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A word from the artist

March 30, 2015 //
8

scare crow

Poor old Top Dog is still out there in the garden, exposed to wind, rain and a little sunshine in between. Of course, the other Dedes feel sorry for him and in good old lovey-dovey Dede fashion would like to invite him back into the house. All his past actions and words forgiven and forgotten, in the hope he has learnt his lesson during the wet and dark nights. But this time, the artist put her foot down and said “No”. She needs to have him gone for the sake of the other Dedes. Top Dog’s demise is of course symbolic.

To make use of the figure, the artist donated his head to a scientific experiment, run by Pavlova, the lab rat. They want to find out how long it will take a Dede to turn into something unrecognisable when exposed to the elements. As the puppets are made from paper mache they are unsuitable for an outdoor environment. Though the surface of the head is treated, the artist had expected it will turn into mush with the first heavy rain. It hasn’t. Top Dog has survived four days now and knocking on his head proves he is as strong as ever (it looks like he quite likes being knocked on the head :). At least he is getting some attention). The whole thing might drag on for a while. Meanwhile, the rest of the Dedes have come to accept that Top Dog definitely won’t return. They still find it very unsettling. After all he is a Dede. To ease their grief they are now taking bets on how long it will take before he is finished. We will keep you posted.

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

Happy to leave

February 19, 2015 //
4

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Today a little interlude. The Dedes said good bye to a dear friend yesterday: a boat called Traumtanz. They are so used to her, as she has been in the garden all their lives.  All three years of it (of course, everybody who knows us personally, knows the boat has been in the garden for much longer, but we won’t tell the Dedes.)

Anyway, yesterday was the big day. She was loaded onto a truck and made the trip to the beach, where she was assembled. Traumtanz is a Wharram catamaran. One of the features is that the two hulls are only lashed together rather than being connected by nuts and bolts. Yes, it is safe and works well. She was built by hubby and we sailed her for many years before she came back to the house for an overhaul. Unfortunately, the overhaul took much longer than intended, due to all the little things life throws at you. Anywway, she is back and we are so looking forward to some great adventures.

 

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Categories Art, Comedy, Fun, Life, Photography, Relationships, Social Network

Politics about teff

February 5, 2015 //
0

mouse and witch

Witch went to Mouse and said, “You are right!” Mouse was staggered as she didn’t have a clue what she was talking about.

“I agree, we shouldn’t include the teff custard in the book” she explained. “Why the sudden change?” Mouse asked her friend. And then Witch told her that she had just read an article about teff being currently en vogue with Hollywood stars. So the demand is rising and will rise even further. However, it is also one of the basic foods in Ethiopia, where half the population  lives on less than a dollar a day. As the carbohydrates in teff are absorbed slowly people can eat their national dish injera, a sour dough bread made from teff, and then work all day without getting hungry. The Ethiopian government is now expecting a price explosion due to increased demand from the Western World, akin to what happened when quinoa all of a sudden became popular a few years back. This might result in hunger and malnourishment in the poorer population of Ethopia. As a measure, the government has currently banned exports of teff except with a special license.

“I wonder if you can obtain a special license when you give money to a government official?” asked Mouse.

“That’s not my main concern, but you might have a point there” said Witch. “Teff is certainly a very healthy food, but we in the West don’t run the risk of starvation, particularly not the Hollywood lot. Luckily, teff is a relatively hardy plant, but I understand it is time consuming to look after and process. Personally, I will forgo my desire for teff until other cultivating areas have been established – but not in a Monsanto type of way.”

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Categories Absurd, Art, Books, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, recipes

Publishing process

February 1, 2015 //
2

mouse devil reading book

“We won’t get 101 recipes” said Mouse again and looked at her list. “I think we have twenty-five or so.”

“There are still a few to come” said Witch. “I definitely want to do my teff custard”. Witch is the one that tries all sort of different flours. Teff is her favourite. It is an Ethiopian highland grain and is gluten-free, but has the stickiness of gluten. It is often used in gluten-free flour mixes, but it is hard to come by on its own and very expensive. For this reason, Mouse, who is a frugal Dede,  doesn’t want to include anything with teff flour in the book.

“But we have to talk about different flours in the book” insisted Witch. “And, okay, I have already published the teff custard on October 2013. I’ll just link to it here.”

“I think it is time to discuss how we make the book. We have enough material. Quality is better than quantity and our readers might be getting sick of all these flour and water recipes” continued Mouse.

Harvey, the rabbit, came into the room and said “but I want to make a yeast plait that you eat at Easter”. “And I want to make profiterole” chimed in Loudmouth, the chicken. “We haven’t even made any dumplings except for the bread dumplings” called someone from the back. “There are still more recipes to come!”

