A little preview of my new shadow puppet - it'll be for sale on my site soon.

The first image is of the back. The puppet itself is cardboard, with some special 'magic film' (like a cellophane, it's made for making fairy wings on polymer clay dolls). The colour is ... I can't recall the actual name, but it changes in the light from a sort of purple to a green. Each piece of the puppet is laminated for protection, and brads are used as joints. The rods are going to be detachable; a bit of plastic tube is attached to the back of the arm and the bottom tail piece, into which slot a rod each.

The mermaid has four pieces; the body, an arm, and two for the tail. It makes for a very simple articulated shadow puppet. I love how the design came out. I've never used the magic film before, but tested it out before using it on the real thing; nevertheless, I was worried that it wouldn't work as well as I'd hoped. Also, laminating it was worrying, but it's all come out well.

I'll post more pics when it's finished.

Great job Na.................... I love the color. i see what you are talking about with the rod. Thanks for sharing, can't wait to see your future works. How long did it take you to make?

Billy D.

Na, I love the mermaid.  The irredescent covering is a great touch it makes them attractive to look at even when you're not performing with them.

Thanks! I'm really enjoying the shadow puppets, and think I'll be sticking with this type from now on. I enjoy other types too, but I think I just like this more.

The colour is fantastic. I came across it by accident hunting for polymer clay in Australia, and the same seller had some of this film. It's quite cheap and the colours are great. I think I'll be buying some more and making other puppets with it; and it's also cheaper and easier to use than lighting gel, which was a recommended addition for colouring shadow puppets.

I think the whole puppet (not counting rods, since I haven't finished them) took me several hours to make. The cardboard cut out took the longest; first I made a pattern to base it off of which took a while, and then used that to trace onto the cardboard. Trying to get the details is most difficult, without ripping or bending the cardboard, and I took my time with it. Then about fifteen minutes or so to add the colour (a bit of glue on the back of the cardboard to ensure it stayed put while in the laminating machine) and to laminate it.

I actually went out and bought myself a laminator, and I'm glad I did because it gives the whole puppet a little bit more durability.

What I love most about this design is the way the colour brings out the character. Because the film is both green and purple, it gives the mermaid a real underwater feeling.

WOW! That is just plain beautiful!

Very nice work ...it seems that you are very happy with the out come and getting your plans together for selling them.

Thanks for sharing....can't wait to see more!

Daryl H

your mermaid is very beautiful and I like the colours. What a great idea to laminate the puppet.... I can imagine that the cutting takes most time. there are a lot of lines to cut out what a job and neat looking too
Very great job

The laminating idea came from Richard Bradshaw's masterclass in Perth. He said that he laminates difficult pieces in order to make sure they don't get caught on one another when moving them; also when using only colours and no cardboard.

Thanks for the compliments - I'm already looking forward to starting my next one!

Na i wasn't sure if you had seen this video so I posted it

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https://youtu.be/Zj1dvIg1DIA

Billy D.

No I hadn't seen it before - thanks! It's a great find.

Personally, I love the details, but I think I'd have a heart attack trying to do it myself.