Archives for category: Social Network

Relaxing?

January 9, 2016 //

Yesterday we had a storm forcing Devil to get out of his hammock only to move straight onto the sofa. Out of boredom he decided to check out Instagram more closely. Cash Cow joined him on the sofa with a book. She expected a quiet relaxing afternoon, but she very quickly regretted sitting next to Devil. He interrupted her every couple of seconds and wanted her to look at a picture. First he was really excited. “Look at all these fluffy toys and what they are doing. They are out in the world traveling. I wish the artist would take me too.” He found so many images he liked and then, ah, how he enjoyed images depicting snow. He would so love to be in those places. It is January and it should be cold and white. Then he looked at all the photographers, then at all the painters, then at Lego people doing things and then at fluffy toys again. And the longer he spent on Instagram the more his excitement turned into an anxiety. “Here are all these fluffy toys doing things and they are so cute and cuddly. They have so many followers and people want to know what they are up to. And here I am sitting on our sofa looking on the mobile to see the world. Who the hell knows me? Who gives a toss about me!”

Cash Cow sighed deeply and put her book to the side. “Look Devil…. I am telling you, you are not in competition with fluffy toys! You are not soft and you are not even cute. Maybe a Dede might think you are good looking, but that is it. You were born a No Body like all the other Dedes and while we try hard to dress up as something, we will always be Nobodies!”

Tags art, Characters, dede puppets, life, mood, personalities, story, story telling

Categories Absurd, Art, Comedy, Creative Writing, film, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Social Network

Flatbread film

January 8, 2016 //

Drum roll for the new film. I have to admit, the Dedes are much better cooks than singers :) . This time they made flatbread, the recipe from the Artist’s Survival Cookbook on page 22. You can fill the bread with grated vegetables and cheese. Yummmmyyy.

For this film Devil wanted to be the director because it is his recipe in the book. He finally let me know what his gripe is with the rest of the Dedes. He finds them far too unprofessional and in his mind they have to seriously up their game. For this reason Mouse didn’t show him the final version before she uploaded it to Youtube. She wanted to avoid the scathing remarks he will no doubt air as soon as he sees the film. That would have been too much for her yesterday.

Tags art, creative writing, dede puppets, flour and water, recipe, story telling

Categories Absurd, Art, Books, Comedy, Creative Writing, film, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, recipes, Self-publishing, Social Network, Stop Motion, workshop

On the 6th day of Christmas

December 30, 2015 //

…my true love brought to me six punters paying, five golden things, four thrown-off frocks, three strange friends, two purple gloves and a chicken in a dead tree.

In the original carol, the true love had send presents up till now. Strangely after day 5 it changes to activities that can be watched or joined. On the sixth day “Six geese a laying” were sent. Having backyard chickens I definitely would value the laying fowls. My present of course was different: Six Dedes showed up with bundles of money. Maybe they had found the geese from the original song and they were of the kind that laid golden eggs. Or maybe the Dedes adopted the Chinese custom to repay debts before the New Year so they can start with a clean slate. Pity only that it was some sort of monopoly money, God knows where they found that.

Previous presents

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Tags art, Characters, dede puppets, life, mood, story telling

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

Goodbye my trusted friend

December 18, 2015 //

No, no, no, I am not talking about Devil. He will stay my friend forever. No, I am talking about the old dunger of a mobile phone, my trusted Nokia. I actually loved that thing. As I am sitting in front of the computer all day, every day, I only needed the mobile to send some text messages. For example: “leaving now” or “there in 10 mins”. Everything else could wait. It is actually quite nice to ride on the bus and watch the people around you, and not being tempted to look at emails or the internet. The trusted Nokia was a hand-me down and now I got a new hand-me-down that takes me into the smart phone era. Uhuuuuh. I gratefully accepted the gift, as I can now add instagram to the mix. Devil and I looked at how it all works this afternoon but we weren’t very successful. We had a battle with the mobile and with instagram and with each other. The worst was sharing the images on facebook. We haven’t figured that one out yet, should be easy really…. Anyway, in the end it was too much for Devil. You know how it is when two people who think they know what they are doing, but in fact don’t, try to use the same device. Finally he let me figure it out on my own and wandered off into the garden to watch the grass grow. But when he came back and I was still tearing my hair out, he decided he’d better put the trusted Nokia in a safe place. Who knows. Good on him!

