No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on June 19, 2014

Went to bed at 12:30 and woke up at 5:00. Couldn’t go back to sleep and didn’t want my thrashing around to wake my husband I got up and puttered about the house doing things that needed to be done. Caroline got up at her usual 6:30 and started her morning routine.

Looks like rain today which is going to put a crimp in some of my plans for the day but not terribly so.

I am so proud of Caroline for all the hard work she put into Mrs. Petersen in Bye Bye Birdy. She learned her lines, hit her marks, and didn’t bump into the furniture. But she did more than that. She took a part she was unsure about playing and made it her own. She got her laughs and got applause for her scenes. She’s got comic chops that I didn’t know she had. Afterwards all the adults made it a point to tell her how wonderful she was and asking her if she was taking up acting as a profession. I think her classmates learned something about her as well as the adults at the school.

Also everyone loved her coat that I made and had I known that we were never going to see the dress, I would have done it differently.

I got an offer at SE:NYCC that I may have to take up. It ties into Dragon Con and what I want to do for the puppet slam. It would be some good exposure and who knows what it might lead to. But I have to do some serious leg work and find some other puppeteers in the NYC area.

I have been watching the World Cup and enjoying the matches. The officiating is not as screwed up as I thought it was going to be. Couple of do or die matches today.

Got two things behind me that have been bothering me so that’s good.

Caroline is watching her way through Buffy. She just started season 3. It is interesting to watch it with someone who hasn’t seen it before.

Off to start the rest of the day.

I am grateful that Caroline proved her acting abilities so well.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 18, 2014

I watch Heroes of Cosplay. I started because I knew a couple of people involved from the convention circuit and Masquerades I had either been in or had run. A couple had been models for friends of mine who are comic book artists.

We are now into season 2 and I would like to address a couple of things. I am going to try to make this so you don’t have to go watch the show to know what I am talking about by making this a little more general than the specifics of the show.

I will address one thing from last night. If you use your electronics, your batteries will wear out. Always test your electronics for length of battery power (how long does it last?) and chop about an hour if not two off of that to be safe for the show. Also make your battery pack easily accessible and know how you are going to deal with breaks and be able to get TO the electronics while in costume.

Expect nothing but anticipate everything. You don’t want things to break but they are probably going to. So figure out before the show how you are going fix things. Make a repair kit and remember to bring it with you. Before it’s all over, you can pretty much guarantee you will need to make some form of repair.

Now the thing that has been bothering me the most this season and bothered me last season as well.

Costuming in a week to get these elaborate costume done from idea to convention can be done especially if you have a couple of friends to help you, but it is not how most of us do it. Also not everyone has the entire week total free and are being paid by a company to compete.

I know people who walk off the stage at Dragon Con and then come home and start work on next year’s costume.

Have I pulled a costume together in a week? More times than I care count and I don’t care to repeat the stress levels needed to complete it. But there was a lot of planning that went into having all the pieces for the costume ready to be made. Also there are minimal drying times for glues and resins. There are ways to speed up the process a little but you don’t want things curing in the hotel room.

I think HoC sets some unreality goals for costumers believing that you can put together these sorts of costumes in a week and aren’t a sleep deprived mess when you get to the convention.

If the only reason you are going to the convention is the contest, then have fun but the convention is so much more than that.

I am grateful for sensible schedules.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 17, 2014

Caroline is playing Mrs. Petersen in her elementary school production of Bye Bye Birdy.

Thought this one is going to be easy. Thrift store for a dress and coat and done. She is small so there is usually a lot to choose from.

Guess what, all three thrift stores in my area are either closed or closed for renovation.

So I go around to a lot of the local clothing shops trying to find something that she can use.

Well it’s summer and there is nothing that doesn’t look wrong.

So off to the fabric store I go and find the perfect leopard print for the coat and a very odd blue green cloth for the dress. Pick up some simple patterns in Caroline’s size and 8 hours later she has her costume.

I present to you Mrs. Petersen

(For the VI: This is Caroline wearing a leopard print coat with a blue dress underneath. She has an expression on her face like she is yelling. Her brown hair is down and flowing behind her head.)

With a few more photos under the cut

(more…)

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 10, 2014

Do I take commissions?

