Talking dogs

For some time now I've been toying with the idea of what you might call a "hidden arm" puppet. This is a puppet attached to a shirt of some sort. The intent is that a false arm appears to be holding the puppet while your real hand manipulates it. 

This is actually a pretty easy puppet to make. What you'll need is a loose fitting shirt of some sort (I used a hooded sweatshirt), a large-ish stuffed animal (Build-a-Bear sized works pretty well), sharp scissors, thin cardboard, and some knit fabric. I'd hoped to do a full tutorial for you but I forgot to photograph the middle steps so I'll describe those as best as I can.

Preparation:
1. The first thing you'll want to do is cut open your puppet's mouth. The dog I was using actually had a folded over lip that was just about perfect, but most stuffed animals have a stitched on mouth that should work pretty well as a guideline. Once you've got the mouth cut, go ahead and pull the extra stuffing out of the head and set it aside for later.  

2.Cut a hole in the animal's back that gives you access to the mouth, probably from the neck down about 4-6 inches. If the animal you chose has a narrow neck, you'll need to cut into the back of it's head. Don't be afraid to cut farther than you think you'll need. You can always sew or glue that back shut. Pull some extra stuffing out at this point. You'll want the animal pretty floppy so you have room inside of it to work. 

3. Decide which arm will be holding the puppet. This will generally be your dominant arm. Cut a hole in the armpit of your shirt large enough to fit your arm comfortably through. I also cut several inches down the sleeve to give the top of the shirt a more natural look. This also gives your arm a little more space to move.

4. Sew the end of the dominant arm sleeve shut. To make the false arm more convincing you might want to stuff the sleeve lightly with fiberfill or even some rags. If you're using a sweatshirt like I did you can sew the sleeve cuff into the front pocket. For a regular shirt you'll need to tuck the cuff firmly into your pants pocket. 

My false arm isn't stuffed in this photo and you can see how odd and flat it looks.

4. At this point you're going to want to make a sort of sleeve out of your knit fabric. This sleeve goes inside of your puppet, so you'll want to make a tube of fabric that fits loosely around your forearm. It needs to be long enough to reach from the puppet's mouth to the hole you cut in it's back. You can sew your tube but hot glue works pretty well too. You also need a circle of fabric the same circumference as your tube. Think of it as a "cap" for the tube. Attache this circle of fabric to one end of the tube.

5. This part is a little tricky. Cut 2 half circles about the size of the puppet's mouth from the cardboard. These give your mouth stability. Glue them to the inside of your fabric tube, resting against that "cap" you made. Now you need to insert the tube into the puppet. Line up your cardboard circles along the puppet's upper and lower jaws. I found hot glue was the easiest way to attach the tube into the puppet's mouth.

6. Remember the stuffing you removed earlier? It's time to put that back into your puppet. Stuff it just enough to give it some shape. If you over-stuff it will be uncomfortable when you work the puppet. 

7. Attach the top of your fabric tube to the opening you cut in the back of your puppet. Again, you can sew this but for mine hot glue worked pretty well.

My fabric tube was a little long, so one edge hangs out of the puppet's back. I tuck it around my wrist when I use the puppet.

8) optional: At this point, you can attach the puppet directly to the shirt. You may find it easier to leave the puppet unattached and simply tuck it into the crook of the false arm when you want to use it.
 

Finished puppet!

Book review - Flunked

Hi friends! I'm pretty excited to be a stop on the virtual tour for Flunked. Here's my review.

Title: Flunked
Author: Jen Calonita
Genre: fantasy
Similar books: Goblins by Philip Reeve
                     The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer
Rating: 

kind of wicked fun

Summary: (provided by the publisher)

Gilly wouldn’t call herself wicked exactly…but when you have five little brothers and sisters and live in a run- down boot, you have to get creative to make ends meet. Gilly’s a pretty good thief (if she does say so herself).

Until she gets caught.

