Hobby Blues….
Posted By Kathleen David on April 19, 2004
I make puppets, dolls, and stuff animals. No big surprise there.
I like reading books and learning others techniques and short cuts. I like taking classes with puppet makers when I can. I did a number of classes at the Center for Puppetry Arts. I have taught puppetry to both children and adults. I talk to people about puppetry being for adults and kids. I believe in the power of the puppet.
Now when you go into your local bookstore, you tends to peruse the sections that you have interest in. I tend to look through the craft section to see what books they have on doll making and puppetry. I usually go through the theater section for puppet books too. Trying to find new books on doll making is hard enough, but Puppetry is close to impossible. There is a new book out called
When next you folks have free time while in the SouthEast, you might be pleased to drive over to Scottsboro, Alabama and visit the _Unclaimed Baggage Center_ (URL: http://www.unclaimedbaggage.com/ and today, in fact, clicking on “Unpack the Bag” discusses this very item). In their “Museum” section, where the most unusual of lost and never claimed items are showcased and NOT for sale, you can see Hoggle, and some of the critter hands and other parts.
Now, fair warning: He’s no longer in excellent, fresh-from-the-screen condition. The UBC is doing the best they can to keep him from deteriorating any further, of course, but we all know these things took some wear and tear even during filming, and after these many years the foam has vanished from some parts. Reactions from _Labyrinth_ fans accompanying me over there have ranged from “Oooh, cool, now I can see how the puppet worked!” to “It’s like seeing a well-loved character die. I wish I hadn’t come.” I was in the former camp, my husband in the latter, and the rest of our group was split pretty evenly down the middle.
It is, by the by, about a six-hour drive from DragonCon. And you’d be passing SpaceCamp toward the end of your journey, if you drove. From Huntsville International Airport, it’s really about an hour, rather than the “forty minutes” they claim in their driving directions, but a lot of that is due to traffic at the beginning and the end. And, if you do decide 1) to visit the UBC and 2) to drive up from Huntsville or Birmingham, I can give you MUCH better directions than those — directions that minimize the “Aaargh! Who DESIGNED this city?!?” feeling. No strings, pardon the pun, attached.
Sort-of Namedropping:
Bil and Cora Baird’s sone is a friend/acquaintance of Kate and Helen (wife and step-daughter). I met him briefly once, thankfully when he had to split fairly quickly and i couldn’t get all “Goshwow your parents were great”…
And i just happened to remember that i worked for several years at the next bench to an old puppeteering partner of Steve Whitmire back when Steve was just beginning with the Henson organisation.
The “six degrees” thing is fascinating…