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.

Felted Puppets

Here are some felted puppets my kids made about a month ago.


Jeff (age 7) made the dog and it hasn't left his side since, except for a short stint at the textile session I presented in Saskatoon.

I get alot of requests for a felting tutorial and I have been reluctant in the past because there are lots of them out there as well as some terrific books.


These puppets are a little different so I thought I'd give you a mini tutorial about them.

When felting you need some wool fleece, I get mine from a weaving shop near Calgary called Shuttleworks.  I always tell potential felters not to buy their fleece from the craft or fabric stores as they tend to have outrageous prices for very little fleece.  I buy plain white fleece and then I dye it myself with Kool aid.  You get wonderful colors and your fleece will smell like the Kool aid flavor as well which the kids find pretty cool.

To dye your fleece place one packet of kool aid into a canning jar and add a cup or two of boiling water.  The amount of water you add depends on how much fleece you are dyeing.

Stir till the powder has dissolved.

Stuff some fleece into the jar.

You want to make sure it is completely immersed.

Let the fleece sit for a while.  Half an hour or so...when you go back to check on it you'll find that they dye has been absorbed by the fleece and the water will be clear.

Now to start felting you need some fleece.  An old towel to work on, some textured type mat to felt on to help build friction,  ( I use sushi mats, bubble wrap, or the anti slip shelf liner with the bumpy surface), some soap either dish soap or bar, some warm water, and some fine netting.  An old lace curtain from the dollar store will work or some tulle.

When felting you want to have that textured mat to lay your fleece upon and then the netting to lay on top of the fleece.  The netting helps you suds up the fleece.

Now when making an item like a puppet, purse, slippers or a vessel you need to felt around something.  It needs to be able to withstand the water and soap.  For something that is felted flat for a pocket.... like a purse or slippers you can use a piece of heavy plastic, something like the sound insulation layer they use for hardwood floors or that white spongy plastic they use in packaging around electronics and such.
  I have used rocks to felt little vessels like the one shown here in the picture, but I find rocks heavy for the kids to work with you also need a pretty big rock to make a decent sized puppet.

For these puppets I used these plastic cups I had bought a few years ago for Christmas.  They were cheap and they had a nice textured surface so we didn't have to use an extra texture layer.

To start you layer on your fleece.  It's hard to show in a picture.  You don't want each layer running in the same way but criss crossed over multiple layers.  For the puppets we used about 5 layers of fleece.  You can see what I mean about layering from this photo of a flat design.

    Once you have your layers on wet with some warm water and soap up your fleece.

For the puppets we used a bar of soap as it was easy to just rub it on directly.

When the fleece is wet and soapy place your netting on top and start your rubbing or friction.  I usually find it takes longer than the books say. The puppets probably took 20-30 minutes of rubbing to get the fleece to felt.  I let the kids take breaks and we just added more water and soap when needed.  If you find a hole starting to form just add some extra fleece and rub into place.

The tentacles for the squid puppet were formed by rolling lengths of wet fleece, forming little "dreadlocks".  We then felted them into place on the puppet body.

When the fleece is stuck together and you can't pull it apart it's done.  Roll your cup into a dry towel and roll back and forth several times.  Leave on the cup to dry.

When dry you can remove from cup, trim the puppet on the bottom and sew on some eyes, tongues, ears, etc.

If you find a hole where the fleece "moved" during felting you can just add a stitch or two to close it.

That's it.

Unfortunately I didn't take a lot of pictures during the felting process so I hope you can get the idea from what I have posted.

Puppet Box

My kids really enjoy the Halloween book called "Big Pumpkin" so I thought we could make a little puppet box to go with the story.

Now you can make a puppet box to go along with any story or poem or "just because".

You need a box to get started.  We are using a Kleenex box but you can use a cracker box, shoe box, or any box you have lying around in your recycle bin.

Using scissors cut out a window to view your puppet show.

Carefully open one side of the box.  Don't tear it as you want to be able to glue it together again.

I'm giving the outside a coat of gesso to prep it for painting.

You don't have to paint yours you can easily cover it with paper if you wish.

Now measure out the sides, back, top and bottom on paper.  These will be painted and then inserted into the box for our back drop scenery.


I usually write the name of each on the back so I don't forget which is which.

Now paint your scenery.  While you have your paint out paint some sticks for your puppets.  I buy these wooden stir sticks from the dollar store (250  for $1.00).

When the scenery has dried glue into place thru the open end.  You'll have to hold off on the last side though.

Re-close the open side and glue into place.

When the glue has set up enough you can glue in that last side piece of your scenery.





Draw out your puppet characters.  I am using heavy watercolor paper but you can use cardstock or light cardboard.


You can use my template if you wish.  Big Pumpkin

Add some color and cut them out.

I wanted the puppets to last so I added a coat of Mod Podge.

While the puppets were drying I added some color to our box.

If you want to add some extra scenery and give your puppets a place to hide in the wings you can paint a piece and then cut out a heavy paper strip.

Fold paper strip in half and tape or glue onto the back of the extra scenery.

Secure into place in the puppet box.

Now it's time to add the puppets.  Cut a hole into the side of the box for your puppet stick.

Glue or tape the puppet onto the stick.  Now you could do this while the stick is free from the box and then slide the end into place but i prefer to attach the puppet with the stick already in place so I can get the puppet in place at the right height and position.

and that's it.  Now the kids can play along as we read our favorite Halloween story together.

Before I go remember this diorama I made 2 years ago, Mini Pumpkin Diorama.

I got an email a few weeks ago from fellow art educator, Maria Tavares, who after seeing my version got inspired to make her own.

She sent a few pictures and I couldn't wait to show you.

I just love the knitting ........

and hers lights up too!!

Absolutely terrific Maria.  Thanks so much for letting me share this with everyone.




Why not give a puppet box or a pumpkin diorama a try and I'll see you next time!