Gilly’s sentenced to three months at Fairy Tale Reform School- where all of the teachers are former (super-scary) villains like the Big Bad Wolf, the Evil Queen, and Cinderella’s Wicked Stepmother. Harsh. But when she meets fellow students Jax and Kayla, she learns there’s more to this school than its heroic mission. There’s a battle brewing and Gilly has to wonder: can a villain really change?

My Opinion: This book will be a solid addition to your middle grade fiction collection. It has a nice assortment of characters, all of whom have a decent level of depth. The plot has enough complication to keep you guessing but not so many twists as to become confusing or hard to believe. Fractured fairy tales can be a lot of fun or really annoying. This one falls into the former category. It doesn't make excuses for familiar villains but makes them more than just evil. They are misguided or selfish, not pure evil. Plus it is, at times, pretty funny. The first in a series, there's a lot of room here for growth. I look forward to seeing how this series develops.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley. 



 
If this sounds like something you'd enjoy, check out the excerpt provided by the publisher below.

There’s a boy up there, standing on the crystal chandelier! He has slightly curly blond hair and is wearing a uniform—­a navy sweater vest over a white shirt with khaki pants—­but his boots are muddy. He’s stepping on priceless crystals with cruddy boots? Is he insane?

“Jax! What are you doing up there?” Kayla whispers heatedly.

“I’m cleaning the crystal for Flora,” Jax says and rolls his eyes. “What does it look like I’m doing? I’m making

a break for it.”

Kayla applauds. “Yay! This time I know you can do it.”

I shade my eyes from the light bursting through the stained-­glass window next to the chandelier Jax is perched on. “Busting out? Why?” I ask Kayla. “I thought you said this place was cool.”

Jax laughs loudly and looks at me. I feel slightly stunned. I’ve never seen violet eyes before. “FTRS was fun for a while, but strange things have started happening and I don’t want to be here when something bad goes down.”

Strange things? What kind of strange things? Why does Kayla suddenly look pale?

“He’s exaggerating,” Kayla tells me, but she doesn’t sound convincing.

Drip. Whatever Jax is holding is leaking. Kayla and I move out of the way so we don’t get wet. “Grease,” Jax explains to me. “It lubes the window.” He swings the chandelier, and as it nears the window, he uses a fork to try to pry the window open. “A few more tries and I’ll have it.”

“Then what are you going to do, genius?” I ask. “You’re two stories up.”

Jax’s eyes gleam. “I’ve jumped from higher spots before.”

“It’s true,” Kayla says to me. “Jax once jumped from the gym to the dining hall turret. That was three stories up. We call him the Escape Artist. One time he even managed to break into Azalea and Dahlia’s rooms and borrowed their keys to the indoor pool so the whole dorm could take a midnight swim.”

“Impressive,” I tell him. “And I thought I was good at tricking obnoxious royals.”

“She stole a dragon’s tooth clip from one this morning,” Kayla fills him in.

“Nice,” Jax says. “Your first pull?”

“No, I’ve been doing it for a while,” I brag.

“Me too,” Jax says. “My father is a farmer. You can only get so far trading vegetables. I needed to kick things up a notch.”

For some reason, I don’t think any of us are going to make the transformation Headmistress Flora is looking for. “Why do you want to break out so bad?”

“I’ve got places to see, and Enchantasia isn’t one of them.” Jax swings the chandelier so hard the crystals clang together. The window latch pops open, and I watch Jax leap from the chandelier to the tiny window ledge. I’m in awe. Jax looks down at us smugly before pushing open the window. “Are you sure you two don’t want to join me?”

“There’s no time for us,” Kayla says. “Get out of here. Wait!” Her eyes widen. “You deactivated the alarm on the window, right?”

“There isn’t one,” Jax insists. “If there was, I wouldn’t be able to do this.” But when Jax lifts the window, we hear:

EEEEEE! EEEE! EEEE! Unauthorized exit! Unauthorized exit!

The shrieking sound is so intense that Kayla and I cover our ears. Within seconds, Flora is out of her office and running toward us.

Swoosh!

I feel something brush past me and I whirl around. When I look up at Jax again, a large, muscular man with a long mane of hair is hanging on to the window ledge, his furry hands pulling Jax back by his shirt. How did the man get up there without a ladder?

