Those are some very complex shadow puppet videos! I cannot imagine how all of that is accomplished!! WOW!! Thanks for sharing!

Yeah, there are a few there that are pretty darn amazing. You'd have to check, I'm not sure if all of them are 'real', some might be digital.

Hey folks.  I thought I'd check back here and post some of the ideas I came up with for accomplishing the Chinese shadow puppetry color effects we mentioned.  I tried the alcohol inks on acetate.  My feeling is it's too hard to control and it will rub off. I tried clear acrylic varnish mixed with RIT Dyes on the acetate. Then I moved from that to a mixture of Pledge Future Floor Polish and RIT Dye.  That works pretty good.  But, I found that mixing cheap watercolor markers with the polish works just as well if not better.  I used .08 clear acrylic sheets from Lowes to cut out the figures.  They're a little heavy and if you drop them they'll break. I've almost got the figures done for my project.  You can check out the results at my fb page http://www.facebook.com/StageRightPuppetProductions.  I've got alot of stuff already uploaded on there.  I'll post a couple images in my gallery as well.

Have you thought about using overhead projector sheets? I'm currently using polypropylene, which you can draw on with markers.... don't know where you'd find that in the US though.

Na.  Yes I've experimented with just about every type of plastic you can imagine. (projector sheets, colored vellum w/plastic laminate, Grafix craft plastic,static cling film) All of which work well to some degree. For instance both the vellum w/laminate and projector sheets work well on smaller figures. However, on larger figures it tends to be a bit floppy.  Light transmission is better when color is placed directly on the plastic. The Grafix static cling film is great for scenery if your using a glass panel in front of your screen and you don't need to change scenes.

I wound up using the .08 clear plastic sheets because it was available in larger sizes. Not sure how well it will work when I actually try fitting the moving parts together. Like I mentioned before, I'm using glass on the backside of the play area to give support and a smooth surface for the plastic to glide across. (If you use plexiglass it will scratch and the scratches show through.)

I'm trying really hard to find the right material to simulate the traditional animal skin effect.  I have one more method I want to try.  I'm going to stretch linen over a frame and color it with ink. Then put a heavy starch coating on it to stiffen it.  If all else fails I may just have to kill a goat and start tanning the dang hide!

I know nothing about shadowing supplies......... but could you use a heavy weight natural colored parchment paper in place of the animal skin?

example:

http://www.wiccanway.com/Parchment-Paper-Cream-Color-Heavy-Weight_p_560.html

Billy that would work for smaller figures.  The figures I'm using are larger than the standard 8 1/2 x 11.  Don't worry...I was just kidding about skinning the goat. I actually think the clear acrylic sheets are going to work.

Na.  Yes I've experimented with just about every type of plastic you can imagine. (projector sheets, colored vellum w/plastic laminate, Grafix craft plastic,static cling film) All of which work well to some degree. For instance both the vellum w/laminate and projector sheets work well on smaller figures. However, on larger figures it tends to be a bit floppy.  Light transmission is better when color is placed directly on the plastic. The Grafix static cling film is great for scenery if your using a glass panel in front of your screen and you don't need to change scenes.

I wound up using the .08 clear plastic sheets because it was available in larger sizes. Not sure how well it will work when I actually try fitting the moving parts together. Like I mentioned before, I'm using glass on the backside of the play area to give support and a smooth surface for the plastic to glide across. (If you use plexiglass it will scratch and the scratches show through.)

I'm trying really hard to find the right material to simulate the traditional animal skin effect.  I have one more method I want to try.  I'm going to stretch linen over a frame and color it with ink. Then put a heavy starch coating on it to stiffen it.  If all else fails I may just have to kill a goat and start tanning the dang hide!

It sounds like you have two separate issues:
1. A plastic that is capable of taking ink
2. A plastic that isn't floppy

It may be better to ignore #2 - that is, find a plastic that's suitable for drawing, then worry about holding it up. This, I've found, is more about rod placement and gravity than the type of material you use. So long as it doesn't break, the plastic will be problematic at larger sizes no matter what you use. If your screen is slightly tilted towards the audience, some of the 'floppiness' is avoided as your materials will work with gravity and pull down towards the screen.

As for #1, I'm afraid I can't help you there. The only thing I've ever tried is watercolours on the thinnest white cardboard I could find. Maybe instead of finding a substitute for animal skin, you find the best material for drawing on and then 'fake' the skin texture .... like how you can make a piece of paper look old for pirate treasure maps....

I like the idea of parchment too - I've actually just been looking at things to stiffen paper with, because that's what I'll be using for my super secret project. Paper is incredibly flimsy, but it's the only way to get my effect to work... Perhaps parchment with a fabric stiffener might work?

This might be a stretch but you can photocopy any type of image on the overhead projector material if you want to go that route...this means that it will be smaller in size but this might help you find a larger photocopier to do the same thing on a larger size...just a brainstorming idea.

StiqPuppets