“Do we need to publish them all on the blog?” asked Mouse. “I am starting to worry about how we design the book. I have to get on with the editing. Do we just collate all the stories we have here, or what?” Mouse looked around for a response. She is not confident enough to make such far-reaching decisions on her own.

No answers were forthcoming so Devil, who has no problem with decision-making, stepped in. “Personally, I think the Dedes should be in the book, but we might rewrite the story a little to make it smoother. At the moment we just have blog posts. This doesn’t make a book!” He commended Mouse for all her valuable input into the recipes and how she explained what to watch out for, but he thinks it needs to be streamlined. The others agreed. Detail piped up and said “But if we don’t have 101 recipes the title doesn’t work anymore. Didn’t we want to call the book The Artist’s survival cookbook or 101 recipes with flour and water?”

“I noticed that too” said Philosopher. “What do you think about the title The Artist’s survival cookbook or how to make a crust”

“We could also call it The Artist’s survival cookbook or living on the breadline” said L’Artiste who knows a thing or two about that.

“See?” Mouse was happy that the discussion finally started. “There are so many decisions to make. The title, and then the question, do we have to photograph everything again? How do we want to design the book? How are we going to publish it?”

“Do you really think our readers are interested in all this?” asked Philosopher. “Shouldn’t we discuss all this amongst ourselves?”

 

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Categories Absurd, Art, Books, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Promotion, recipes, Self-publishing

More buns

January 10, 2015 //
3

techno man and milk bun

“With your buns you just add water to the flour” remarked Techno Man. “I wonder if my recipe is different. It has been in my family for generations.”

“Let me guess,” said Mouse, “ you are using butter and milk, right?”

“That’s it!” said Techno Man. “We use butter and milk. I think the recipe is really good and it comforts me that it is so old. It’s tried and trusted, it can’t be wrong! So, why are you using only water?”

Mouse explained that the original idea of this recipe collection was to demonstrate that you can easily make these staples at home, quickly and cheaply. The collection will become the Artist’s Survival Cookbook. The Dedes are annoyed to see a loaf of bread  in the supermarket costs $7 or a tiny packet of Grissini is $5. For the same price Mouse can buy a 5kg bag of flour and feed the troops for a couple of weeks. Of course, everybody knows that white flour is not the healthiest option. It basically has no nutritional value at all. It’s lack of nutritients is second only to sugar. Unfortunately the majority of baked goods you get in the supermarket and in most bakeries are made from white flour with a good measure of salt, sugar, hydrogenated fat, preservatives and other additives. The Dedes’ reasoning is that making it yourself doesn’t take long and you know exactly what’s in it. Once you realise how easy it is you might become more adventurous with different flours and flavours.

If you live on a tight budget, and you haven’t done much cooking before, it doesn’t make sense to start with a complicated meal. You don’t want to buy unusual ingredients, use a small amount and leave what’s left in the packets to rot in the pantry when you are not even sure if your meal will turn out okay or not.  Why not start with the simplest of recipes. If the no-egg pasta recipe doesn’t work, you might have to throw away 30c of flour (but what can go wrong with this recipe anyway?) If it works, you saved yourself $1.50 or so. If it is not to your taste, try egg pasta. (I have yet to find a person who doesn’t like my egg pasta, apart from a vegan or a gluten-intolerant person, of course! But I wouldn’t cook it for them).

You can only win. Involve your kids in making the food. Flat bread, for example, is so easy and they will love it. Next time you are in the shop, have a look at how much a packet of flat bread will set you back. I’ll bet if you make it according to our recipe it will cost you a fraction of that and it’s healthier. And not only will it feed you, it will also give you quality time with the kids.

“Are you actually answering my question, Mouse?” asked Techno Man impatiently.

“Ah, sorry” she said. “Was I raving on again? I am really passionate about the subject, you know. Of course there are other recipes, but using milk and butter makes the buns just a little bit more expensive.”

“But also better”

“Let the cooks be the judge of that. You never know what people like. Milk and butter make the dough heavier and not everyone favours that. I personally like the water ones. Other people prefer them because they are lactose intolerant or choose not to eat animal products.”

“I really like them as a condiment with a hearty soup. It makes a complete meal” Techno man insisted. “You are definitely right there.” Mouse agreed.

