Building the giant Czech puppet, part 1  
In the summer of 2004, the West End neighborhoods of the High Bridge Park, The West 7th Fort Road Federation, and SOKOL Minnesota joined to create two giant, 15-foot Czech puppets for the dedication of the Community Gate Project.  Here the puppets were the hit of the 20th annual Dozinky Days parade in New Prague, Minnesota September 23.
How do you make a giant puppet?
First, prepare youself for hundreds of hours by a dedicated group!
Then:

 
Here I am wrapping newspaper in masking tape
that will form the foundation for the heads. 
We approximate the shape of the heads,
and the same procedure is used
for the right and left hands.
Next we strart to form clay
over this foundation to form the face and head
piling and shaping it into a layer
and ready for sculpting. 
Here we have already shaped the nose!
Doreen has used me as a model for Jarda,
the boy puppet (but she left off the mustache!)
Here Laurie and Joan work on Jitka,
the girl puppet.  Laurie was our guiding expert,
having worked many years with
the Heart of the Beast Theater
who put on an annual May Day Parade,
as well as school programs.
The face is shaped, and now ready
for alternating layers of brown paper
from shopping bags, and newspaper. 
But first, a layer of plastic wrap
covers the clay so that the paper
can be lifted off when dry.
Here Dayle (he's from St. Kits)
and Marta (she's Moravian!) alternate the layers. 
Each strip is wet with a solution of cornstarch
and water cooked to dissolve it. 
Each layer of brown paper is alternated
with newspaper and can be built up while still wet.
Here Jarda is completely covered in paper,
and Jitka in the background has one
of its first newspaper layers.

continue...
 
 
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