Puppet Gladiators... I-Fest roundup 3

One Way Street staff Ryan Spittler and Branden Treu created a brand new event competition for I-Fest 2008: Puppet Gladiators!

The contest brought about some great drama and was really a great addition to the festival feel of the week. The two gladiator rod style puppets are equipped with a sword in one hand and shield in the other. As far as my memory serves me the joints of the hands, elbows, shoulders and necks are held together by magnets. The point of the game being once combat starts you aim to “disarm” or behead your opponent, whilst keeping your own gladiator in tact. Sadly I was leading workshops during the preliminary rounds of competition so I couldn't join in the contest, but it certainly looked like great fun!



I have tried to search the Internet for clips… I know someone who was watching the event would have put it on YouTube. Above you can see the best clip I could find.

All the best – Dave

I-Fest report 2

OK - yes I realise that there has been a long wait for this... what can I say? I've been kinda busy.

Right where were we?

So at the beginning of July I posted a blog from I-Fest, I can't honestly say if this was me writing up my workshop notes or me blogging... but this is certainly me on the computer at I-Fest! During the week I was working as a Conference Assistant and a workshop leader. I have lead lots of workshops in the UK and quite a few around Europe as well but I had never taught in the USA before and for some reason I found myself to be very nervous. I think this was because I-Fest has played a huge part in my puppetry career and many of the "defining moments" I can think of in my puppetry experience all happened there.

I am pleased to report that the workshops went a lot better than I had expected them to go. By the end of the week the "Getting to grips with Arm Rods" class I lead went so well I would rank it alongside some of my best ever workshops... which was nice. This pic shows me mid flow in the workshop ...it was really fun. I had prepared this workshop just for I-Fest and actually turned out so well it will be a workshop that I will teach more often.

For some reason when I first said I went to I-Fest some people emailed me saying "but aren't you English?" ...Well yes I am, but my wife and I travelled out to Chicago specially for it. BUT if you are in the UK or Europe and you would like to be part of something similar to I-Fest with great puppetry teaching and lots of resources available I recommend you make an effort to get to the European Puppet Ministry Festivals in either Reading or Derby this year! I will be teaching at both and we are expecting to have a great time. Check One Way UK's website for details.

Take care - Dave

I-Fest report number 1

I'm gonna have to do a couple of these to try and explain how the week went. It was a great time and I want to try and share different aspects of the week with you.

Firstly it was great to take Pierre and the gang outside and see them in different surroundings. Here you can see Pierre hanging around on campus. I also managed to get some photos of the other puppets we took out and about (see bottom of post)

My wife and I were invited to take part in the performance on the international evening, this was a fantastic opportunity to share our style of puppetry with the whole festival crowd. There were about 35 people at I-Fest who were international guests so it was nice to have been one of the three teams chosen to perform. You can see a picture of Pierre on stage on Puppetgirl's blog. After the International evening there was a reception for all the international guests... this was a great chance to meet other puppeteers from all over the globe. Possibly the most bizarre thing was meeting another couple from the UK who are full time puppeteers who I had never met before! Funny how these things happen.

More to follow, but that's all for now.
Take care - Dave

Checking in from I-Fest

I'm sitting here in a computer room in the College where I-Fest is being held... and i've just found Internet access so I thought I would post a quick blog on here.
It's been a great week so far with loads of great feature performers and lots of workshops and competitions to join in. It's great to meet so many other performers and share ideas and experiences (there are about 750 people here). I really look forward to getting home and down loading my photos so I can share some of the experience with you a bit better.
Last night was the blacklight (UV puppetry) competition and there were 10 entries! all in the competition took about 2 hours to get through... that's a lot of blacklight! I didn't even try to get any photos as using flash photography spoils the effect and sadly they all get camera-shake unless the puppet is standing perfectly still (which isn't going to happen).
We leave on Sunday so we will probably not be posting anything up until about Tuesday when we have recovered, but photos will follow that's for sure.
Take care - David

I-Fest here we come!

