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Sold, not sold, sold

July 5, 2013 //
6

good buy

Yesterday the puppets had to say Good Bye to the gallery. It was a very emotional farewell. The staff at the gallery had well and truly fallen in love with the little critters, who brought a smile to visitor’s faces. I have to say, for me personally, the show was a success. I am totally overwhelmed by the great response I’ve got from everyone. The staff at the gallery were wonderful. I have nothing but praise for everyone.

From a selling point of view though, it wasn’t particularly successful. But then, I wasn’t so keen on letting them go in the first place. The Dedes were sitting on the fence as well and weren’t sure if they really should step away from their friends. In true Dede fashion there was a bit of a kerfuffle before everything was sorted. Actually, I am still not sure how many puppets I have sold.

It was obviously very difficult for people to choose which puppet to take. I had a little competition going where people could tell me which puppet they liked most. A lot of people said they couldn’t make up their minds, they loved them all. This of course is not very conducive to selling, is it? Someone was going to buy two puppets for his grandchildren. The first puppet he chose was Punch too, but when he came back he changed his mind.

Thankfully Punch too has a lot of me in him. He is a smiley one and looks a tad naive, but he  certainly doesn’t let the grass grow under his feet. He told me quietly that he had come to terms about having to leave the Dede home and was ready for new experiences. He’d rather like to live on a comfortable shelf overlooking a living room and get lovely clothes. Maybe something with a victorian lace collar or so.

I thought to myself: “dream on, not this time buddy!” But do you know what happened then? The genial Mrs A+ fell in love with him and took him home. I will have to tell you about the wonderful Mrs A+ in another post. Yes, she had a hard time making up her mind as she loves all the Dedes, but in the end Punch too‘s smile won her over.

I can tell you Punch too is over the moon. He got all he wanted, except for the lace collared robe, but who knows, there is always Christmas. And he promised the other Dedes to stay in touch. Isn’t that a happy ending?

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Categories Art, Exhibition, Hand Puppets, Life, Social Network

Good times at the Gallery

June 28, 2013 //
4

twofaced2 copy

Two-faced and I are starting to get worried. The Dedes seem to have too much fun at the Gallery and we feel a bit left out. They definitely wooed the staff. Each of the Dedes tried to adopt a staff member, but there weren’t enough staff members to go round, so only a few got lucky. I will have a hard time convincing them to come home with me next week.

Here is a link to the Gallery’s blog, so you can see what mischief they are getting up to :)

 

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Categories Absurd, Art, Exhibition, Fun, Hand Puppets, Promotion, Social Network

The one that’s left behind

June 26, 2013 //
4

twofaced

All the puppets are at the gallery. All but one!

I was short of one puppet stand and I had to decide which one to leave out. First of all I asked for a show of hands, but nobody volunteered. They are all very keen to be shown off to the world. They want to be famous and they believe being on display will finally bring about their big break. Never mind that they might be sold and that would mean they won’t be coming back to the house, will loose all their close friends, and we’ll never hear from them again. You certainly will have gathered by now they are not particularly good planners. They don’t worry about implications. They just live in the moment and dream of being famous.

Since no-one held their hand up, I decided to take Two-faced home. She is the only puppet I dislike, and I really mean it. Two-faced is not my thing!

Surprisingly, she didn’t mind hopping back in the box. I think she saw her chance to have me all to herself for two weeks. Now she is sitting on the cutting mat in the office and so far we haven’t spoken to each other. Two-faced just smiles, but I have no idea what she is thinking when she looks at me.

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Categories Art, Exhibition, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships, Social Network

Getting somewhere

June 8, 2013 //
8

workspace2

Yes, the Dedes are still around! And we are getting somewhere.  Still heaps to do, so I won’t write much today. Just a snapshot of the workspace tonight. The new ones are progressing nicely.So far I have completed eleven new characters for the exhibition, and there are still a few more in the making.

I am looking forward when it is all over and I can spend time reading other blogs again. At the moment I have the feeling I am totally disconnected from the world.

