Year's End - The Journey Continues

As 2021 comes to a close, I look back on the year and realize that it was another good year for me.Things were busy, as usual, and I probably overextended myself, as usual, but on the whole I am happy with the way it turned out.

I see that I last posted in May. Well, between gardening, puppet-building, work, a felted doll class, more puppet-building, visiting family, puppets, two additional classes taken in the fall (what was I thinking?), puppets and the lead-up to Christmas, this blog just simply fell by the wayside.

Since Willow and the Steller's Jay were made, three more puppets have been added to the family.

 Meet Ezra, a rod puppet:

An old man wooden rod puppet wearing denim overalls, a plaid shirt and sitting on an earthernware pickle jar.

Pippi, a simple marionette:

A simple marionette styled like Pippi, with thick red braids, a blue sleeveless dress over a striped long-sleeved t-shirt.

And an as-yet-to-be-named geodesic puppet that glows in the dark:

A glow-in-the dark puppet made of dowels, which changes shapes, depending on how it is manipulated.A glow-in-the dark puppet made of dowels, which changes shapes, depending on how it is manipulated.


A glow-in-the dark puppet made of dowels, which changes shapes, depending on how it is manipulated.

I've fallen further behind in the Academy, but Bernd Ogrodnik, the instructor, is wonderful and is allowing us a year beyond the release of the final lesson to work on the remaining puppets (3 more, for me). Pippi was the September puppet. I skipped over June's lesson and have now gone back to it. So far, the legs are done:

A pair of carved wooden legs with bent knees, sitting on a small notebook.

This puppet journey has been amazing so far, and I look forward to continuing it past the end of the course. I have found so much joy - yes, joy - in creating these characters; possibly more than I have found in any other creative endeavour before this. 

I look forward to continuing this journey and seeing where it takes me. Happy New Year, Everyone, and may you find joy in the things you do!

A carved wooden Steller's Jay puppet flying in front of a Christmas tree.

 



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