Ingredients

3 cups of flour, 50g butter, 250ml milk, 1 teaspoon of dry yeast, salt (optional)

Method

Warm up milk and butter in a pot. Make sure the milk is lukewarm only and the butter melted (If it is too hot you have to cool it down, as heat kills the yeast.) Pour the flour on to a flat surface. Make a well in the middle and pour in the milk/butter mix, add the yeast and let sit for 15 minutes. It will dissolve but won’t get quite as sloshy as with water and no butter. Knead to an elastic dough. Place the dough in a bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and let it rise for one or two hours.

Preheat oven to 200 0C. Knead again and form oblong buns. Place on a baking tray dusted with flour and let it rise again while the oven is heating up. Brush with milk and cut the surface lengthwise before you place them in the oven.

Bake for 20 minutes.

“I have to ask you” said Mouse after she had read the recipe. “Why does it say oblong buns? And you slit them lengthwise. Is there a reason?”

“None at all. It is just that it is such an old recipe and that is the classical look of a milk bun.” answered Techno Man.

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

Studio One workshop

October 12, 2014 //
4

little skeleton

Last week I had this great workshop at Studio One in Auckland. It was supposed to be a holiday programme for kids from 10 to 14. Truth was the youngest was just 8 and I was a bit worried, that the age difference would be too noticeable. Surprisingly it wasn’t at all. They all played wonderfully together and came up with this lovely story not to judge a book by its cover. I am always amazed about their creativity. Isn’t this skeleton just gorgeous? It is made out of two shuttlecocks and pipe cleaner by thirteen-year-old David. We had so many characters in the end we could easily have made a few films…. But what I really like is that they come up with one story as a group and work on it together.

For me personally it was a wonderful break from the drudgery of school and it became very clear to me that I have to get back into the swing with my puppets. I have three projects on the boil and have to make up my mind which one I am starting first. Life is definitely too short…

And here is the film we’ve created.

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Categories Absurd, Art, film, Fun, Life, Stop Motion, workshop

Packing up

July 31, 2014 //
5

suitcase

Oh dear, this year seems to be the year of best intentions. I am so sorry for having neglected my blog for some time. Though it doesn’t mean the Dedes have been neglected.

You might know I have lost a few of my major sources of income at the end of last year and I have been working hard to secure new income streams. Now six month later everything came to fruition at once and this just means I am rushed off my feet to fulfill all my promises. My book of “101 recipes with flour and water” is still not finished, however, I am using it a lot, but I am stuck on 51 recipes.  My backyard chooks deliver an invaluable addition to my diet too.

Recently I have taken on a part-time teaching job. My first salaried job in 20 odd years. Even though I have been teaching for a long time, it was always on a contract basis. It seems with a salary inevitably come the politics… Something I want to steer clear off as much as possible. Navigating the foul ground takes a lot of energy. Believe me, I feel some good puppet stories coming on….

The Festival of Performing Objects is about to start. This weekend I have to deliver the Dedes I want to show in the exhibition. Every Dede is keen to pack up and go. Some of them will just sit in the Gallery for the month, while others will get action in the stop-motion workshops of the last week. I have to make a decision who is going to do what. I did a lot of work in the early days of the organisation unfortunately with all the changes to my working life poor Kim (the manager of the arts centre) had to bear the brunt of the recent weeks. She did an amazing work luring puppeteers out of the underwood. I am very confident it will be a fantastic exhibition.

It looks like we are getting quite a bit of attention. The first article about the event was published this week.

HM puppets 28_7_14

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Categories Art, craft, Exhibition, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Promotion, Stop Motion, workshop

Good news, bad news

April 29, 2014 //
6

I had some good news recently: in August Puppet Festival at the Estuary Art Centre in Orewa is going ahead as planned. Kim Boyd, the Centre’s manager has allocated the entire month to all things puppetry. I am really excited as I hope it will show how diversified puppets can be. We have Anna Bailey, a puppeteer from Wellington, coming up for 2 weeks and running workshops on puppet making and she will also perform some of her wonderful string puppet shows. Sarah-Jane Blake a performance designer, working in the UK and in NZ will also run workshops on story development and telling. Finally in  the last week I will be facilitating stop motion animation workshops.

The Festival will start off with a buskers and market day on Saturday the 9th of August and then continues with an exhibition called “A story-teller’s world.” If you are in New Zealand and want to partake in the exhibition of puppets and other object which elicit imagination please get in touch with either me or the Estuary Arts Centre.

The bad news is that my Artstation workshop has once again very low enrolment numbers and is unlikely to go ahead. It is so sad that most people when they hear the word “puppet” dismiss it as a children thing, at least here in New Zealand.

While I was preparing my course, I came across this wonderful interview with the amazing Candadian puppeteer Ronnie Burkett by Gary Friedman (also a puppeteer working on a film about politicial puppetry at the moment). Ronnie explains so eloquently here what puppets are all about, its really worth watching.