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

In the shadow of power

June 3, 2013 //
7

lap dog and court jester

I wish I had more time. Today was a public holiday in New Zealand (Queen’s Birthday) and I had hoped I could catch up on a lot of work, but the day is coming to an end and there is still plenty of things left on the to-do-list. I spend all day working on new  puppets. My goal is to finish 20 puppets for the exhibition. Under normal circumstances that shouldn’t be a problem. Unfortunately the working conditions are far from perfect: the house still isn’t finished and I don’t have a studio space. I share a little table with the builders and of course I can only use it when they are not here.

This leaves me with the weekends and nights. Fair enough. But while the house is water tight it is not totally enclosed yet and we are approaching the middle of winter. Okay, one could argue New Zealand is a Pacific Island and therefore the winter can’t be that harsh. After all, there is no snow in Auckland. But then, there is not much between here and Antarctica either and it is frigging cold at night.

Enough whingeing… I have nearly completed eleven new characters. The picture shows Lap Dog and Court Jester, two companions of the King. He is acquiring quite an entourage. I know Lap Dog won’t keep him honest, so I pin my hopes on Court Jester.

(Notice the ladder in the background? I wonder where these two want to go with it!)

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Categories Absurd, Creative Writing, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Social Network

Preparation

May 21, 2013 //
4

exhibition flyer.indd

Yesterday I had a meeting with the curator of my exhibition. It really hit me then that it is only a month away. I have to fill a room and 30 meters of wall space. What a luxury…

I spent today creating my promotional postcard. I love this image of Fairy Godmother and Devil. They look like they are sharing the town secret, and it didn’t take me long to decide they will become the pin-up couple for the exhibition.

ArtistatExit0 made a brillant comment on the blog yesterday. He suggested that if some of the puppets sell, maybe the new owners could contribute to the blog by sharing how their Dedes fare in their new home. I love the idea of having a real Dede community. I am not sure though if the blog is the best platform to accommodate such a community, or whether face book would be more suitable. (I am still not particularly familiar with face book). I will mull it over and hope to have something in place before I sell the first one. It would be exciting if the new owners of the Dedes  would be willing to participate every so often. And it certainly would make it easier for me to part with them.

I want to include parts of the blog into the exhibition. After all, I have 30 meters of wall space to fill. (The puppets will sit on plinths so visitors can walk around them). At the moment I am thinking of having two electronic frames side by side. One showing images used on the blog and the other one showing the matching text. I am not sure if it will work. That is something I dreamt up recently, but haven’t investigated further. And this certainly doesn’t fill 30 meters!

On the two Sundays during the exhibition I will have puppeteering workshops. It became clear in my conversation yesterday that when it comes to playing with puppets everybody just assumes it is for children. Personally, I enivsage the puppets sitting on grandmother’s bookshelf rather than in the kiddies’ toy box. I explained this to the curator. Today I got an email from her telling me about a conversation she subsequently had with some people from U3A (University of Third Age). They seem to be quite interested in the puppeteering idea. Oh, there is still so much to do. For now I am happy that I recovered my spirit from the bottom of the toy box!

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Categories Art, Hand Puppets, Life, Promotion, Social Network

The freeloader

May 20, 2013 //
3

haselmaus

Oh, how I have missed making up stories! I spent the entire weekend working on the puppets and I have finished three more characters and have plenty more in various stages of completion. The new additions are the king, the freeloader and the lap dog. I have the best intentions not get too attached to the new puppets as they will be for sale at the upcoming exhibition. So I am deliberately not giving them names but they still tell me their stories while I sit there shaping their features. This one here reminds me of the common dormouse. She has a cute little face and you just want to cuddle her. Her skin mainly shows parts of vegetables. So she is focussed on the food that she tries to score for free. Fortunately she doesn’t need much. And now I am already attached to her!

