I just spent the weeks around and after Easter with my family. During this whole time, I deliberately didn’t do anything for school and instead spent time for other things. Like, weeding the garden and watching our spring flowers come up. Or watching old Agatha Christie movies with my mom. Or congratulating my sister for finishing her driver’s license. Unfortunately, I also had some health issues again with being tired and weak at times. So, the license to relax came at a good time.

Another way I relaxed was to watch YouTube videos on puppet making. Adam Kreutinger’s channel is the best one I found (https://www.youtube.com/user/Kreuam28). Adam’s puppets are really professional and fun, but he’s also a really good teacher. He makes puppets out of whatever material is at hand, whereby foam is used for more durable, detailed puppets. Well, as it so happens, I had a broken camping foam mat lying around and plenty of scrap fabric. Since I need to declutter, I decided to turn that foam and other clutter into my own puppet! I went back to school with the foam, and went to work. So far, the mat has been turned into the rough base for an old-man-character. I made the design with a kid’s clay model, covered the model with masking tape, and traced the pattern off of that. I cut out the material and glued the pieces together with contact cement. Since contact cement puts off toxic fumes, I had to work with open windows and in stages. But now, you can see what the doll’s shape will look like. Still quite creepy to look at, but that will change. The next step will be to cover the foam with “skin”. Eventually, the character will get eyes, hair, and clothes. I will also attach arm rods to the hands, so you can move the arms. All this material would have been trash, so it’s satisfying to see some of it turn into something sophisticated and fun.

But now, it’s time for me to get back to my master’s thesis. The doll will have to wait until next weekend. :)