Wayang Kulit: Indonesian Shadow Puppets

Well I hope everyone had a wonderful relaxing holiday break!!  I have had a major hard drive failure so sorry for the big break between posts.


The kids were back at school today but I won't be in until next week as I try to put my studio back together after the Christmas whirlwind!

Today I want to introduce you to Wayang Kulit or Indonesian Shadow puppets.  Now you can find shadow or transparent puppets in many Asian countries...those of you who saw the remake of the Karate Kid movie will recall a scene set at a puppet show using some traditional Chinese transparent puppets, quite similar to the shadow puppets.

Although I have had a long history of puppet making since I was 12 yrs old I became very intrigued with the Indonesian puppets and related puppet plays after admiring my sister in law's puppet collection. (her Mom lived for a time in Indonesia).


Her is one of her puppets.......

....and here is her traditional "Arjuna" on which this art project is based.



We will be making our own "Arjuna" puppet and you can add other traditional characters if you wish once you have the process down.

















MATERIALS REQUIRED:

- pattern or template, here is my version of ARJUNA
- cardstock, posterboard, or manila tag
- watercolor or tempera paint
- fine sharpies
- single hole punch or press punch (my newest fav tool)
- paper fasteners
- wooden coffee stir sticks, I get mine at the Dollar Store, 200 for $1.00
- wooden skewer
- string
- mod podge (optional)
- gold or silver doilies

Now traditional puppets are made from animal skin but we are going to make ours from cardstock.  If you wanted to make the transparent type you can adapt this project using a heavy duty transparency sheet (photocopy the template directly on to it)

You can enlarge the pattern if you wish and then photocopy directly onto cardstock or if doing the low tech method, print off the pattern and then glue this down to your cardstock or posterboard.

Let's add some color....even though you won't see this in the shadow these puppets are works of art so let's make them as appealing even when they are just waiting to be played with.


Paint in the details and then use a fine sharpie for outlining and definition.

Cut out all the pieces to your puppet.  I wanted to add some embellishment so I added a piece of a gold doily. 

The doily can also stick out from the puppet as it casts a great elaborate shadow on its own.

Using a single hole punch, press punch or even tip of a knitting needle punch a hole in all the little circles on the pattern.  You can also add some extra holes for decoration (look good in the shadow) Here I added some extra to his hairstyle.

These are your joints so you can have some movement in your puppet.  Attach some paper fasteners.
If the ends from the large fasteners are too long just fold back on itself or you can trim them off with scissors.

Attach the main part of your puppet to a skewer. 


I used hockey tape for mine.  I love making things with hockey tape, it's cheap, white can be painted or drawn on and it's everywhere. (at least here in Canada it is)

Now the best way to attach the wooden coffee stir sticks to the arms is by string.  You can get better movement for your puppet.

Here I attached a piece of string to the stir stick using, you know,  Hockey tape.

I then wrapped the string around the wrist of the puppet as tight as I wanted and tied it off.  This enables the stir stick to sideways from the arm which makes the puppet easier to manipulate.

You can add a coat of mod podge to your puppet so it will last through many performances!

and that's it! Check in google and you can find many images of Wayang Kulit characters as well as some of the traditional plays and you can build your own little puppet troupe.

I'll see you next time.

Clay Wall Pockets

Here is a clay project Grade 5 completed in time to be wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree.

The kids decided on a theme of Totem Poles in keeping with their First Nations Social Studies unit.

I brought in a lot of reference material for the kids to look through before starting on their projects.

We discussed basic forms and shapes and what they might want to add to their Totem Poles to personalize them.

Roll out a slab of clay to approximately 1/2 an inch thick.

As you can see I have the kids work on pieces of fabric or canvas.  This stops the clay from sticking to their desks.  Fabric placemats also work great.

From the slab you want to cut a shape like this, I told the kids it's kinda like a shoe or sneaker shape, we used penny nails to cut our shape with but you can also use a wooden skewer or plastic knife.

Score the edge all around except the top of the longer edge, rub with some water.

Fold over and smoosh the edge together.  Add some crunched up newspaper into the pocket to help hold the shape while drying.

Make sure you can easily remove the newspaper without disturbing the pocket.

Trim off any excess and make sure to add a hole at the top for hanging.

You can use a nail, wooden skewer, or a plastic knife to help cut the clay.

With scraps of clay cut out shapes and add to the front to form your totem pole.  Make sure to score and rub water on the two surfaces you want to stick together.

When finished set the clay aside to dry out undisturbed for about 2 weeks.

Remove newspaper and bisque fire at cone 04 in the kiln.

Glaze with at least 3 coats. We used Mayco Stroke and Coat which I finally got to work for me....in past projects I had been adding a clear topcoat to the projects which caused hardly any pigment to show...this time I only added the clear to any unglazed areas and it turned out perfectly.

After your glazes have dried cone fire 06 in the kiln and enjoy.

Great work Grade 5!!