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A family friend?

April 11, 2012 //
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Last night a friend told me a story about a “family friend”. I can’t remember the actual story, but I suddenly wondered what constitutes a family friend.

I always understood it as someone who knows Mum, Dad, the kids and maybe Granny as well, basically some one who is accepted into the the closer family circle. However last night it occured to me that a family friend might be someone nobody takes responsibility for – and while he is always around, nobody can recall how he actually became a friend. So, it is not really a friend of mum’s or a mate of dad’s, or Ganny’s for that matter. Of course kids call anyone their friend…

With this new interpretation,  I will call Socialite a family friend.

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Categories Art, craft, Hand Puppets

Socialite

April 10, 2012 //
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This character was originally called Vanity, but I have renamed her Socialite.

In conversation, she is the one constantly looking around to see whether there is a more important person in sight. If somebody shows up on the horizon, she drops you like a hot potato.  On the other hand, she is very worried about what other people might think of her. As an indication of this trait the back of her head shows other people’s faces.

Working on this puppet, and of course thinking of the upcoming book launch, I had an epiphany about what irks me with “social networks”. It is the terminology… For me social networks it is a contradiction in terms.

Network has a very strong business connotation. This might be my second language interpretation here, but any marketing 101 book tells you, you must network to be successful. I went to a business network meeting once, to see what it is all about. In my opinion it was the saddest affair I have ever been to. The people had their intentions plastered all over their foreheads and yes, fair enough, that was the purpose of the meeting. But I found it tremendously off-putting.

Therefore I resist using the word “network” in relation to my friends. In my opinion it excludes altruism, which I consider necessary for relaxed interaction between people.

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Categories Art, Book Launch, craft, Hand Puppets

Forgot Detail

April 5, 2012 //
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Devil and Detail

Devil is into Detail

Got a bit side tracked lately – back to the Dedes.

There are a couple of puppets missing on the Cast page. Detail is one of them. I want to make good for this ommission now.

Hermit’s other friends pretend to love Detail, but be aware…. she is a difficult one. If you don’t pay her enough attention, it will be very obvious to the entire world. You of course, my friend, will be the last one to find out.

The other trait I dislike about Detail is her hunger for more and more information before she can make up her mind. Can she ever decide? She never seems to get all her facts together. Maybe Procrastinator would be her dream partner (but I haven’t started working on him yet).

She is of course a fantastic worker. Give her a job, and she will finish it brilliantly.

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Categories Art, Book Launch, Hand Puppets

Memory lane

April 4, 2012 //
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bottle prop A good friend of mine gave me this minature bottle as a prop for the puppet show at the book launch. Pig likes it’s tipple – now that sounds like an old lady, I should say it like it  is – Pig likes to booze!

It is quite funny, my friend is a New Zealander, but she bought this bottle a good thirty, fourty years ago on her OE. And it says on the side of the bottle Produce of Germany. She bought it at a time when I didn’t even know New Zealand existed. The alcohol has long evaporated out of the bottle through the unbroken seal. When we talked about the puppet show she immediately thought of the bottle as the right prop for Pig and digged it out. I wonder what kind of memories she has, when she looks at the bottle.

It is amazing what people keep as mementos. I have a box full “useless” stuff. I started to photograph the items, as each of them conjures up lost friends and time past. I am not lamenting the loss by any means, I just know that every person along my tracks has added to who I am now.

That is what I really wanted to say yesterday about the hammer: we look at the same thing, but we interpret it differently depending on our previous experiences. For me that is the reason why people can never see things quite the same way.

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Categories Art, Book Launch, Hand Puppets, Self-publishing

Exciting encounter

April 3, 2012 //
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I just bumped into Amanda, who I only met recently, when I picked up my book launch invites from the printers. Turns out she is a fellow blogger. Her blog is about things made from paper called  Love Notes. She told me she has written about the puppets and the Hermit’s Web book. Of course I had to check it out immediately and gosh it sounds really exciting!

This morning I’ve got round to photographing Devil’s Advocate. He looks very mellow and relaxed.

Like all my other work, the puppets are multi-layered, but what I particularly like about them is their interactivity. I love to watch people engage with the puppets. Let somebody get their hands on a puppet and they start acting with them. The least they do is wave… and this is a very friendly gesture, isn’t it? You don’t really need many words, but I can observe their reaction to my artwork, rather than just assuming their perception of it. I love that.

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

Launch invites

March 26, 2012 //
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Launch invite front

Philosopher and Deutsch Fraulein are the poster couple for the launch invite

Now this went wrong. I accidentally posted it before I was finished.

I managed to finish the printed Launch Invites before the weekend and started to hand them out. They are little bookmark sized glossy cards. Two joined together an perforrated. The idea is to tear them off and give one to a friend. I hope that everybody brings a friend along, because that’s what the book is about.

Now that I am at this stage, I get a bit worried about the event, and whether I manage to get everything organised in time. Easter is in between as well….

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Categories Art, Book Launch, Hand Puppets

New Dedes

March 19, 2012 //
1

With the launch one month away, I started making new puppets. It helps me think. They will be placed on plinths around the room. I just noticed, I haven’t given the measurements of the dedes yet. They are not very big, only between 12 and 15cm high and the weight is around 20 to 30 grams. They look and feel very delicate, but in fact they are as hard as wood.

Currently I am working on L’artiste, Two Faced and Envy and I think the last one will become the Devil’s Advocate.  Seems like the negative traits are rearing their heads now. I have put off Procrastinator for now. I can’t visualise him yet. But I will get round to him at one stage.

I went to lunch with two friends today and, – we can’t avoid it at the moment – we talked about the launch. I did not intend to have a puppet theatre as such, just play my short pieces. But my friends both insisted I should build a theatre too. Another thing to add to the to do list.

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Categories Art, Beginning, Hand Puppets

It’s all on

March 16, 2012 //
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Finally the date is confirmed. The book launch will be on the 19th of April 2012.  So it is still 5 weeks away today, and of course at this stage I think I have everything under control. There will be a puppet show. Not too long, just to introduce some of the characters and give an idea of the contents of the book.

This morning I woke up having the entire puppet show in my head. I need to write it down and practise, even though I know I won’t stick to the script, I never do. Usually I have a rough idea of what I want to say and make up the rest. My puppet movie will have to wait, as the first script I came up with will be incorporated into the launch show. I don’t want to give away too much. But this of course raised the issue that the launch needs to be recorded. I will have to find two people, one for stills and one for moving images. Better make a list of how many helpers I need.

The most pressing task now is to get out a press release. But I also have to update my website. This brings me to the issue of selling and distribution, now that is another issue and I will write an additional post on that one.

 

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