Cloth Marionettes

I will use a lot of information from this book:

by Lucy and Grace Morton

This is one of the best step by step marionette making books I have ever seen!  I can't believe I hadn't seen it until now.   Got it for next to nothing used on Amazon.  

 I will use many of the patterns, and there are a few "check-list" type pages that really is a step by step guide, so great for kids !  So much of the work I would have done is already done for me.  I still haven't decided whether to do needle felted heads or not, the heads on these are sewn/stuffed heads.  The stringing is more complicated than I will do too, but it is nice info to have anyway.   I would also do these with hand sewing, not machines (because it would be for 7th grade).

Nice felted head tutorial, if I choose to felt the heads...(they would be much bigger, but shows the basics)
http://www.owning-alpaca.com/needle-felting-tutorial.html

Off to make a prototype!  School meetings start tomorrow...what was I doing with all my free time this summer???

Ummm....oh, now I remember what I was doing with all that free time... :)

Year 1012-13 planning

Raffia Hat Making

Here we go again!  Planning the next school year is a little daunting sometimes....especially because I like to mix it up a little, while some things never change, I have pretty much carte blanche to add any projects that strikes my fancy, and fits a particular class.  For example, at the end of the last school year I stopped everything we were doing with the 6th grade and started raffia hat making....I saw it as a homeopathic remedy for a bit wild and out of control class (well, more than a bit actually....).  I saw all that wild rafia having to be formed into some semblance of organization, and I thought that was exactly what I would like to see happen with this class...to pull themselves together into something harmonious, useful and beautiful.  Did it work?  Well, actually it did.  Pretty cool.

Sources:  http://www.franksupply.com/raffia/supplies.html#naturalraffia
I ordered the 35 lb. hat grade raffia, which will last me for years!  I also ordered the book Raffia Hat Making by Ann Fennell from the same source.  Pretty basic stuff.

Skills needed:  Braiding skills, for more advanced students, a 4 strand braid was used.  I like that better as it lays flatter.
We just braided and braided and added more raffia and braided and braided and then starting with a spiral sewed it all up (like a rag rug) and formed it the way they wanted.  It is surprising how each hat turns out differently, and not always the way we want!  We will still be doing this at the beginning of this year, no-one finished (some took the project home over the summer)

Now, go out and make a hat!