In this blog we will travel to the frozen Arctic Zone of North America where the Inuit lived. The Yup’ik speakers of Western Alaska still use mechanical figures. Ceremonies were held to celebrate important occasions and to ensure successful hunting.
Continue reading “Origins of Puppetry in the Arctic of Western Alaska”
I wanted to do a blog series on the history of puppets in the United States. While searching for information, I discovered that puppetry has been around a lot longer than I thought. Puppetry used by the Native American Nations is fascinating.
Continue reading “Origins of Puppetry in Northern United States”
Why did puppets and puppetry ever get started? The consensus of historians is that all over the world puppetry started in the area of the sacred with religious ceremonies. Puppets were used as ritual objects that were animated to either bring forth or to appeal to supernatural forces.
I admit that my knowledge of puppet history is pretty limited. I’m aware of Asian shadow puppetry, Punch and Judy and Carnival puppets. That was pretty much it, so I started to investigate with the ever so helpful Google.
Even though we’ve been designing animal hand puppet patterns since 2014, it wasn’t until 2019 that we designed a human type puppet pattern. Up until then, we focused on animal hand puppet sewing patterns. In all honesty, it took me that long to figure out how to create a human puppet pattern. Making most animal patterns is easy, because animals have muzzles. The hand operating the puppet fits perfectly in the muzzle. Humans really don’t have muzzles to put a hand in. Our mouths are inside our heads, not an extension like animals or birds.
Continue reading “Creation Process of the Person Puppet”
In our previous blog article we listed a few links to craft projects featuring wolves that we found around the web. We also had a free download of a wolf paper bag puppet pattern.
Our pattern of the month is the Wolf! Wolves are the largest of the Canada family which includes domestic dogs, coyotes, dingoes, African hunting dog, and many types of foxes and jackals. Interestingly, wolves do not make good guard dogs. They are naturally afraid of unfamiliar visitors and will hide rather than bark.
In our previous blog article we listed a few links to craft projects featuring rabbits that we found around the web. We also had a free download of a rabbit paper bag puppet pattern.
In the last blog article we listed some Fun Facts about rabbits. We also had a free download of a rabbit coloring page for the kids (or you) to color. In this blog we want to share some of our favorite craft activities that we found on the web that are simple and fun to do. There was so much to choose from – it was hard to make a decision!
Continue reading “Rabbit Craft Activities”
Our pattern of the month is the Rabbit! Of all of the wild animals in the United States, rabbits are found in almost every state. They are very social and live in groups in underground tunnels and rooms. When they are happy they perform what is called a “binky.” They do kicks and twists in mid-air. I guess that’s what you’d call jumping for joy!