Yes. In limited number but I do. The base cost of a hand and rod puppet is $140. Depending on what it is and what I have to do to make it (materials cost pattern drafting etc) there may be additional cost (Example the X-men First Class puppets were 180 because of the materials used for the uniforms and the wigs).

Phluzzies are 60 due to the cost of materials going up unless I can pull it from stock and then I can quote 40

If I can’t do it, believe me I know someone who can.

Can you teach me how to make puppets?

Yes. I am more than willing to show anyone how I do it. I would like this sort of information to be out there so others don’t have to re-invent things that have already been discovered.

However I am still working out how I can do that

And I know I owe the how I do rods for puppets tutorial. That is on my list.

How long does it take for you to make a puppet?

Depends on what the puppet is but a basic puppet takes me four hours including a simple shirt.

There is really no physical way to get it below 4 hours because that’s the amount of time it takes to get it done and done right.

This is down from my original 8 hours for a puppet.

Do you sell patterns?

No. Sorry I don’t. I can show you how I make my patterns and some of the math. I just don’t have the skills to create the book that would have to go with making one of my puppets. A lot of it I just do and don’t think about any more.

I will say that I found The Foam Book: An Easy Guide to Building Polyfoam Puppets by Drew Allison and Donald Devet very useful even for beginning builders.

The clothing abilities for puppets is just a skill set that I learned over time and from making costumes for humans as well. If you can make doll cloths, you can make puppet clothes.

What’s the most fun you have had with a puppet?

Ooooo hard one since I have had so many adventures with them over the years and met so many people through the puppets.

The look on Neil Gaiman’s face when he realized I had a Sandman puppet on my arm is a special memory.

Getting Jeremy Bullock to yell at the puppet on my arm while we were having a conversation after I told him by the end of the conversation he would be yelling at the puppet. He was impressed.

The crowd reaction to “Lord of Time” at the Dragon Con.

Giving a puppet to various people I have admired over the years. Made for some good friendships too.

Meeting Peter David after he bought one of my puppets, which came with a half hour lesson. I taught Peter and Shana how to operate a rod puppet. 7 years later we were dating. I think that was probably the most important encounter.

Any other questions?

I am grateful for all the puppet adventures I have had.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 9, 2014

My sleeping pattern seems to be falling into the good nights (6 hours +) and the bad nights (4 or less and that’s all she wrote). This was one of the four and done mornings. Not that I don’t try to get back to sleep but there comes a point that I get concerned that my thrashing about is going to wake my husband so I get up and get started on the day.

We watched the Tony Awards last night and were mightily entertained by Mr. Jackman and company. I am saddened by the lack of scenes from the non-musical plays but it was interesting to have each introduced by the author of the play. The trend for a number of years has been the musical and I think it is to the detriment of the straight play. It looked like everyone was having fun and we got a little taste of the craziness going on during the commercial break since we kept coming in to Mr. Jackman singing. I’ve a message into a couple of friends who were there to find out if that was true. I am betting they are still asleep.

Rewatching Sherlock from the first season forward. I hadn’t seen a Study in Pink in a long time and had forgotten how clever it was. Also it is interesting seeing Freeman and Cumberbatch still feeling their way a little in the characters but some things were there snap from the beginning.

The gym I go to has had an influx of new faces at the times that I go. Also the free weights are being slung around more. One of the trainers speculated that it was people trying to get ready for tank top and swimsuit season. Either way these new gym rats aren’t very good at cleaning up after themselves and the staff can only do so much. So I spend just as much time cleaning up after the previous user before being able to set up for what I need to do.

Pollen has been everywhere up here. Also we went from winter to spring to summer in the span of a week and a half. Makes me think than some day there are going to be two seasons Winter and Summer and that’s it. It is a soggy morning this morning. We have to see if the weather holds so I can walk Caroline to school.

Still thinking about a bunch of stuff. Still don’t have much more sorted out. Some of this is going to be needed to be sorted out shortly for various reasons including time frames.

This is my official announcement that I will NOT be at SDCC this year. Currently it is up for debate if Peter is going. I will miss my various meals with various sets of friends and meeting new people but it just isn’t in the cards this year.

However I will be at the New York Comic Con mini-con this next weekend with Peter and Caroline.

Caroline is vibrating with excitement at the fact that How to Train Your Dragon II is coming out in movie theaters this Friday. She has been waiting years for this film.

I am grateful that Caroline’s wait will soon be over.

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