Steve Wilson Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 (edited) After being inspired by Jody and Alex I have knocked up a marionette of our Australian Prime Minister, Tony Abbott who is a fitness fanatic and widely lampooned for wearing "budgie smugglers", a brief swimsuit, when he goes surfing. As a politician he certainly lacks integrity (surprised?) so I have no misgivings about lampooning him. Here he is. And there's a video too, of him and his mate Rupert Murdoc, busking all in a good cause. Tony is dancing to Rupert's tune. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=elAj35NgY9o To allow more freedom I went for a free standing set-up rather than having the string tied to my leg. So he's operated by a foot peddle which doesn't give great control over his movements. But that doesn't matter. Kids and adults were fascinated and delighted with him and he certainly greatly increased the fund raising. Concertina is so suited to this folk art form. The sound isn't great and I fudged a bit in the first bit by over dubbing what was originally a different tune. And my first time cameraman came up with some interesting angles! Edited January 22, 2015 by Steve Wilson Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gloscon Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 First rate all round. brilliant. Les Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Geoff Wooff Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Great stuff Steve.... and what a BLUE sky !!! A wee bit different from our Freezing Fog view here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alex_holden Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Fantastic, well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenneads Posted January 22, 2015 Share Posted January 22, 2015 Well done Steve. Although Mr. Rabbit is having to modify his dance steps a bit these days. About time. Your dancing Tony will have to be replaced in another couple of years I hope. Cheers, Dave Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brandon Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Brilliant! And I love the nesting of the marionette and mechanism within the board for easy travel. Mine is very awkward by comparison. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Wilson Posted January 23, 2015 Author Share Posted January 23, 2015 G'day Brandon, yeah I originally hollowed out underneath to gain better resonance, the deck is actually quite thin, about 3mm. Then I realised I could store everything under there. It takes a little time to set up and pull down but it travels very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rod Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 Is Tony fit for the job ? He looked exhausted when you put him back in the box. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Cush Posted January 24, 2015 Share Posted January 24, 2015 Steve, Very well done! It sounds like you have your Parnassus well played in. Did you carve the marionette? Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Wilson Posted January 26, 2015 Author Share Posted January 26, 2015 Is Tony fit for the job ? He looked exhausted when you put him back in the box. Tony is definately not fit for the job. I may have to make a new puppet soon, there's rumblings within his own party about dumping him as PM. Steve, Very well done! It sounds like you have your Parnassus well played in. Did you carve the marionette? Jim Hi Jim. Yes I play the parnassus a lot, some hours each day or at least most days. The body and limbs of the puppet were done with a router and a coarse sanding disk on my electric drill and set up in a vice. The head is paper mache and was quite involved. First I made a play dough version from which I made a plaster cast mould then finally the paper mache was cast in that. It's on a spring so it wobbles a bit. Perhaps sometime for a non political version I'll make a sailor or a swagman. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now