Author: jackbaumgartner

Two Puppet Stages

Here is the main stage for the School of the Transfer of Energy Puppet Theater with some interesting shadows in the morning sun.

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A slightly more complete picture of the same stage.  Here you can see the main curtains, and the side screens.  The shadow screen can be seen behind the trees of the scene in the stage.  The scene, which is under construction,  is John Beartrist Laceroot entering a grove of cedar trees.

Below is a peak at the mechanics of one of the rod puppets under the main stage floor.

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This is the stage for the marionette narrator of the play which takes place on the stage in the preceding photos.  The wooden container, which is actually used to transport part of the main stage, serves double duty as the platform for the narrator’s stage.  There will be a curtain concealing the legs of the operator.

Here is a detail at the foot of the stage.  The whale is the symbol for Jonah, who the narrator, Jonas, is named for.

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Wood-Pecker Puppet

Below is a small puppet of a red-bellied woodpecker.  This fellow has a minor role at the end of part one of the play The Two Deaths of John Beartrist Laceroot, performed by The School of the Transfer of Energy Puppet Theater.  It is carved from red cedar and is operated by a system of strings, weights and elastic.

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Here is a view of the mechanics on the reverse side.  He opens his mouth and flaps his wing.

Milling A Walnut Stump

Here are a few photographs as I cut up a walnut stump.  The stump was all that was left of a city tree.

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A black walnut stump, cut in half and then one of the halves cut into quarters.

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Sawing 5/4″ boards from one of the quarters.

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A good stack of boards- ranging from 4″ thick to 4/4″ thick.  A few spots of rot, but much usable wood.

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Rowdy spectators.