Tags art, dede puppets, friends, fun, personalities, story

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

Right direction

December 17, 2015 //

I can assure you, the Dedes are wrong, I wasn’t slack in the past months. I just had an energy-sucker of a job. I have recently resigned from this absolute terrible workplace. Let me rephrase that, the job as such wasn’t terrible, to be honest it was my dream job. I loved the students and every minute of teaching, but the school was suffering from a bullying culture, created by a bunch of alcoholics. One of them also showed very strong signs of a cluster B personality disorder. I only realised how much the situation sucked me dry – particularly my creativity – once I had resigned. It was an, how can I say that… “interesting” experience and I am surprised that I got to my age without having come across such a dysfunctional workplace before. Unfortunately I am very loyal person and often stick around longer than I should, because I so believe I can make a difference. Not!

Okay this was my rant for the day!

I hope the Dedes understand now why they have been a little neglected lately. And they were right, they didn’t get as much attention as they deserved. My first peace offering to them was, that I set up a new zazzle product for sale: An apron with the image of Milky Bar Devil presenting his delicious hamburger bun – the cover shot of The Artist’s Survival Cookbook. My old mate Devil got all emotional after he’d realised I am back on board. He shook my hand and said we should renew our pact. I didn’t know we had one!

Artist's Survival Apron by dededesign
Many more kitchen apron designs online at zazzle” apron designs on zazzle

Tags art, dede puppets, friends, life, mood, reflections

Categories Absurd, Art, bullying, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Promotion, Relationships, Social Network

Peacemaker

December 16, 2015 //

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?

Tags art, dede puppets, friends, life, mood, relationships, thoughts

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

Why I play with puppets (13)

November 2, 2015 //

The puppets are an amazing tool to foster understanding. For example Pig. In the first week of the superdede competition Pig froze on stage and it became clear he is an alcoholic, but for no fault of his own. In the competition he told the blog readers is because the farmer fed beer to the mother sow to make farrowing easier. So he basically suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome. It also became clear, that Professor and Pig are co-depended. A very common trait in alcoholics.

Tags art, dede puppets, life, pecha kucha

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

Why I play with puppets (11)

October 26, 2015 //

Hermit’s Web was the first public appearance of the Dedes, and someone recommended I should write a blog to keep track of their progess. After the book was published the story continued here. The blog really helped me to find out, what I am doing. To be honest, the puppets don’t have much bite. They are funny in a very subtle way. Sometimes I might be the only one who gets their jokes :). For me it is all about understanding where people come from and how they tick. I don’t care if others deem the puppets silly. I love them. They are a brilliant tool to keep me sane.

This picture was taken on Halloween two years back. I am not a big fan of Halloween, but obviously the Dedes are. (Note: you certainly guessed it, they are all wearing masks with my face on it. Pretty scary!)

Tags art, blog, Characters, life, mood, personalities, story

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

Why I play with puppets (10)

October 24, 2015 //

The Dedepuppets started out as observers of life. These two are pals from the book Hermit’s web or the few friends I need I handcraft myself, that I did in 2012. The brainy Professor and his buddy Pig. They are a couple. The professor loves to talk and drink and comes across as being intelligent. His mate pig loves to drink. Fullstop! He doesn’t say much. And in the book the story goes, he is not a connoisseur at all, he just quaffs down the wine until he is plastered.

(Note: Little did I know back then what it actually means if you have to work with Professor and Pig. Back then I only knew them from a social setting. Socially they can be fun, but at work, oh dear… you don’t want go there!)

Tags art, character traits, Characters, dede puppets, friends, life, pecha kucha, self-publishing, story

Categories Art, Books, bullying, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships, Social Network

Best Buns – the film

October 13, 2015 //

Last Sunday I grabbed two of my puppets and together we made the best bun recipe from page 32. Just to prove that it is that simple. I hope you like it, it would be great if you could share. It is such a great Christmas present. Buy a bag of flour, a wooden spoon and the Artist’s Survival Cookbook and you can make someone a really happy kitchen god(ess).