Julie,
Our local children's theater is also going to put on Alice as their next production.
I may have to print out your photos and try and imitate your creations for them...
Unless you have an objection, of course.

As Daryl said, It's worth working out your digital camera glitch. The great thing about them is they can creat nice small file if you can capture just what you want, or if you start to play with other software you can make some more complex stuff fairly easily. No need for an expensive camera till you are ready to broadcast.

cvzdesign,
    I don't have a problem with you trying to make them for the Alice in Wonderland.  I'd be happy to help.  Email me if you have any questions. 

Julie

Thanks!
I took the pictures into the production team on Sunday and let her know I could make these if they were interested.
I'll be asking more details if they say they are interested. :D

UPDATE:

I had to make modifications to the flamingos.  After two weeks the mouths stopped working.  When you pull on the cable all that would happen was the head would bob.  Not quite what we're going for.  I orginally used foamboard for the mouthplates and 1/8" metal cable to pull the mouths open.  The foamboard was not strong enough to hold up under the pulling motion/tension.  I am in the process of brain surgery/facial reconstruction as we speak.  Poor guys they needed a whole jaw replacement.  I am replacing the foam board with sintra plastic.  I am also replacing the metal cable with 1/8" nylon rope.  I tried 25lb fishing line, but it starting showing wear around the pulling conneciton after about 100 pulls.  I finish one and it is working again nicely.  I'll try to use my camera to take video before I have to return them to their owners.

Julie

Hi Julie,

Sorry I was not here when everything happened, but I must admit that you did a splendid job on those flamingo's. I so much remember seeing the movie when I was a kid and seeing the Queen of hearts just using these poor birds as croquet mallets. So I was really impressed to see how you had done it. Unfortunately, the only way we learn is by the difficulties we go through as our puppets get a life of their own so to speak. But the good thing is that you have learned form this experience and will be able to apply this knowledge to your future work.

Great work!

All complete and they work awesome.  So the key was to have a very hard mouth plate (sintra plastic) and a strong cable (nylon cording).  All's well!!!

wow! really nice.

Thanks!  Welcome.    Very good detail on the faces of your work.  I checked out your site.

Julie

Thanks for the updates! I'm taking notes, and waiting to see if the theater wants to try this.