To: <PuppetCafe-AT-yahoogroups.com>, <puptcrit-AT-lists.driftline.org>
Date: Thu, 25 May 2006 23:56:20 -0400
Subject: [Puptcrit] Puppet building: Lesson of humility


Hi all.
Especially those hardworking puppetbuilders.
Think back on your begginings, and the challenges you faced...


Today, I had a hard lesson of humility.  An occasional  student of mine came so I could help her make an eyelid blinker system (individual blinks) on a soft puppet. That was supposed to be very easy. I had a few schematics, a few pretty clear ideas on how to do it. I did it before on a much more complex puppet. But this head was too small, and the puppeteer's hands was absolutely forced to be inside the head for manipulation specifics. Yikes. I ended up building a complete new head, better structured. We added a hard frame of wood to install the eye mecanics on. It was very sturdy and stable. Goood start! But then we gave ourselves headaches trying to figure out pullies and pivots to make the best of the limited spaces inside the rounded sheet-foam head.  Nightmarish.
Instead of two-three hours, it took us 10 hours of hard work to finally find a working solution. We did not finish the head, but I made sure she only left when the whole system was functionnal, requiring only a few finishing touches to execute on her own o the mechs.

As the hours went by, and the failures kept accumulating (the floor was full of twisted metal wire and bits of wood),
I kept wishing I had not been so darn confident to start with.
I did learn how to apply the theory I had accumulated on making patterned puppet heads out of sheet foam.
I learned quite a few things about twisting heavy metal wire more easily.
And I was able to transmit all of that to my student instantly (she's very quick, absorbs everything).
What matters is that we found a real solution, but why did it have to be so hard?
-learning comes to mind as a reason.

I'm aiming at getting more hands-on training on mechanics, starting at the very root this time.
It's okay to modify designs I've studied, but it's MUCH more worthwile to understand all the laws of mecanics involved.

Actually, what I'm missing is mostly methods of transforming the necessary big movements into small movements where my controls are. Simple when you know how, I'm sure.
I'm starting to build models of various mechanics as soon as i'm done with the three jobs I'm on right now.

Every puppet is a different challenge. I knew that before, I'm re-learning it everytime and grasping it even more.






Mathieu René Créaturiste
Marionnettes, Masques, Etcetera...
Puppets, Masks, Etcetera...
www.creaturiste.com
creaturiste-AT-magma.ca
(514) 274-8027
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