookbook. It was so difficult to whittle them down to a few. I am really impressed. Click on any of the images to enlarge and see the slideshow. (c) carlyphotography.co.nz

 

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Categories Art, Book Launch, Books, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Photography, recipes, Self-publishing, workshop

It had to happen

November 27, 2015 //
3

yeast plait

Today is baking day. We are making a couple of items so we have something to offer before the first bread will come out of the oven tomorrow. Early this morning we started off with a yeast plait, and would you believe it, it got slightly burned around the edges. Cash Cow was very unhappy and her initial thought was, she will have to do it again, we can’t take that thing to our event. Alien, who has a very sunny disposition tries to talk her out of it. In his opinion nobody will notice once it is cut up. I don’t know. I leave them to sort it out :)

I use my oven all the time and it really should not have happend. This of course makes me wonder how the two ovens a the church will behave. I never used them before. We might head towards disaster.

And while I am writing this in a disgruntled mood, can anybody tell me where the spellcheck function in WordPress is hiding now? I can’t find the button, or am I the only one who needs a spell-checker?

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Categories Absurd, Art, Book Launch, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Promotion, recipes, Self-publishing, workshop

Packing up

November 26, 2015 //
12

packing up

Now I am getting nervous. The book launch is on Saturday and I have made plenty of lists: What I have to take, what I have to buy, what I have to ask others to help me with and so on.

Yesterday I had to swing by the venue again because all of a sudden I realised I don’t even know where the toilets are and then I was told the fridge is broken. So I will have to organise a chilly bin for the milk and the butter. I don’t have one of those.

Today I went to the shops to buy flour. Surprisingly, the 1.5 kg bags were more economical, because they were on special this week. So I bought 8 packets of white flour and 4 packets of whole meal. The lady at checkout was so curious, she couldn’t resist asking me what I was doing :). I knew that will happen. Honestly who would buy 12 packets of flour in one go. It wasn’t really that cheap that it justified hording. So I gave her an invitation to the launch.

The worst thing is, I have absolutely no idea how many people will show up. I have had some replies to my emails and a lot of people said it is a great idea. I didn’t ask for RSVP as it would make it too official and I really would like for people to just drop by.

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Categories Art, Book Launch, Books, Fun, Hand Puppets, Self-publishing, workshop

Why I play with puppets (18)

November 24, 2015 //
0

Dietlind Wagner dedepuppet and bun

Doesn’t the saying go: “Necessity is the mother of all inventions”. When the puppets got really desperate, they came up with the idea to make a book full of recipes with flour and water: The Artist’s Survival  Cookbook. The book is now available on CreateSpace and this Saturday we are celebrating the launch with a pop-up kitchen at the Methodist Church in Birkenhead. It is an interactive launch and the visitors can try their hand at a recipe from the book. I still have a lot to prepare and I have no idea how it will go, but that is the fun of it :)

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Categories Absurd, Art, Book Launch, Books, Comedy, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Self-publishing, workshop

Why I play with puppets (17)

November 18, 2015 //
0

devil sunglasses

Loosing your job is a very unsettling event and you will go through a serious grieving phase. It would be strange if you wouldn’t. When it happened, my favourite puppet Devil (the first puppet I ever made) wore dark sunglasses a lot.

I so wanted my puppets to get a bit more bite and be more negative and scathing on the blog. But they ignored me. Negativity is not in their make-up. It doesn’t come naturally to them. Instead they got quieter and quieter.

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, film, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Why I play with puppets (16)

November 17, 2015 //
0

alien

In the beginning the Dedes and I had a care free life. I did workshops and wrote every morning between 7 and 9, before I trundled off to work.

Looking back at the early days with the puppets, they clearly express my attitude: “There are no real dramas! So, get over it.”

And then I lost two major contracts in my design business, and my part-time teaching job – all at the same time. Tja and everything new I touched seemed to turn to custard straight away. This was a new experience for me!

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Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life

Why I play with puppets (15)

November 12, 2015 //
0

elemate

The next step up from just telling stories on the blog was the puppet films. Puppets are performers and they want to move. One weekend, when I was home alone, I created the film “Life of an Artist”. It describes the plight of an artist creating work that nobody gives a toss about. Most of us can relate to that, eh.

This lead to me running workshops where a small group of people get together to create impromptu stop motion films. It’s similar to “theatre sports” or “who’s line is it anyway”. I’m sure you get the picture. It’s hillareous. I only facilitate and observe and I put the film together in the end. This picture though, is from a different workshop. This one is called “My friend the Dede.” Here I work with older people to elicit stories. I love that particular picture. The elephant and the lady display such a wonderful rapport.

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Categories Absurd, Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, workshop
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