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Categories Art, Exhibition, film, Hand Puppets, Stop Motion, workshop

Me again

April 15, 2014 //
0

I though I’d share this page from the Artstation Term 2 Programme with you. It promotes my upcoming course. Kit Lawrence, the photographer,  has captured the essence of my art extremely well. Being a puppet artist suits me to a T. I love being in the background and happy for the puppets to have the limelight. They are such amazing creative tools. To be honest, the only difference between an object and a puppet is imagination. For me personally, having a sound imagination is extremly helpful in navigating modern life.

Term2programme

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Categories Art, Comedy, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Promotion, workshop

That is real!

April 11, 2014 //
1

I’ve searched this morning for “fat legs”, as I wanted to see whether our film “Fat legs & all” shows up in the search engine results. Very high on the list I came across the perfect script for a puppet show about Lipoedema on a bodybuilding web site. Okay the dialog happened in 2005. The first sentence said it all. I would love to know how the story continued.

If you can bear it, read it:

My girlfriend has fat legs

“My girlfriend has a great upper body, but her lower half leaves a little more to be desired. First off, she has naturally muscular legs from her high school dancing career. She’s got thick calves- 14.5 inches! Problem is, she also has a thick layer of fat around her quads, calves, and hams. Cottage cheese is a good way to describe it. It’s mostly genetic how she stores her fat, as her parents are both borderline obese.
I know 2 months of diet and cardio can do the trick, but the problem is her attitude. She’s not very driven. At one point, she went to the gym consistently for 2 months, but I believe it was only to make me happy. Now that we’re both home from school, I’m pushing her to join a gym and get down to work, but she keeps putting it off.
Worse, she buys mini-skirts and dresses which make her feel self-concious. She’s always asking me to tell her she looks great, and frankly, I’m not a person who likes to lie. Last night, I yelled at her and said “you don’t have any right to be wearing anything that exposes your fat legs!”, which is the God’s honest truth.
If you don’t have it, don’t show it, but obviously my harsh philosophy backfired, and she’s angry at me, telling me that I’m controlling and abusive for telling her what she can and cannot wear.
Yes, she has a right to wear what she wants, but it just doesn’t look right, and I don’t want her to be embarrassed if other guys/girls give her looks, and moreover, I don’t want to be seen with a “fat girl”.
I love my girl to pieces, and I’ve been with her for nearly 5 years. She just lacks the drive for fitness and self improvement that I have. Her favorite phrases are “I want to wear what makes me happy”, “Running is too hard”, and “I don’t care what you or other people think”…which are the phrases 100% of fat people say. She’s plain lazy and unmotivated.
How can I get her to lose that weight? She’d look gorgeous in a mini-skirt if she did it, but damn it, what should I do/say?

\

“Well, aside from dragging her to the gym kicking and screaming, and buying her clothes that go well with her body type, there is not much you can do. Seems that your girlfriend has made it very clear that she does not care how she looks and does not want to excerise. Now if you don’t like being around “fat girls”, you have to make a choice: Keep her, or find a fit girl.

\

“I want to keep her, I mean, I’ve kept her for almost 5 years now. She has so many great qualities, but this legs thing is horrible. I try not to look at them when we’re in bed, cuz it makes me go limp within 2 seconds…lol.
I just don’t get it. I mean, lets put it this way: I have horrible side delts, so I would NEVER wear a tank top. Never. Hell, I’m cutting right now, and won’t take my shirt off unless I hit my goal of 10% bf…only 2 more months to go. See what I mean? You gotta earn your right. In the mean time, have the decency to hide that ****.
Any other suggestions?

\

“Break both her legs with your foot.

\

“Have a long term vision.
Fat legs will be good in long term.When she will be preganant, her body will burn fat legs to get energy.So legs will be slim.

\

“You could ask her to come along when you train. She can workout with you. Then do cardio. Once she goes that time and feels great after, she will want to go….and soon she may start going alone.

\

“I’ve done that…not breaking her legs, but taking her with me to the gym. However, she hates every exercise except dumbbell curls with 5 pounds, tricep kickbacks with 5 pounds, and 30 minutes of walking on the treadmill.
I’ve even gone as far as making her a meal plan, which she pathetically tried to follow for a week, and I even made her a training split, which she slowly veered off from. I’ve tried to be nice, to compliment her and feed her ego…nothing has worked.
I see alot of qualities in her which I could see myself being with long term. But her attitude towards fitness sickens me. Her parents are fat, and I fear I’ve got myself a future fatty.

