Archives for posts with tag: dede puppets

So I spoke to Witch. She is a real classical one: old and ugly. Not one of those modern witches, who try to bewitch you with their good looks, but lack the necessary experience to keep you under their spell. This ability only comes with age.

Witch is not surprised about Lou at all. She says she can understand that Lou is attracted to Skeleton Edeltraut (in his dreams). Which teenage puppy wouldn’t love to indulge in a heap of bones. But of course he has difficulties confiding in me as he regards me as a parent.

Since Edeltraut is one of my skeletons, she must be at least 100 years his senior. So there is a huge age gap. Witch and I both believe he is mistaken when he thinks what he feels is true love. He has a simple crush, but for all the wrong reasons.

Witch mixed a potion  which she said would fix Lou’s problem. I had to use a trick to get Lou to take it. I packaged it up in a nice colourful container and told him it was a new energy drink I got especially for him at the supermarket. But he took one sip only and spat it out. Then slurped down a can of his own favorite drink. I believe the potion was quite bitter. Needless to say the attempt was a total disaster. And now he won’t speak to me for an entire week.

While Lou was dancing around the house, feeling happy for a change, I took time to set up the studio and took mug shots of all the puppets that are currently in the house.  I think there are so many now, that it is difficult to keep track of them all.

They weren’t all at home, some of them are currently on show. So it is not a complete gallery. I will amend as soon as these characters come back. I renamed the Cast page into Mug shots and added a one line character description for each. Have a look….

PS: I have renamed the page yet again… Into Characters!

…I have to make this clear, I want to help Lou. Yet, I am not sure how. I have to admit, I am at a loss here. I know how important it is to have someone to pour your heart out to. Lou has made it clear to me, I am not the one he trusts in this matter. It hurts a bit, but I have to accept it!

My reader “Whichwillitbe” suggested in a comment to my post yesterday, I should introduce Lou to Philosopher. Thanks so much for the suggestion.

Not a bad idea, I thought initially – I value Philosopher’s opinion a lot. He has so much life experience. But… (and I don’t know whether “Whichwillitbe” has read the book Hermit’s Web, as this is a very big BUT!)  Philosopher is in the same boat as Lou, just at the other end of the age scale. All our friends call him The old Fool, because he is secretly in love with Deutsch Fraulein and he thinks we don’t notice. (This picture is one of my favourites from the book).  I wonder how old do you have to get for this carry-on to stop?

Anyway today is Sunday and Witch puts on Sunday dinner. I might talk to her how I could help Lou. Or does anybody else have any suggestions?

To be continued…

I found these notes littering the place. They all said the same: “I wish the Dedes had an Agony Aunt. I soooo desperately need a confidant!” (Gee, the writer certainly won’t win an award for neat hand-writing. It took me a while to decipher them.)

Finally I caught  the culprit in the act: It was Lou, the love-sick puppy. I had my suspicions, but I am not one for asking directly. I am a bit miffed though, I always thought they could confide in me…

… to be continued

I have to say, for me the expression “making friends” has taken on a new dimension. Yesterday my Dedes and I were invited to hold a workshop with elderly people in October. So it is still a while to go and I have heaps of time to think how I am going to do it. However, after our last outing I have a fairly good idea what could work. And I am looking forward to it.

Yesterday I finished the Fairy Godmother. While I was watching  TV, I played with her for a while, to figure out her traits. No matter how I turn her, she looks very benevolent. A good thing for a Fairy Godmother, right? However, I wanted my one to be a retired Fairy Godmother by the name of Mrs Esta Blished, but this just didn’t work out. I can’t see Esta in the finished work at all. So Mrs Blished will have to be another puppet. I definitely want her too.

This morning, when I opened the curtains in the living room, the Fairy Godmother was still lying there and she looked as if she has just awoken from sleep herself. I couldn’t resist taking her photo as she was.

When I met the senior citizens last week, an elderly gentleman asked me whether I make the puppets first and then invent their character traits, or whether I conceive their story first and then make up the faces.

It goes both ways. With Chance for example, I accidentally pushed her face in when she hadn’t dried properly. I looked at her, and not wanting to throw work out, decided she must become Chance, the weird ol’ bird. I strongly believe in every mishap lies something good.

At the moment I am working on a new character and in this case I have the complete story and will make the puppet (hopefully this weekend). The puppet is called Mrs Blished, the Fairy Godmother. In lieu of  a photograph, here is a very rough draft. And, yes, her eyes look suspiciously like the ones of my blind cat.

Okay, Mrs Blished  is the only one who insists on being addressed as Mrs, but we all know her first name is Esta. Hard to believe she was young once and rebellious (it’s amazing what you find out when you visit a rest home).  Now she lives by a very rigid set of rules and keeps herself busy protecting her assets, while her wand collects dust in the attic.

Her rule thing would be okay if she needed it for her comfort. Unfortunately she expects everybody else to adhere to the same rule set. I might be a bit naive, but our opinions differ a lot lately.

Recently the Dedes and I had an outing to meet some senior citizens. A friend of mine runs a social morning and we were invited to come along. The puppets were in fine form and behaved themselves (as long as I had them under control). Some of them became a bit cheeky when they mingled with the folks. They are brilliant performers and were quite a hit. I thoroughly enjoy watching people engage with them.

I have to set a record straight: Chance is not Lady Fortune. Chance is a dear friend of mine, but I am not acquainted to Lady Fortune. Apologies… this is not entirely correct: I knew her way back at school, when she still was Miss Fortune. I haven’t kept in touch with her. Why should I, I couldn’t stand her then and I wasn’t the only one wary of her, nobody liked her.  She, on the other hand, was attracted to a few of us and followed us around like a bad smell. We just couldn’t shake her off. Only when we left school our path parted.

Thinking back now, she must have been very lonely. She was an only child and inherited the title and a lot of money when her father died. Devil says he meets her from time to time at the pokies, and the punters there, really love to see her. It’s a bit sad, isn’t it? But I won’t go there.

I am pretty sure I saw Chance zipping past me when I left the shops yesterday. I only got a brief glimpse of her. Oh, I so wished I hadn’t fluffed around with Minor and Detail for that long… Chance is a difficult one to get hold of. Her father was a gipsy and she has no fixed abode (and would you believe it? She doesn’t even own a mobile).

I consider her one of my best friends, even though we hardly see each other at times. When we meet again, we just continue where we left off last time as if we had only seen each other the other day. I would have loved to have talked to her yesterday. She is such a positive little thing!