I have been trying for 6 months to get an answer from puppet people but I thought I wound throw it to all of you since we have a good base of performers and garb people.
The Pink Pirate has a "companion" named Quizzik. He is a special edition Drabbit from the Imaginerium. Because he is one of the 'behind the rope' size drabbits he has a saddle that he is afixed to that has lacings that run across chest under the arms then back around the waist. These are black, and stand out against the pink of the outfit.
This year at Scarby we are debuting my latest work and a new outfit for "Jean Flamingo, the pink pirate". The thing is we want Quizzik to look like he is sitting on his shoulder with out any support. Currently we are thinking of putting welted slits at certain spots so that we can pull the anchors and the control cables into his coat .
Do any of you have any better ideas? Am I clear as mud? Help! We would like to have the whole rig set up for opening day of scarby.
Here is his garb from last year. (http://i113.photobucket.com/albums/n212/shanntarra/Patterns/DSC_0334.jpg)
FYI photo was taken by Clarendon :)
is the control long enough to be brought behind him, under the cape? Also an idea I had for my creature which was given to me (and I've never taken), was to create a harness around its body so it kinda looks like a dog harness and your just keeping him under control ;). Did that make sense?
I like your idea also!
He is no longer going to be wearing the cape. Instead he wants to wear a pirate coat. Last year we ran the control rod across his back,under his sash so it sat at his other hip. This way he hid the puppetry under the cape. After talking to the master at Imaginerium he said the best control of the puppet is done with the cable doing down the sleeve to the same arm they are on the shoulder of.
You can see the black saddle and salle ties across his chest. That is what we are wanting to hide.
How are the black saddle and laces attached to the puppet?
Could you detach them and substitute ones that are a color of your choosing?
(I'm fairly good at detaching things, but maybe not so good at re-attaching them ... ;) :D )
Take Care,
David Baldock
The lacings are long strips of leather that are fitted to the thick leather saddle. I would not want to undo the straps. Quizzik is attacked to the saddle by strong but narrow elastic bands hidden by his fur. The thing is , other than the slit is the jacket (which we don't mind doing as long a we can hide the slits some how.) is there a way for him to wear Quizzik and it look like he is on the shoulder without support?
Is it possible/reasonable to make the garment look like its slashed over all or in selected spots so that the
one(s) you want to use for the puppet don't look out of the ordinary?? You could even make his "larger" if you need to with a hidden way to close them up after you get him seated...
any way of taking close ups of the saddle thingy? - it might make more sense that way...
What about wearing the rigging under whatever top layer you choose, and then feeding the *elastic* that affixes the puppet to the saddle through buttonholes or whatnot in the costume?
I probably don't understand completely what the issue is -- but if the problem is how to hide or eliminate the lacing that holds the puppet in place, then a velcro tab or two would do it ... or "Magnets" if you want to get really fancy.
You could braid the existing black strapping with pink making it look like it was meant to be there for decoration.
Quote from: gem on March 25, 2010, 12:26:28 PM
What about wearing the rigging under whatever top layer you choose, and then feeding the *elastic* that affixes the puppet to the saddle through buttonholes or whatnot in the costume?
We asked the makers about that. You need something across the chest to counter balance him. Otherwise he is pulling the jacket off the shoulder.
No the extra slashes wouldn't work with this outfit. I'll see if I can't get a better shot of the saddle.
Could you fix the shoulder seam of the coat so a part of the seam is open and then thread his saddle through that opening and have the puppet sit on top of the opening hidding it, then tie the saddle under the shirt?
Maybe you could make the saddle look like it's padding and the ties are holding the padding in place. Then you could explain that the talons on his paws are sharp and you need the padding to protect the shoulder. Something like the reason you wear gauntlets when handling falcons and hawks. It wouldn't eliminate it being there, but it would make it seem like it's there for a feasible reason. Did any of that make sense?
It sounds like no matter what, you're going to have to make a new something-or-other harness type thing for the puppet to sit on or else a new something-or-other piece of garb that allows for the existing structure to stay in place doing it's counter-balancing duties.
SO, my suggestion would be to make or get your pink pirate a new baldric a la the ones in this link (http://www.pyrate.org/baldrics.html) which would effectively blend in with his character while still providing his familiar with a place to perch.
Naturally, you'd have to make sure you could re-attach the "saddle" to the baldric, so my next suggestion would be to ask the puppet-maker if they would be able to make you a new harness that looks like a baldric.
They could even make it pink to match his garb & carve little flamingos into the straps that hold the miscellanea of weaponry required for an effective pirating adventure.
Good luck & make sure to post pictures of your final solution!
I would try making the saddle look like an epulate ( sorry about the spelling) or make it look like the critter is sitting on a fluffy pink pillow with lotsa fluff, and the black strap that runs around his side make a casing out of a gold(?) trim to look better with the whole outfit.
Or a baldric would look swell too.
Even a later peiod baldric of cloth would look good and go well with the pirate justacorp.
Another option (which I read earlier, but i think was misinterpreted) is to simply put on the saddle under most of the clothing. Tie it across the chest as normal, put on the rest of your clothing and then simply pull the elastic through the layers of clothing through small holes and around the drabbit. if the elastic is as thin as I think it is a small grommet hole or thread made lacing hole would work fine and a bodkin would help the process of pulling the elastic through. Granted, your pink friend will most likely need another hand to complete this process, but thats the price of hiding necessities I guess!
So far the plan is to create a "saddle blanket" that will lay on his shoulder. This will allow Quizzik to look like he is riding on the shoulder. The actual attaching straps are going to go through the coat it's self and be hidden under the coat and vest. The holes the straps run through will be hidden by the saddle blanket.
I like your idea of the baldric. When he isn't wearing Quizzik I think a nice wide baldric could be used to hide where the holes were.