2011

Hello Everyone
First off, a very happy new year, and welcome to 2011 - if you have been reading the blog and looking for updates, many apologies I haven't updated sooner - I don't want to commit the sin of updating without much to say, so am essentially updating less often when I have things to say - In the time since I last updated, I have completed a small puppet build for Dani Mosiman's show 'Little Polly Puppet' at the Alec Clegg studio in Leeds, which I understand went down very well - Huge thanks to Socks Rolland for her help making the beautiful dresses for the puppet - I think everyone was happy with the results, although for me, I was blending two different styles of puppet making which did work after a fashion, but I'm not sure if I would build in this way again...but still, I’m happy with the product, and the show looked great, pictures below. Also, very excitingly, I had a chance to get down to Bristol to do some prop making for the Tobacco Factory’s production of Pinocchio. I will not be watching the show itself till this weekend, but it has had rave reviews, and I’m very excited to be a part of it. One other great thing was that I got a chance to work with the guys from Green Ginger, who are a company I have admired from afar for a while, and are the creators of Rust amongst many other things, and who are just wonderfully creative and nice fellows who I hope to continue working with in future. All in all, it made for a thoroughly pleasant prop build, and my thanks go out to Pinocchio’s brilliant designer Harriet de Winton for getting me involved.

And so to new projects, the big news is I have just signed on to do a large puppet build over the next few weeks for Beautiful Creatures – it’s very exciting, and will be one of the most technical and artistically challenging builds I have done, so I’m looking forward to the challenge of something complex. I will of course be updating with photo’s drawings and so on, and if I pull my finger out, will get the ‘puppets’ part of the blog updated so it can all be viewed from there…IN the meantime, keep looking for updates, and I look forward to a great 2011!
M

Update: Big Ideas Conference, Luton

See below for updates...

Hello there, this is a post to let you know two things: One, I shall be starting a new puppet build next week for a show in Leeds which I shall be putting the pictures up for in time, and excitingly, I shall be attending The Big Ideas conference event in Luton tomorrow which I'm really looking forward to, especially with the line up of visiting artists and speakers - War Horse, Pif Paf, Big Man Walking, The Lion King, Blind Summit, Rampage, and many more - plus talks and seminars there will be hands on workshops and networking events as well as the opportunity to play with some big puppets - all in all, I can't wait. I plan to take some pictures and to give a status report when i get back, so check that out - Until my next post, thanks for dropping by.

Update: I am returned from the conference, which was a hectic couple of days fuelld with great amounts of enthusiasm, and a lot of inspiration! Some great companies were attending, and I could go on for a long time about some of the workshops and events - I must say a huge well done to Linda Lewis and Emma Leishman of the Puppet Centre Trust who did sterling work all weekend, and for myself, I managed to meet some great people, see some great puppetry, and find out a lot of things which really informed and inspired me, so can't say fairer than that! I have some pictures which I will add below

Tales from the Red Barn

Hello, a quick message to say that there will be some set picture updates soon, and to let you know about a side project - Tales From the Red Barn, a micro story project with writer Adam Z. Robinson and illustrations by me - It's regularly updated so please go over and have a look, and leave a comment letting us know what you think. Check back here for some new set pics within the week, and thanks for dropping by.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea this week

Hello there, some quick updates for you. I've been away and then leapt straight into a new puppet build for Birmingham Rep's 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea for the young Rep, which starts tonight (Thursday). It was a nice project to do obviously involving fish, specifically a shark and giant squid puppet for two key scenes. The commission was to build them in a similar method to the dog and vulture puppets for Phaedra's Love . Using this method for the new puppets worked out rather well, and I was able to try out some new mechanics ideas for the movement of the swimming shark and attacking squid. Although I was happy with the results, and I hope they come out well for the show, I'm already thinking of how I would refine the design for potential future models. Hopefully there will be a chance to try out some more designs for new projects over the next year. That's my current build over, but have got some new puppet designs lined up for the coming couple of months as well as other news, so keep checking back, and if you are around, go and check out 20,000 Leagues at the Rep, it looks great. Meanwhile, I'm going to add some pictures for the Shark and Squid models, and hopefully will be able to add some production photo's later. I also include some building photo's too, although I'm trying to cut down on them...

June 2010 news

Hello, thanks for dropping by. I'm currently in the process of starting a new puppet build - the theme is fish, as for the production details, I will blog again with more information soon - The following pictures are my initial sketches and models for a couple of the models. I hope to achieve a reused, run down steampunk effect, but fully expect the design to change with pragmatics over time! Keep looking for updates soon.

Dog 2 finished and new news

Hello there, back again with some new news. I am currently working on a set for Leeds Theatre Group's 'An Ideal Husband' which will be on at Sevenarts theatre in Leeds from the 6th to the 8th of May. More pictures of that after it has gone up. In the meantime, Here is the second section of the second Dog puppet build. When you joined me last, I was attempting to find all the materials to make the puppet from the local area, however, for the body I had to make a concession and get hold of materials from the store. I needed something which could act in the same way as the pipe I found for Dog 1, but couldn't bet on finidng something just right at that time. In the end, I went for a sheet of wire mesh which I could shape well, which would be light and easy to fix to the frame. I coupled this with some felt and stuffing from a sacrificial pillow of mine. Other than that, the mechanisms worked in the same way as the previous dog. here are the pictures. I've also included some more pictures of the original dog and the Phaedra's Love model box and set.

Scarborough

Well, scarborough is finished and all in all it was a really fantastic event: There were great shows, great visiting artists, and a really nice atmosphere of interest in other people's work. Both Bad House and Phaedra's Love were commended, and I was personally very happy with the sets for both, and the puppets for Phaedra's Love, which all together had some very positive feedback. I still have yet to put up new pcitures, but will do so as and when I have them. i am currently designing a new show for Leeds, An Ideal Husband, and am looking forward to a new puppetry project. I will be attending a workshop at the Puppet Centre Trust next week, which I am looking forward to very much, and otherwise getting materials toegther after Scarborough. if anyone is here looking for any information about any of my work, please don't hesitate to get in touch, and I hope to have new pictures and projects updated soon.