I have mentioned before that I will be going to I-Fest this year with my wife Shelley. It's going to be a great time and we are really looking forward to it. I have just got home from visiting the local post office to pick up some US dollars in anticipation of picking up a bargain in the exhibits hall. As I was picking up the money I had a bit of a think back to all the visits to I-Fest I had made before when I was younger. I went 5 times between the ages of 16 and 21... it was great, it was a really good place to watch and learn from very experienced puppeteers who were happy to help and encourage you on. I will try and take lots of photos over the next week so I can share some of the moments with you all... and i'm sure there will be time for a quick video at some point.

If you're going to I-Fest, i'll see you there!
All the best - Dave

ps Happy Independence Day to all across the pond!

Parrot Puppet

I was contacted 2 weeks ago by someone on facebook and was asked to build them a parrot puppet. I based the new character on the previous birds i have designed, but i decided to make this one a bit more flamboyant.

As you can see here whilst the finished Parrot is still small it makes a big impact with the Mohawk and bright coloured markings. Although you cannot see them in this picture i hand dyed some ostrich feathers and glued them into the Mohawk. They are dyed to match the colour of the eye surrounds. I will be shipping the Parrot tomorrow so i am writing this blog post as a way of enjoying it while i still have it.

On a completely different note for all of you puppeteers and puppet builders out there who have not yet signed up to Puppet Hub, i recommend it!

Take care - Dave

On Tour

Last week I had a bit of a whirlwind week... but it was great. I am working on a touring show at the moment. It is great to be performing in theatres again, I have spent lots of time more recently performing for video and building puppets so to be out and about on the road again it's great.

I am very fortunate to be working on a really well known show, partly because it's great experience... but also because the set and puppets are really fun to work with. I hope to post some pics next week. In the mean time below you will find a video blog I made whilst in my hotel room last weekend.

Take care - Dave

Unimog Wheelie and Car Crush

Some of you will know that in my spare time I like to DJ... this past weekend I was DJing at a great event called "Ultimate Car Ultimate Life?". It was organised by my local church and is not at all what you may expect a church car show to be like (if you even think a church would organise a car show).

The highlight of the day for me was definitely seeing the Unimog wheelie and then crush two cars from the vantage point of the scaffolding tower I had been DJing from.
Check it out, take care - Dave

Horse Puppet

You may remember the Horse Sock Puppets I made last year. They're not real "sock puppets" as you can see... but the idea for them came to me when I was thinking about sock puppets and what a large puppet in the style of a sock would look like. Basically if you were to turn the puppet upside down you see the colours are broken down into the shapes of a classic sock. It's a bit of fun.

I was asked to build a Horse puppet last week for someone who was interested in the Horse Sock Puppets but wanted to also see a more "realistic" horse as well. I enjoy making cartoon style characters so I didn't go very far down the realism route but I did make another character again using roughly the same pattern. You can see here that basic shape remains the same but all the playschool colours have gone and instead fur fabric takes its place. I kept the eyes much the same because I like the open cartoon eyes and I think they are a key part to making this character style so friendly. The new style horse wound up being called Smoulder because for some reason I burnt my fingers a lot on the glue gun finishing him off! Despite this I am pleased with the outcome... I hope you like him too.

Take care - Dave

The May Fayre

You may or may not be familiar with the good old English tradition of Punch and Judy. If you'd like to find out more about the history and tradition of Punch and Judy there's plenty of info out there - Google it! I don't think I have got what it takes to be a Punch and Judy professor... saying that i've never tried it (it's a safe bet though to say i'd be rubbish at it).

But there is more to the May Fayre than Punch and Judy shows, there was also a mini gathering of puppeteers from the Puppet Hub website. Some of the puppeteers I met yesterday included: Phil Fletcher and Carl Chadd (of the Gluvets), Ronnie Le Drew (of Zippy fame), Warrick Brownlow Pike (Oucho from CBBC), Darryl Worbey (the list is endless) Justin Tai, Tony Sinnet and Jan King - all great puppeteers please check out their sites!

It really was a good day out. For the most part I completely forgot I had my camera with me, but I did make a short video on my phone about the day... check it out below.

Take care - Dave