Empowering women through performance and building space for connections and a sense of belonging
Below is the supporting mood boards, designs and scale model for my bamboo woman puppet design:
Mood Boards
The finish and build mood board showing how strips of split bamboo and willow will be used to sculpt the form of the body as well as used for the internal structure. The puppet will be made using only the bamboo and willow as the decorative finish to really showcase the bamboo as the focus of the project.
The scale and style mood board is there to example what kind of puppet I am proposing and how the puppeteer will fit into the design and how it will be animated. This gives a good example of the scale and I’ve also included an image of a puppet strapped to a tree as this is how i’m proposing to display her while the building workshop is underway.
Here I have included some images of a previous puppet i made of a bear made from a willow weaving technique. I propose a similar finish as this with the woman puppet. Using thin split pieces of bamboo as a sculptural medium to build the form of the puppet along with some willow to build up the finer details such as facial features and fingers etc. For more images of this puppet as reference please visit my Willow the Bear web page.
Initial designs
Above is my initial design to show how the puppet would fit in the festival site. I visited Anderson fields to see which trees might work best for the design and decided these first 2 trees as you turn from the main field into the forest area were perfect. Below is the image of the tree from Anderson Fields that i used as my reference.
This is my design sketch of the style and form of the puppet. I wanted her shape to feel natural and elegant just like a real woman with curves. The natural forms of the woven bamboo will really emphasise this.
Scale Model
Unlike the initial designs she will not have legs but a skirt made of sheer red fabric that will enable the puppeteer to see through the skirt while puppeteering. The tent fabric will match this and be hung inside the bamboo frame made as part of the workshop on the day of the event too ensure the bamboo can be showcased and seen from the outside. Under the skirt of the puppet will be a backpack to be worn by the puppeteer to allow free movement and animation of her arms as she dances around.
In this design i have used a yellow background of the model to contrast the natural colour of the woven design and example her form clearly. However the final product will be woven and see through allowing light to shine through her just like my Willow the Bear puppet exampled above.
The puppet will be hung on the front of the tree facing the rest of the field and the tent constructed on the other to create this design. This will allow for the puppet to be animated while displayed as well as removed from display to be performed with, in intervals throughout the day.
From ground level she will be a striking centrepiece for the festival as well as an exciting performance and interactive workshop.