Ping Pong's Puppet Workshop

Our Construction Diary
Page 52

February 3, 2002 (page 1 of 2)

Wow, where did 2001 go. Maybe we should file a missing-year report with the proper authorities.
Our last page here was last December, when we were in the throes of the year-end holiday frenzy.
We still had one puppet left to make for the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, which, for a number of reasons, had to be delivered by January 13th.
We then took two weeks of vacation, before getting back here and thinking about going back to work.
On this and the next page, we will see the creation of Castor, the Lizard, also known as the Cook. Let's see how it went.

Castor's Skeleton

Here's Castor's skeleton. This is one of some puppet parts we inherited from Frank Paris, a famous puppeteer of the 1950's & 60's. It is made up of plywood disks, small wooden balls, and strong, small rope. With minor modifications, it worked perfectly as the skeleton.

Castor's Skin is laid out.

Castor's skin is multi-colored, and the various layers needed to be cut and sewn together.

Sewing, always lots of sewing

Sewing, always lots of sewing.

Gluing the fabric on the head

Gluing the fabric on the head. The head is made from our old friend, neoprene, which we cast sometime last fall, It has moving eyes and a moving mouth.

Time for a cure - mani and pedi

Time for a cure - - mani and pedi. Lizards have nails, just like we do. Here, they're temporarily glued to sticks so they can be painted and glittered.

A finished foot

Castor's finished foot with the nails attached.

Attaching the legs to the body.

Attaching the vest to the body.

We'll see the rest of Castor's creation on the next page...

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