Viewing archived post for Shawn Sorrell
Re: Does anyone know of and Australian Stockist of Antron? Posted in Does anyone know of and Australian Stockist of Antron? on Nov 06, 2013
Wow that is great news for our Australian members Julie!
Re: Full size kids puppet theatre Posted in Full size kids puppet theatre on Oct 31, 2013
Posted by: Snail on Oct 30, 2013
We used to use a curtain rod in doorway stage when my kids were young but they kept leaning on the rod and it would fall down.  I was thinking of putting a rod across my narrow front porch for Halloween but I bet it would keep falling down too.  I guess that will teach the puppeteers good technique to not lean on the stage.

You know there are cloths rod "holders" you can buy at the hardware store that could help this. They are normally plastic and you use a screw in the middle to attach them to the wood. Then the pole rest in them.  You are right though that it should be good training for a puppeteer... they really should not be leaning against the play board.
Re: horizontal or vertical controller ? Posted in horizontal or vertical controller ? on Oct 10, 2013
I personally prefer a horizontal control or airplane control.  I think it offers more range of movement. I like to be able to remove the leg bar in performance.
PuppetVision Documentary: Take Two Posted in PuppetVision Documentary: Take Two on Oct 02, 2013
http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/puppetvision-documentary-take-two

Andrew is taking another run at raising funds for his documentary.  This time they are going through Indiegogo, so anything you donate will actually get to them.  A project well worth backing!
Puppetry and Animatronics. Posted in Puppetry and Animatronics. on Sep 14, 2013
Saw this posted over at Puppet Hub by Philip Millar and wanted to share it here.  It is a talk that Philip gave at the agIdeas Design Conference in 2009.  Philip Millar is in charge of concept design and management over at Creature Technology. They are the ones responsible for Walking With Dinosaurs, How To Train Your Dragon and most recently King Kong. You can read more about those projects on their site.

This is a fairly long video but well worth watching. I had not realized that the anamatronic dinosaurs actually had muscles of sorts underneath their skins. Check it out, you'll glad you did. I actually watched it full screen so I could see more detail in his examples.

Re: Publication of Children's Outreach Posted in Publication of Children's Outreach on Sep 10, 2013
Na is right there is no reason why you should not use the patterns to make a puppet.  Now that grandmother though is in a lot of trouble for duplicating and sending them to you.   Just kidding.  More then likely the company is no longer around. Google is no use because every church and children's organization use the term "Children's Outreach".
Re: Lets Help one of our Members on Indiegogo Posted in Lets Help one of our Members on Indiegogo on Sep 04, 2013
Great concept! Hey folks even if you are not going be donating your really need to check out the project page.  It is one of the best examples I've seen of presenting a project.
Re: Fox Puppet Video Posted in Fox Puppet Video on Sep 04, 2013
Good job! Your puppetry technique is prefect.  I think folks are very willing to suspend their believe with puppets.  Like his voice. Not to take away from your creation but there where some really nice fursuites in the video also.  I would say your creation is right up there with them.
Re: Time Machine video montage of the play Posted in Time Machine video montage of the play on Aug 31, 2013
Not sure how I missed this post.  Indeed a very cool montage!  I recently got the DVD of the Frankenstein play that they did and it was great! 
Frank Herbert Bross Glove Puppets Posted in Frank Herbert Bross Glove Puppets on Aug 29, 2013
I recently received an email from someone asking if I could help value some puppets they had which belonged to their grandparents. They mentioned there was a metal "BROSS" tag on the back of each puppet. I replied that it was really hard to set a value on puppets but that the first step would be to get some pictures of the puppets they could spread around.  They got back to me with some pictures and actually a bit more. They told me story of how their grandparents had gotten the puppets. I thought it was a cool bit of personal history and asked if I could share the pictures and story.

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So here goes the story.

Their mom tells the story of when she was around 8 and living in Germany along with here brother and parents shortly after WW2 when "Checkpoint Charlie" was still in effect. Her dad was in the Army and they lived off base in a German residence. There was still some resentment among the Germans after the war but they would trade goods and whatever they had for food and other things with the U.S. soldiers. One day her father traded one pound of coffee for each puppet so that she and her brother would have something to play with.

Like I said I thought it was just one of the coolest personal history things ever and wanted to share it. Perhaps it is because my first puppets came from the store across the street when we lived in a small German village.  In fact while my little set of hand puppets where made of plastic, the characters where similar to these.

The person who contacted me was not looking to sell them but really wanted to know the value so they could add the puppets to their insurance rider.  If any one can help on that end please let us know.  I did point them to a few different places where they could ask like the Center for Puppetry Arts.