Think of this as a teaser for a more exciting title

Christmas time, whatever else it is (Excuse for last-days-of-rome style drinking) is a time when generally I work on something more substantial. Actually this christmas I didn't do that right away, instead I went on holiday - well I went and stayed with my mum. I saw my nan and family, met up with lovely old freinds, went to a gin and mince pie party, went to a party at a nursing home which was surprisingly ok once I started in on the brandy shots.

Now i'm back home and after 2 days in my pyjamas with this as my view


I got off my arse and started priming some wood. It's for a jumping jack bigger than the usual size. I decided to try a large one after reading about the french courts of olde were they used to make super-sized puppets. It's not gigantic but you can see the size of the parts next to a normal sized jumping jack below.


Also, large puppets seem to be becoming very popular over here... In the last 2 years Britain has been treated to 2 amazing spectacles by french events company Royal De Luxe involving enormous automated puppets. One of them took place this year in Liverpool, I didn't get to see either of them but the photos are stunning. The ones below are taken from 'The Sultan's Elephant' which took place in 2006.


On a much smaller scale, I ended up making a tiger to go with the tamer - no clear photos as yet, the weather is awful here. But you can get the idea



Now I think it's time to get back to view #1 and read some Angela Carter - I got a selection of her journalistic writings for christmas and it makes wicked reading.

Happy holidays!

Movement!

Here's some shots of the automaton. Various things need doing like covering up joints and cleaning things up and maybe an extra layer of sea etc, but the mechanics are fine.






Well, I should get to bed, i'm up past my bed time on a school night.

Some progress

My blog title's always seem to be 'Some progress' or similarly vague things. I'll try and have a more enigmatic title next time :) Meanwhile, the commission i've been working on has come on in leaps and bounds and I hope to show some photos of it soon, here's a shot of some of the parts before they were placed in properly:


It's currently hanging in my hallway and making me very amused to turn the handle and watch it go.

Also, a new jumping jack to go with the strong man. He's a lion tamer - without a lion currently, i'm not sure whether to make one to hang above him? I was thinking a tiger and a small whip for him.