\

“Looks like your in a tough situation my friend. It’s great that you have put all this effort into getting her to workout, but if she is not going to do it….well…
i don’t know what to say.
Maybe also explain to her that excersing is never easy but she tell her that she has to do it…not just for you, but for her own benefit.

\

“I have. Believe me, I’ve tried everything. She’ll do it, but only for a short spurt where she sees results, but for some reason the results don’t fuel her to work even harder, unlike how most of us are fueled by our results…it’s very strange.
It doesn’t help that the only “food” in her fridge that I’ve ever seen over the course of our relationship has been frozen cheese blintzes, old chinese take out, ice cream sandwiches, and an assortment of barely recognizable rotted produce. There’s also an abundance of canned soup, sugary cereal, and Easy Mac. Her parents don’t cook, and her brother is malnourished.
I think her parents are kinda senile, or crazy. They’re both burnt out from the high society living they once had. Her mom was a lawyer, and her dad still owns a large portion of Worcester, the city I live near by. They’re rich Jewish folk, if that has anything to do with their family mentality.
They love their kids to pieces, but God, they don’t feed them very well, and I guess my girl is just used to that…I dunno.

\

“She is used to doing whatever and she wants, and thats not going to change anytime soon. Girls are like that, in denial, they buy **** that they don’t look good in and expect their guys to feed their egos or else they are “a$$holes.”

\

“keep her until ur at 10% bodyfat, then dump her and get someone who is more fit for u
keep upgrading them :P

\

“Exactly. I’m no *******. I just like to call it like I see it.

\

“You know you can always take her to the doctor and have a doctor tell her that she needs to loose weight. Have her blood pressure, EKG, etc. Once she learns that something may be wrong, she may change…who knows.

\

“Last summer, I worked at a gym, and almost cheated on her with the swim instructor. That caused all sort of problems when my girl found out.
I love her though, so leaving her isn’t an option unless it gets horrible.

\

“I got the same problem as you man, I love her to death but shes a little chubby. When I find something out, I’ll let you know.

\

“maybe u just think u like her… and are too afraid to leave her and start a new relationship. Just think about it… one day u’ll wake up , ur 250 pound gf lying next to u, and be like wtf am i doing in here. By then it will be too late

\

“No, I love her to death, but I WILL NOT tolerate an fat/obese girl. Absolutely not. The way I look at life, fitness, and my body, I will not stand for it. That’s where my love stops- when the scale goes above 150.
BTW, she’s 5’5, 134 right now. She looked absolutely stunning back in high school when she was 112 and co-captain of the dance team. Guess I can thank 3 years of college for this. Stupid college…lol.

\

“I’m kinda in a similier situation. My g/f was a cheer leader/dancer in high school and also on a very competetive gymnastics team, AMAZING shape…I mean a perfect 10. Now 2 almost 3 years later she has gained weight, doesnt work out and really doesnt act like she is too intrested in it, she even complains that she is fat (which I dont think she is FAT, just a little on the cute chubby side =) But says she doesnt have the drive or time to work out…
It’s so hard cause I know if I bring it up she will think I’m calling her fat hah…

\

“Yeah, it’s tough because they know they’re fat, they know you think they are, yet they refuse to do anything about it. It’s like you know there’s a nasty black rat in your kitchen, but you sit there and refuse to get rid of the bastard. It’s illogical. I hate it when she fishes for compliments though. From now on, I’m not taking her with me on my cheat meals, and I’ll tell her she’s fat everytime she asks me how she looks.

\

“Dont justify her actions. If you dont like it THEN LEAVE.
Its as simple as that. You cant change people. If they are lazy slobs then they will be lazy slobs forever. Fine a new girl.

\

“Girls are not like guys….they are either motivated and enjoy eating healthy and working out, or they’re not. So many of my friends say they want to get in shape, they workout for a week and hate it.
This is a tough situation because you love her, yet she is becoming unattractive. If she is motivated now to get in shape, I doubt she will ever be.
You have to know right now that she most likely won’t change, no matter what you do. So, you need to choose…can her personality and all the things you love about her make up for the fact that she is not attractive to you.
Of course it sounds selfish, but attraction is important. And, it’s not just about that, it’s about a lifestyle. Working out and eating right is a big part of your life, if it’s not part of her’s than it will always be a problem.

\

“One of the most sensible things I’ve heard in a long time. Are you a girl? If so, I hold your opinion to be even higher.

Its not going to get better. Unless she wants to slim down for special occasions.

\

“I’ll slip laxatives and Lipo 6 into her food and drinks…haha. J/K

\

“chop her legs off

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Categories Absurd, film, Lipoedema, Medical, Promotion, Relationships
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