hello, my name is Juliann Wilding.

i live in toronto, canada and design & build puppets for stage and film. i'm self taught so i often run into question marks ... i've been searching the digital information bank in order to pry the minds of other puppet makers and wound up here.

currently i am working on a commission project - a 10-foot-tall werewolf body-puppet to be operated by 2 people. it's for a short film and requires moving eyes - something i've never done before.

i'm open to sharing and it looks like this is a good place to learn from others.

cheers.

Welcome to Puppets and Stuff............. Glad you joined. Canada, werewolves, puppets, sharing. That sounds like a great combination. just make yourself at home.


Billy D.

thanks!

i am documenting my building process; i'll post any interesting photos as i go along. i'm really glad this forum exists!

Welcome Juliann:

Here is a fun link for a large body suit puppet that has a wolf head.
http://werevarmint.timduru.org/wvhow2.htm

Here is one of several you tube links for moving eyes.

There is another one done by a vent figure maker which is really good, but I haven't located that one yet.

Glad to have you here! Looking forward to seeing your photos.
Pam

thanks! i will give those a look.

i'm looking forward to seeing my photos too ...

Welcome and glad you took the time to sign up with us.  It sounds like a very fun project and a good challenge for you.  I look forward to seeing your pictures and progress.

It seems that you have got some help and ideas already if you need any more please let us know and we will keep posting or digging around for you.

Daryl H

since i don't know anyone else on the board, i'll give you guys some background info about me so you know where i'm coming from:

i'm originally from vancouver, currently  i live in toronto, canada.

i started out as a child actor. i taught myself how to sew & make clothing very young, as my family was not well off so $$ for nice threads was scarce. i have always been very drawn to the visual side of fashion and was very particular about how i wanted to look, so i started buying clothes at charity shops and chopping them up and re-constructing them.

i stopped acting in my late teens. i just started to rebel agianst the theatre a bit, i didn't want to be on TV commercials, and i also found acting was not creative enough for me; i love to BUILD things.

writing has always been second nature, for awhile i was a journalist and was doing costume design for theatre and stage. then one show required a full bear suit with a realistic head, and i suppose that was the beginning ...

then i started doing more fashion-oriented projects: strange avante-garde, theatrical fashion shows and one-off designs, i did one whole show of paper garments designed to wear once and then hang up as a piece of art, that kind of thing.

then i found myself unemployed and with a lot of time on my hands and living in a huge art space with some friends. day-to-day jokes and banter about the characters in our neighbourhood led to me making a series of 3-foot tall puppets. i had never made puppets before. it just came to me. i just saw these characters as puppets. i started with the materials around me and just problem-solved my way through it. i love the challenge of creating something 3D. i love the math involved and when you just *know* it's right. 

fast-forward 2 years and i've written and co-directed a full puppet musical for which i made all the puppets, i'm working on this crazy commission, and i'm breaking my musical into short films which will be posted one at a time on my upcoming website.

so that's where i'm at. i think i've made about 20 puppets in total. i want to keep learning and trying new things, eventually moving into full animatronics and even marionettes.

it's really helpful to have this board as a new resource to turn to. i also play in a band and have a lot of creative, artist and musician friends, but nobody in my scene is making puppets, so when i run into dead-ends i can either go to the library or sift through the internet.

you guys are also a lot nicer than people on a lot of other boards - specifically music/art related boards. there's a very competitive, judgemental tone that doesn't seem to exist here, and i'm thankful for that.

Juliann, you sound about where I am in life... just getting into puppets after having been in theatre (although, I was never an actor, just crew).

Everyone is wonderful here, and I have to agree: puppeteers seem to be more open and helpful than in other art forms.

and you live in melbourne? i've always wanted to go ...

that's one of the things that makes this board unique - it seems that there are people from all over the world here, and that makes it really inclusive and positive.

other boards i belong to are more insular and local - for example, the toronto indie rock scene all uses this one board, and things can get ... heated.

it's nice to just talk about ideas and projects in a relaxed, friendly and productive atmosphere. maybe it's because puppeteering is a little more obscure still. we have to stick together!

Yep - Melbourne, Australia that is (not to be confused with Florida!)

What I enjoy the most is that we all contribute to the ideas pool. I learn so much, just by reading what other people suggest, even if it's not relevant to what I'm currently doing.