“My dear Watson, I can see from the tiny pieces of cardboard on your shirt cuff and the metal oxide staining on your left index finger and thumb that you are working on a new show……”

Posted on by Collette Knowles
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Before Christmas we started on putting together some puppets for a show trailer for a new Christmas show (for touring libraries, stately homes etc.). We hope to get the trailer finished very soon so we can advertise in time for Christmas 2024 (watch this space).

As to what it is about, I think I will invite you all to give your own educated guesses😉.

I also took it as an opportunity to have a bit of an experiment with the new Indonesian wayang kulit (shadow puppet) chisels. I am thinking that I am not likely to abandon using scalpel blades altogether but probably use a combination of chisels and scalpel. The chisels are certainly useful for creating certain types of cuts and shapes, (probably not faster though – but I had been warned). I have also yet to sort out suitable maintenance/sharpening tools for the chisels when I need them though I have been doing research on the best method and suppliers.

Do leave a comment or a question if you’d like to know more 😊.

Mr. Punch/Kasper is finished!

Posted on by Collette Knowles
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For those who are interested in the history of Mr. Punch/Kasper you can CLICK HERE for the WIkipedia entry on Punch & Judy and HERE for more info. on his German cousin Kasper. If you missed the beginning of my process making a body for this puppet head, look back through my blog posts for the first two instalments 🙂

I got this finished just in time for Christmas and luckily it seems to work for my son’s hand size. I used all bits of fabric and beads etc. that I already had knocking about – the only thing I purchased new for it was the sewing thread and replacement needle for the sewing machine when I broke it!

The little bells were purchased years ago and were originally from a set of cheapo Christmas earrings reduced price to 50p for about 4 sets (or something like that).

Please feel free to make a comments or ask any questions about the making process 🙂 Happy New Year everyone! That’s the way to do it!

Also please CLICK HERE to get in touch if you would like to book an existing show or workshop or commission a new puppet or show for the coming year. CLICK HERE to visit the main website to see what we have to offer 🙂

You can also CLICK HERE to visit our Rough Magic Theatre merch shop. This year will be Rough Magic Theatre’s 25 year anniversary – what designs would you like to see in the shop this year?