DESIGN: Select the best solutions and construct a prototype.
From my plans of each character and the materials I had, which were various soft fabrics, wool, paper, paddle pop sticks and boxes; I decided to develop my first round of prototypes, hoping that they would only need minimal alterations in the future. Trialling these prototypes also allowed me to explore what materials were easy to work with and which suited the character; as well as which worked best in a performance environment.
DEVELOP: Prototype 1
The reason why I chose to do a finger puppet for Little Red Riding Hood was because I thought she was the best character for actually having legs. Putting fur on for the wolf may have been too difficult and seeing as the Grandma traditionally doesn't even get out of bed, there was no reason for her to have legs! I used a stencil to make this character. I decided to try and use this opportunity to make Red Riding Hood a little bit modern, and tried to make her look like she had a 'hoodie' jumper on.
While developing the puppet, I came across a problem!: While gluing the denim on as pants, I realised there may be a problem in cutting out the holes to put your fingers through as legs. Because the fabric and cardboard together wold be very thick to cut through, I then tried to cut holes in the fabric and cardboard separately then glue them together. However this also proved unworkable as the denim fabric made the holes look to messy and jagged.
Solution to this problem
At first I was unsure on what to do, so I went back to the researching step and looked up what puppets actually were. I realised through research on Dr. Zagami's website, anything can be a puppet, as long as it's controlled by a human etc. Information found at: (http://www.zagami.info/2139EPS/Puppetry.html).
I decided then not to use the original idea of legs through the puppet, but simply controlling the puppet via paddle pop stick! Even though it wasn't my original design, I realise that when working with projects, sometimes you have to go with whatever works better and use problem solving! I realise that this also changes the original style of the puppet from finger to paddle pop stick controlled.
Some photos of me constructing the first paper/ fabric and paddle pop puppet:
Evaluate and reconstruct!
After making this prototype, I realised some flaws that this puppet may not be the best way to represent Red Riding Hood in a presentation as she is the main character- she needs to stand out and be seen! However I did like the fact that I managed to keep a modern tone to her design via the 'hoodie' and denim shorts. I went back to the research stage and found that I could make a much bigger and detailed 'paddle pop stick'/ wood themed puppet and create a puppet using a wooden spoon! The idea was given to me by the puppet book by Susie Hodge (2005). She also stated that this new design could animate the puppet with a finger and thumb, which was one improvement from my paddle pop stick puppet that I was concerned about. Below are the instructions/ details from the book.
Some photos of the developing wooden spoon puppet:
I was at a few unsure moments with this puppet, as I really wanted to keep with the original theme of the finger puppet, in having some modern qualities. This was difficult when trying to glue the felt 'cap' on her, as the material didn't stick easily on the concave wood. It was very frustrating and was trying to think of different alternatives; Could I just leave it to look like a beanie? Should I just take it off and make a traditional cape? Does she even portray Little Red Riding Hood?
I decided to then pencil her face on (above photo), and draw braces to make her look like a typical teenage girl. I chose cotton red patterned fabric for her, which I thought was quite modern, to look like a dress. I painted her face (with braces) and finally decided that I had finished! I was very happy and satisfied with my finished product and thought that it would do a great job at portraying Little Red Riding Hood, as all her planned functions did their job, she was the right size and she was modern to show a little uniqueness!
When performing...
I would use happy music when she was walking to Grandma's, such as 'I'm walking on sunshine'. And have the whole set in colour with flowers and a bright sun. I think her summery dress would blend well with this theme. I would perhaps have her dialogue as modern as possible, with talk of social websites, TV shows and modern teenage slang.
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