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Relationships, Social Network

Coming soon

May 17, 2013 //
3

king copy

OMG it is a week since my last post! The week flew by. I have no idea what kept me so busy, but I seem to be constantly on the go. I started making new puppets last weekend. Unfortunately I didn’t finish any. The King really wants get out there. He is already preparing his maiden speech. I hope he doesn’t think it is his given right to rule all the other Dedes once he is finished.

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

The chosen one

May 8, 2013 //
4

leave skeleton

Lil’ Sculpture has finally made his decision. He was sitting up on his bookshelf observing the Dedes closely and you should have seen the Dedes’ faces when he announced his decision. His choice was Deutsch Fraulein (German girl). How on earth did Lil’ Sculpture come to the conclusion she would be an outsider? Beats all of us really. But anyway, he is convinced and stuck to his guns. Deutsch Fraulein played hard to get and didn’t want to answer in the beginning. She doesn’t want to have her photograph taken either. We don’t have many pictures of her, even though she was one of the earliest Dedes and she has this wonderful smile.

Recently she has taken up photography as a hobby and she definitely prefers to be behind the camera rather than in front of the lens. So she made a deal with Lil’ Sculpture. She will answer his questions if he puts up one of her photographs instead of a picture of her. Lil’ Sculpture didn’t have a problem with that at all and so the deal was sealed.

Here are the questions and her answers:

1. What makes you unique?

Deutsch Fraulein: Oh dear, can’t you tell? I am different! I have this birth mark on my forehead. It is very clearly a German flag. You know, I should have been someone else but this birth mark has ruined everything. It really hindered me from becoming what I really should have been. Did you know that originally I should have been the Dede Princess?

2. Do you consider being unique a curse or a blessing?

Deutsch Fraulein: In my case it is a curse. I have to carry an historic load through no fault of my own. If I’d been the princess it would be a blessing. People would respect me for my status.

3. What is the most difficult thing for you to cope with?

Deutsch Fraulein: I have no home. I have no roots. I was born here, but I am a foreigner. People take one look at me and know I am not from here. But funnily enough, if I moved to Germany I would be a foreigner too.

4. What do you like most about your uniqueness?

Deutsch Fraulein: I could do without my bloody uniqueness. I want to be like everybody else. I saw a doctor to find out whether the birth mark can be removed, but no, there was nothing he could do. I have to live with it forever.

5. If you had one wish, what would you wish for?

Deutsch Fraulein: A magic cap! An invisibility cloak. Something I can wear to become invisible.

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Categories Art, Creative Writing, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships, Social Network

Who is next?

May 7, 2013 //
2

rain

A terrible storm has popunded the area for the last three days. The wind was howling around the corners of our half finished house. Not the kind of weather you want to go out in, particularly if you are not water proof. So the Dedes huddled together in their corner, while I had to brave the weather. Lil’ Sculpture, back in his vantage point on the book-shelf, tried to decide who he will put his five questions to. His idea was to identify a puppet who is a Dede, but still an outsider within this otherwise homogeneous society. When the idea first came to him he thought it would be easy to pin point a candidate. Now he realises there are a few contenders. In fact they are all more or less outsiders to some degree.

Then he wanted to question Clay Head, who used to be a Dede but turned into something else. Clay Head had obviously left the community by choice. Unfortunately no-one has seen Clay Head since the move. It might be that he has left the Dedes for good. Alien was his second choice. Of course an alien must be different. But watching closely how they all interact Lil’ Sculpture became aware Alien is well established in the Dede society. He is the life and soul of every party and doesn’t  give a toss about what everybody else thinks. Even if he is an outsider, he doesn’t seem to have a problem with his role. Then there are others who desperately want to be different, but are not so. They are like any other Dede.

As the Dedes are bored sitting in their little corner all day they are now starting to pressure Lil’ Sculpture and warned him if he doesn’t make up his mind soon, somebody else will take over and ask the next questions. “You can tell you are not a Dede” Socialite said unkindly, “Dedes don’t take so long to make decisions.”

He begged them to give him another day. He has short-listed three candidates and he will make up his mind by tonight.

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Categories Art, Creative Writing, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Social Network
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