Giant Puppets!

Two Giant Puppets

December is upon us and my schedule returns to normal madness rather than total madness, which is quite a relief to myself and my nearest and dearest. I can now also perhaps find a little time to post about some of the things I've been doing recently. 

Giant's evil side

Giant's good side

One of the projects I've been working on has involved making three giant puppets to go down to Chester for their Winter Watch parade. Following on from the Pageant in Carlisle over the summer Impecunious, an artists collective of which I am  a part, made a bid to the City Council to fund a project to make some puppets to go down to Chester. The aim of the project was to work with some of the participants from the summer project to help build their skills and confidence and to keep the momentum from the summer project going.

Polar Bear

We based our puppets on a local folk story about the Carle of Carlisle; a fearsome giant that Sir Gawain of Arthurian legend lifts out of enchantment. We chose to make a giant, a bear and a boar. As the project developed so did the characters of the puppets. For example, the bear became an icy polar bear. The puppets are made by first creating a willow frame which is then covered with latex and tissue paper. The puppets are then painted and costumed. 

Boar (made by Ali McCaw)

Boar

One of the participants suggested that the giant should have two faces, a good side and a bad side as in the story he at first appears quite evil but once the enchantment is lifted turns out to be quite a good character. We ran with this idea making a giant that can face each way. Costuming the giant was quite a challenge because of the size and the fact that he needed two fronts but I think overall we were quite successful.

We showcased the puppets at The EDS North Hub Christmas Fayre at the Old Fire Station in Carlisle on Saturday and the puppets head down to Chester for the parade on Thursday. Let's hope the weather is fine for them!

Parade Madness!

Griffin head-this was my 'pet' project and I was ably assisted by several of the participants in the project

This week has been my annual week of crazy also known as the Impecunious summer project. This year our project was the Carlisle Parade which kicked off Carlisle's pageant week.

During the week I ran several banner making workshops

I asked people to draw something or somewhere they loved in Carlisle

These designs were then made into flags and banners

Laying out the banner of Carlisle loves

The finished banner

Banner made from work done at this years Culture Bazaar

We have been working in partnership with Chester Watch (who run fabulous parades in Chester) and the city council. We've been making giant puppets, banners and all sorts of other bits and pieces. It's been a week of late nights, willow weaving, sewing, painting and all round creativity with loads of people coming down to the Old Fire Station and getting involved. It's been great!

Our work space at the Old Firestation

Willow frame for the griffin head

Skinned with tissue paper and latex

Foam eyes and fabric feathers

More feathers

Faye transformed into a griffin!

Feathered wings

Furry lion legs

This article from the Cumberland News was written just before the project started and this one has some pictures from halfway through the week. We were on the radio and we even made it onto the news!

Puppets in our viking long boat

Turning Mark into Carlisle character Jimmy Dyer the fiddler

This weeks Workshops

Banner making with Barnardo's

I've got two sets of textile workshops running at the moment, one with Cumbria Cerebral Palsy and one with Barnardo's Sure Start Children's Centre. There is some beautiful work being made by both groups and as the last couple of weeks of workshops approaches I'm feeling excited about how all the work will come together.

Felt Dog

Felt Parrot

Felt Bag with Felt Beads

Felt Bag with Sequins

The Cumbria Cerebral Palsy group is a pilot run by Prism Arts to see how arts sessions benefit the people who access the service. In my workshops we've been doing some felt making and this week we moved on to embellishing the felt. The small sample pieces from the first week have been embroidered and embellished to look like animals and the 3D felt bags have also been embellished. There is a very positive atmosphere in this group and they pick things up really quickly.

Designs are drawn in fabric pen then embellished with stitch, sequins, buttons and beads

Hand stitching

The Barnardo's group I'm working with consists of mothers and their children and we've been working on embroidered animals and plants. Each person is working on an individual piece and next week we will start joining them all together to create a banner to be carried in Carlisle's pageant in a couple of weeks. You can find out more about the pageant by getting in touch with Impecunious.

Tonal stitching in a flower design

Adding beads

A Summery Summary

Owl cushions commissioned for a wedding

Each owl had the wedding date embroidered on the back

Crazy Owls!

July and August, even more so than the rest of this insanely busy year, seem to have flashed before my eyes. Instead of attempting to recap and explain all the madness I thought I'd just post a few pictures of some of the things I've been up to. I've just got back from a much needed holiday and feeling pretty much human again. I think I might need to reassess that whole work/life balance thing. It's been fun but there has definitely not been enough sleep!

Appleby Agricultural show

It was very muddy

Cushions!

Images from Impecunious' Summer Project, Wonderland. A week long community arts extravaganza held at Botcherby Community Centre.

Wonderland art work

Mask making

Mushroom making

Mushroom making

Butterfly decorating

The crystal cave

Crystal Cave

More plastic stuff

Magic mushrooms in the crystal cave

Decorations

Pom-pom caterpillar

UV wool and butterfly decorations