Category Archives: tv puppetry

Scenery taking shape and a visit to the Sound & Vision gallery at the National Science and Media Museum

Posted on by Collette Knowles
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  • Projected image on our wall of Goldilocks puppet with hand-painted coloured back-drop
  • Projection on our wall of the 3 bears cottage from hand-painted transparency
  • Both painted transparencies encased in laminating plastic with coloured “shadow” behind.

I wanted a coloured background for the scenery on “Goldilocks…” and potentially some of the other stories in our new show (“Fairytales of Wit, Wisdom & Witchcraft“) and wanted to avoid using felt pens ( as I hadn’t been happy with the way they looked on the scenery for our Alice in Wonderland show previously).

I also didn’t want to go down the Ai/digital artwork printed out onto transparencies route. We had used period artwork which was out of copyright for our “Seven Songs of Love” show but this show would not be suitable for artwork of that type.

I thought I’d like to try glass paints, but was unsure if that would work and might have the problem of puppets sticking to it.

Then, I had a brainwave that I could try laminating the painted transparency so that the paint was encased and would be protected and not stick to the puppets.

The photos above show what I’ve got so far. I tried them out on the overhead projector and found that they look fine as they are (I wasn’t sure if I’d need to go in with a black pen to do outlines but they seem fine as is).

I was reminded of the hand painted magic lantern slides from the National Science and Media museum in Bradford.  They, and some Indonesian shadow puppets and silhouette cutouts by Lotte Reiniger, are now on public display in the new “Sound & Vision” gallery. You can access my previous posts about Lotte Reiniger here: (Animation at National Media Museum, Bradford and Nice but Naughty?).

The magic lantern pre-dates photography and cinema though photography was used to produce lantern slides (which were then hand coloured later on). CLICK HERE for the Wikipedia entry and HERE for info on the museum collection.

While I was doing my shadow puppet workshop and performances for the museum’s family day it was brought to my attention that there would be a screening of Lotte Reiniger’s masterpiece “The Adventures of Prince Ahmed” and accompanying workshops on Saturday 25th July.

This is the oldest surviving full length animated feature film (pre-dating Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” by 11 years) with a new original score by Chris Davies.

Chris was originally commissioned by the museum to create the score (which is part recorded and partly performed live) for the Bradford animation festival in 2014.  You can find out more by clicking HERE. Below is a video extract from this first performance:

So, I (obviously), made a point of going along and also had time to go round the Sound and Vision gallery in the morning with my kids.

For those who haven’t already seen it, below is a little tour of the new gallery by Al, from “Al & Kai’s Faboo News”:

The “Faboo News” patreon page has had an overhaul and you can now access lots of fun activities/resources for FREE, why not take a look by clicking HERE

How to make a Robot Puppet (“Making With Mom”)

Posted on by Collette Knowles
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Hello everybody, I am doing a little post about a “Making with Mom” video that I made for the @FabooNews You Tube channel. The photos above show my making process for the “One I made Earlier” example robot. You will notice in the main video (which you can find below) that I give instructions on how to make the head a rigid, fixed head rather than a spinning one. I was concerned that if it should be used by children as a toy then the upturned sharp pencil end (which is underneath the spinning head) could be dangerous.

If, however, you are an adult or keep it out of reach of kids on a high shelf, the way it works is just literally the right shape of lid (this one is from a deodorant) and it is literally just balancing on top of the pencil. The graphite means that it is almost frictionless and spins undisturbed with very little effort.

Enjoy the “How To…” video below:

You may also like to watch Episode 3 of “Al & Kai’s Faboo News” which contains the story all about the “Berts” robots made from scrap materials by clicking HERE

There are 3 other main episodes on the @faboonews channel plus a number of “Faboo News Extra” videos. Do watch like and subscribe to the channel if you enjoy it. We really appreciate your help to spread the Faboo News.

We really need more good news stories from YOU. You can be an adult or a child and it can be something small or something big. You could share a joke or something you’ve achieved, or something that makes you smile. Click on the “Faboo Yous” tab at FabooNews.com to share your news and be on the show.

If you a teacher at a school, we would love to hear from you. Please CLICK HERE to find out about Faboo Workshops and what we can offer you in a visit to your school 😊.