TEACHING SHADOW PUPPETRY

Following is a model of a shadow puppet made from poster board (the type you can buy at WalMart), brass fasteners, Elmer's glue all, scissors, hole punch, masking tape (in this case colored), and an Xacto knife to cut the eye opening out. This puppet is made to fit an 8 1/2 by 11 inch sheet of paper so it will fit a scanner. However, puppets should be larger for an audience of more than ten. This puppet is only 8 inches from top of head to bottom of foot but should be more like 14 inches. Although you cannot see it there is a reinforcing piece of poster board glued to the back of the puppet. It goes from the bottom holding piece to about the chest. It could and should go all the way to the head. (I only made it shorter because it was the length of the scrap piece that I had) The holding piece for a (one run puppet show) could be taped to the stick at the bottom of the screen instead of placed in a slot. The first photo below is the picture in which the puppet was derived. The second picture is the back of the puppet showing the taping of the fasteners (this is so they will not get into the shadow area during the show). The last two pictures show the movement possibilities of the puppet. This is made in the style of an Indonesian shadow puppet but is adapted to modern materials and the requirements of a Public High School in 2003. These puppets adapt well to a dance class because of the movement possible in the arms.

This photo taken at a Rave in Dayton Ohio is the model for the shadow puppet.

The two moving rods could be made thinner by folding over and gluing them but I am not sure there is a need since they will be seen no matter what. However, these rods will have to be made longer to hide the puppeteers hands. The holding rod (the one beneath the foot) has to be made the length necessary to fit the puppet theater.

It appears to me, with initial experiments, that there are all the same movements in the arms of the puppet that are in human arms.