The film has six individual sets which are actually quite large and will be very realistic, and we began on the castle inside garden first. This scene, which is complete with miniature flowers trees, water fountains and stonewalls and walkways began humbly with a trip to The Home Depot, and then, of course, the Dollar Store. Massive amounts of energy went into the design of the little garden which is eight feet wide and around 12 feet deep and seven feet tall. Along with this came the designs for bridges in the building walls and ceilings to support the puppeteers and some new equipment for Marty's digital camera and his computer programs.

In addition to this, we set out to do a huge walk through display of our puppets for the National Day of Puppetry in conjunction with Tears of Joy Puppet Theater located here in the Portland, Vancouver area.

Two giant puppet booths were created to spotlight the entry to the event, which was quite elaborate with shows, classes, and the exhibit over inVancouver Washington, and a great time was had by all. WOW -- our exhibit showcased not only our work but the work of famous nationally treasured puppeteers as well as some up and coming new ones.

To see more on the Jewels, Treasures and Diamonds in the Rough exhibit, click here.

June had us shifting to set number two, which is the palace of the Queen of Hearts (yes the playing card, Alice in Wonderland one), who is a villain in our show. The set consisted of giant playing card towers, all hand-painted by the crew, and framed and mirrored and candle lit, along with a fancy new throne, and vanity and wishing well all constructed with miles of gilded frames, courtesy of Marty...... Don't ask him to frame anything soon as there are over 400 feet of framing in this set alone.

June also had us preparing for the Sherwood Robin Hood Days Renaissance Festival once again as Steve finally finished his dream of a King Richard the Lion Heart theme for the family stage for the festival. A miniature, scale model was built for the layout and banners and crests were mass produced to give our last year as artistic designers for this festival its final flare. We also set out to help our friend Joel get his new start in a real show, and designed the stage, scenery, puppets and props for his new rod puppet show, The Banana Split Adventure, which also was to premiere at the Sherwood Festival. Creating new shows takes months of work so we kept the midnight oil burning and with the help of several friends got his show up and running, and, I have to say, it's really quite cute for the kind of show it became. We, of course, wish Joel the best of luck in a very difficult form of work, -- professional puppeteering.

July brought in a visit from Marty's brother Steve from the Micronesian Islands, and the Fourth was a fun festival with us and the neighbors and friends shooting off well over an hour's worth of fireworks, and a barbeque.
We even turned on the lights in the big trees, that a lot of folks thought we put up especially for 4th of July. (Actually, we never took them down after Christmas).

The final script was written and recorded for Joel's show and then he was set to begin his new venture with Candace Dobson by his side for the premiere, (you will possibly remember Candace from our Wizard of Oz show and our Renaissance Guild, she is also a very close friend of Steve and Marty). The Robin Hood festival wentsplendidly and Steve got to act the part of the Evil Prince John for his last(?) public acting performance, a good time was had by all, and Faphner, our nine-foot tall purple dragon mascot puppet has finally found a new home at Sherwood, taking on the Robin Hood festival as his own -- breathing smoke and looking grand.