continued from previous page
I had two skeins of yellow yarn in different shades for the hair. Conferring with Rick and using a bit of my own methods, and following a bit of Edith Flack Ackley, simple and appealing yarn wigs were created. The boy has a traditional “Dutch boy” cut, and the girl has simple braids with bows.
Costumes With the marionettes assembled and painted, it was time for costumes. It soon became apparent that some fabric shopping was in order. Usually, I would go to a store, but I shopped on Joann Fabrics’ website—selecting fabric from pictures is not easy. I chose three fabrics, a lovely darker blue cotton print with a light blue motif of flowers and butterflies that reminded me of Delft china, a lighter blue gray that seemed to match the pattern in the dark blue, and a white dotted Swiss. Lots of pictures and phone discussion followed. Rick sent me numerous illustrations of Dutch costumes, and I downloaded many others. We discussed various combina- tions and I was not at all sure the colors were going to work. Rick’s big concern was that the colors were too muted and would not be bright enough for chil- dren. We decided to start with the girl’s costume. I began with the girl’s bloom- ers and petticoat. I knew that the white dotted Swiss was correct for those two garments. Recently, puppeteer and Pelham Pup- pets enthusiast James Bryant Maynard downloaded page after page of Pelham costume patterns. I adapted several of them. A bloomer pattern was enlarged and used for the girl’s costume, and slightly altering the pattern after a try or two gave me the boy’s pants. I turned to Edith Flack Ackley again for patterns for the girl’s petticoat, which was simply a gathered rectangle of fabric. I used Ackley’s method of making the blouse and the sleeves as separate pieces. I enlarged a Pelham Puppets sleeve for both the boy and girl. The girl’s sleeve I gathered at the wrist to create a bit of a ruffle. The boy’s sleeves were given a separate cuff. I used the dark blue pattern for the skirt that was a gathered rectangle of fabric with one seam up the back. A gathered piece of white dotted Swiss formed the apron that was sewed onto
too much print. After searching through my fabrics, we ended up us- ing a burgundy colored cotton for the boy’s shirt, decorated with two rows of brass buttons. Rick felt that the original pants were the wrong shape. I redrew the pattern, making his suggested alterations. When Rick saw the new pants, he said, “That’s it.” I knew I had it. He approved each costume piece. While not totally authentic, I think we ended up with a pleasing “story book” version of traditional Dutch fashion, with one important exception: the hats. I was really dreading the hats. The
Early in the process: paper pattern and pieces. Skaters assembled and ready for their costumes.
I started creating the wooden bodies by cutting out the parts. Each carved body part has two patterns: a side pattern and a top pattern. The legs are laid out on the blocks of wood, so I have both a right and left leg. I sent a picture of the cut-out parts to Rick and learned I had made my first error.
a piece of white seam binding. A bit of lace already on hand turned out to be the perfect accent for the apron. A red vest in fleece from an enlarged Maynard pattern completed the costume. Rick thought that using the same print for the boy’s shirt was
22
boy’s was not too difficult. I enlarged the Maynard Dutch Boy hat pat- terns. I got the boy’s red fleece hat right, on the third try. For the girl I spent an entire afternoon and the next morning trying pattern after pattern with no luck. Numerous phone conversations with Rick got me a bit closer. I finally realized that I was sewing the seam in the wrong direction. The little turned-up wings needed a completely different pat- tern. Finally, on about the 10th try (I was running out of white fleece at this point), I got it. Rick felt that the girl’s hat was a bit Smurf-like, so we put a picture on Facebook to see if anyone said anything. Let’s just say I won and leave it at that. I had already made the skates out of trunk fiber and plywood, so after the costumes were finished, it was just a matter of screwing them to the feet, and the puppets were ready for a control and strings. I used a varia- tion on the double airplane control. The control allows the puppets to do several different kinds of skating moves as well as pairs of skating lifts. All that remains is finding the right piece of music and choreographing the number. To call the project com- plete, Rick decided that the names Willem and Wilhelmina might work. Sadly, they will not appear onstage until the pandemic is over. Even though Rick Morse was not here for the physical labor, we really did build these puppets together. The whole idea was Rick’s. He provided 99% of the research, and—most importantly—he constantly kept me on track and provided an eye for design, with a better level of taste
than I would have used. We ended up creating a much better set of puppets than I would have done on my own. It was an amaz- ing project for us both, and I think the end result speaks for itself. Thanks, Rick!
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44
