Hi everyone,

I discovered today a love of paper doilies and used them as inserts in a new shadow puppet, The Peacock Bride.  They might be old-fashioned, but the doilies created a really intricate, delicate effect, that I simply couldn't achieve by hand-cutting.  Laser-cutting isn't an option for me, but I found this to be a very cheap and cheerful alternative 
http://inthedarkwoods.wordpress.com/2012/01/05/the-peacock-bride/



Rachel
inthedarkwoods.wordpress.com

She is pretty. I like the oldfashioned look, too. But then- sometimes I think I was born 250 years after my taste in astaetics...

Thanks Rikka & all the best for 2012! 

Thanks, in the dark woods, and same to you!

Rachel,
Very nice. I like it!  It really does add quite a bit of texture to the shadow.

Wow, I love that idea! The puppet looks so fab, and the doilies work really well for that character. It's such a great time-saving idea too.

I am having problems loading Wordpress-hosted sites at the moment, so I can't see the post, but I am bookmarking it for later. Hope to see more of these, especially as I love trying out different materials for shadow puppets

That creates such a nice effect. A great idea and thank you for sharing it!

Thanks so much guys! I only did this as a test piece, but I was happy in the end with the contrast in texture and it did save me masses of time. I'm now on the lookout for more elaborate doilies (what a nerd!)
Na - here are a few pics if you can't see them on my wordpress blog.  A friend of mine also posted me a suggestion about using alcohol inks on acetate, which I'll be trying out soon for the Peacock Groom's feathers.  I expect it to be messy...

Thanks again everyone and wish you all lots of puppet joy in 2012! x

Alcohol inks? What are they?

Thanks for posting the pics here. For some reason every time I go to a wordpress site it just takes forever to load and when it does everything is formatted wrong. It's mightily annoying!

They are simply stunning. So beautifully elegant. I'm looking forward to seeing more!

From a quick crash course of youtube tutorials, I've found that alcohol inks can be used on non-porous material like glass, metal, and acetate/transparencies - which is what I'm going to try out.  You mix drops of ink with an alcohol solution (or just rubbing alcohol, it seems). This tutorial gives a pretty good overview and covers what i think could be adapted for shadow puppetry design.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQp6_GkNsKo
I wouldn't be using as much ink; I'd just aim for an "ink-wash" so hopefully light would still pass through it and maybe try to create some sky/seascapes, or just to add some accents of colour where I'd otherwise use cellophane or similar.  It'll probably take a bit of trial and error to get right, but I reckon it's worth experimenting with.

Wow, I love this idea of using the inks. The video is ideal for me, as I've been working/thinking on a way to do a wayang kulit or Chinese shadow puppetry tutorial, using paints on acetate. Do let me know how you get on - I'd be *very* keen on seeing the outcome.

I'm pretty sure it would work too. I've done watercolours on thin white cardboard and the colours come out well, although you have to make sure they're strong colours as they 'dim' depending on how thick and opaque the material is. See below. I actually think inks on acetate will achieve a much better outcome.

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?0RII68Y_JmI" target="youtube">YouTube Video</a>

WOW, Na, that is totally awesome! I love the misty look and the illusion of etheralness. And the music fit so well. GREAT! Thanks for sharing!

She's beautiful, Na!  & I love how expressive she is. 

I think the opacity of your goddess is great and gives her that illusion of etheralness as Rikka says. 

It'll be interesting to see how inks compare to watercolours so I'll give it a go over the next couple of weeks and keep you posted.

Thanks guys, glad you like it. It was my first puppet using that technique and I have to say it came out really well. The colours work especially because I painted it both sides (not as easy as it sounds), which also boosted the level of strength of colour.

Can't wait to see your first example!