Duck Puppet Posted by Chris Arveson on Sep 09, 2009
This year I'm headed to orphanages in Tomsk, Siberia, right after Christmas, and will be bringing "Peter and the Wolf" along with me. I'm starting on my first puppet, who I have named Ulia (pronounced oo' lya). The word duck in Russian is ootka, (oot' ka) and Ulia Ootka just sounded like a great name.
At any rate, here are a couple pictures of Ulia. I didn't want a puppet with a head and neck big enough for the puppeteer's hand, so I've made a "remote control" using elastic to hold the lower bill closed, and a string to pull to open the bill.
The body will be pretty basic, with the possibility of flapping wings, if I have the time. I want to get some of the other puppets built before I go back for luxuries like flapping wings.
I will use the same fur for another version of Ulia. In the story, the duck is swallowed whole by the wolf. I want to take a piece of the fur sewn into a tube shape, maybe add some nice orange legs and feet, with a cord tied at the front end. Then I will cut a hole in the wolf's mouth, so that at the correct point, the duck and wolf can dive behind the front curtain, and the wolf can come back up with just the duck's rear end sticking out of his mouth. From behind the curtain the puppeteer can pull on the cord, and pull the duck's "body" down the wolf's throat, thus being swallowed whole in front of the audience.
The wolf puppeteer will have to wear a black glove in order to mask the hole in the back of the puppet's mouth. Fortunately, I had made the mouth interior black when I made the puppet, so it should work pretty well.
Hopefully, I will be able to post pics of Ulia, complete with body, soon.
At any rate, here are a couple pictures of Ulia. I didn't want a puppet with a head and neck big enough for the puppeteer's hand, so I've made a "remote control" using elastic to hold the lower bill closed, and a string to pull to open the bill. The body will be pretty basic, with the possibility of flapping wings, if I have the time. I want to get some of the other puppets built before I go back for luxuries like flapping wings.I will use the same fur for another version of Ulia. In the story, the duck is swallowed whole by the wolf. I want to take a piece of the fur sewn into a tube shape, maybe add some nice orange legs and feet, with a cord tied at the front end. Then I will cut a hole in the wolf's mouth, so that at the correct point, the duck and wolf can dive behind the front curtain, and the wolf can come back up with just the duck's rear end sticking out of his mouth. From behind the curtain the puppeteer can pull on the cord, and pull the duck's "body" down the wolf's throat, thus being swallowed whole in front of the audience.
The wolf puppeteer will have to wear a black glove in order to mask the hole in the back of the puppet's mouth. Fortunately, I had made the mouth interior black when I made the puppet, so it should work pretty well.
Hopefully, I will be able to post pics of Ulia, complete with body, soon.
Re: Duck Puppet Posted by Chris Arveson on Sep 10, 2009
Ok, now Ulia is more than a head case, she has a body as well. Here she is, taking a short rest from hunting slugs and other tasty treats.Wings come next.
Re: Duck Puppet Posted by miguel on Sep 10, 2009
Re: Duck Puppet Posted by Chris Arveson on Sep 13, 2009
One last picture. Now Ulia has her wings.Re: Duck Puppet Posted by miguel on Sep 13, 2009
Re: Duck Puppet Posted by LJ on Sep 14, 2009
She is fantastic!! Thanks for sharing!! 
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