Ping Pong's Puppet Workshop

Our Construction Diary
Page 30

September 7, 2001- (Page 1 of 3)

So, we've now, finally, once and for all, got all of the Perseus puppets delivered. Now its time to turn our attention to the Quilly the Quail puppets.
Two things happened to move us behind on those. First, For any number of reasons, the Perseus puppets took longer than we had planned on; Second, Marty had locked in his mind that Pete Johnson needed Quilly by the 18th of September, for the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy's grand annual Gala.
WRONG!! the gala is tomorrow, the Eighth of September. Oops!!
We got straightened out on the date only about 10 days ago, while we were still finishing the Perseus Puppets for Tears of Joy Theatre, and couldn't devote hardly any attention to Quilly at all.
So, by the time we had the Sea Monster completed and delivered, we had only THREE days to complete Quilly, a seemingly impossible task.
Let's see how it went.
(The dates and times listed below the pictures are as recorded by the camera. The times are in 24-hour format).

Quilly's neoprene head

08/30/2001 -- 22:23:36
We had already cast the head of Quilly in plaster and neoprene, but that was as far as we had gotten. Here, Marty has cut out the eyes and mouth to get them ready for the movable parts.

Moving eye & mouth parts

9/2/2001 -- 08:12:51
Marty was able to work on the moving eye and mouth mechanisms a little bit. The eyes are 2 wooden balls, the mouth uses the piece of neoprene cut out of the casting, a bent coat hanger wire, a piece of wooden dowel and a popsicle stick. (and, of course, hot glue).

The eyes and mouth mounted

9/4/2001 -- 00:32:08
The eyes and mouth mounted inside the skull. The back of the head is cut away to make installation easier and is hot glued back on later. Gentle-pressure springs are used to provide the return tension to the eyes and mouth.They are attached to the skull with puppet thread tied through the neoprene.

The body is started

9/4/2001 -- 00:32:16
Steve has started on Quilly's body. It is made out of sewable foam, covered with fabric and stuffed with poly fill. We are looking here at the inside of the body.

Bill painting Quilly's head

9/5/2001 -- 23:18:28
Bill painting Quilly's head.

Candace working on the boots

9/5/2001 -- 23:18:41
Candace working on Quilly's boots.

The wings

9/5/2001 -- 23:18:49
The wings pinned and ready to sew. Four layers of cloth - two of canvas and two of grey spandex. after sewing, they will be turned inside-out, and stuffed with wire sewn inside sewable foam.

The wing pattern paper and the wire frame

9/5/2001 -- 23:19:10
The paper pattern of the wing, and the bent copper wire that serves as the frame for the inside of the wing for stiffness, support, and bendability.

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