“Mr. Jax,” the man says in a low growl, “we really must stop meeting like this.”

Fairy Tale Reform School Quiz Link: Fairy Tale Reform School Quiz

If you get sentenced to Fairy Tale Reform School, it will help to have an ally. Take the quiz and find out who your mentor would be.

Book review - Dead to Me

Title: Dead to Me
Author: Mary McCoy
Genre: mystery/historical fiction
Similar books: I'm Glad I Did by Cynthia Weil
                     What I Saw and How I Lied by Judy Blundell
Rating:

Pretty good detective story

Summary: Alice never knew what made her older sister Annie run away or where she might have gone. Their parents never talk about Annie. She'd hoped that Annie ended up somewhere nice. The reality is far worse. When Annie turns up comatose in a hospital, the victim of a savage beating, Alice sets out to figure out what happened to her sister with the help of a private investigator who claims to be her friend. She finds herself caught up in a side of Hollywood she'd never seen, filled with desperate young women and savage celebrities.

My Opinion: This was pretty much the ideal teen mystery. McCoy does a great job of setting the scene, really hitting the nail on the head with the culture of the golden age of Hollywood. Even the role of women and the corruption among the police are present in this novel. It really has that classic noir feel, more cold and clinical than the constant pulse pounding of a modern thriller. I could easily imagine this as a movie or an episode of a period crime drama. Well worth the read.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

Picture books for everyone

Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth

True to the title, this book holds three short, traditional tales of Zen Buddhism told in the framework of three children visiting Stillwater the panda. Each story gently leads the reader to a lesson in generosity, luck, and forgiveness. Adding to the text are Muth's fantastic, soft illustrations. Parents will enjoy this book for the moral lessons. Kids will enjoy the idea of hanging out with a giant panda. There are two other books about Stillwater and the children: Zen Ghosts and Zen Ties.

WWW Wednesday

What are you currently reading?
Catch You Later, Traitor by Avi
It's 1951 and Pete likes nothing more than reading and listening to detective stories. He soon finds himself mixed up in a very different sort of mystery when a rumor goes around that a member of his family is a Communist and his teacher and classmates, even his best friend Kat, turn against him. Pete searches for the truth, but he begins to wonder if finding it will fix his problems or make things even worse.
Avi is pretty much always a good read, especially when it comes to historical fiction. With solid characters and a situation that was reality for many back in the 50s this is, so far, a pretty fascinating read.  
 
What did you recently finish reading?
The Tragic Age by Stephen Metcalfe
Billy Kinsey is disillusioned with life. His parents are caught up in the new lifestyle that came along with winning library, trying to forget their grief after the death of Billy's twin sister Dorrie. Billy's philosophy is not to take part in life. Then he meets Twom Twomey who encourages him to "go a little outlaw" and Gretchen Quinn who thinks he needs to put good things into the world. Can Billy overcome his distrust of good things or is he doomed to travel down a path to disaster?
This novel asks some tough questions about modern society and the tendency of people to consistently make the wrong choices. It's not a comfortable read but one that encourages the reader to think.
 
What do you think you will read next?
The Imaginary by A.F. Harrold
I like the notion of imaginary friends having lives all their own. I look forward to seeing how this one plays out.

Book review - Doing Right

Title: Doing Right
Author: Patrick Jones
Genre: realistic fiction
Similar books: Juvie by Steve Watkins
                     Kindness for Weakness by Shawn Goodman
Rating:

Great...

...until it wasn't

Summary: DeQuin's father thinks he needs to be tougher. But being tough got his father a prison sentence. His uncle thinks he should just let everything go. That doesn't seem like much of a way to be a man to DeQuin. His grandfather is constantly lecturing him about the civil rights movement and standing up for your rights. When a night out with his friends goes very wrong, what will DeQuin choose? What kind of man will he be?

My opinion: (SPOILER ALERT, FRIENDS) At first, I loved this book. The characters have a decent amount of depth. The situations are complex, nothing easily solved. I really liked the interactions between DeQuin and his friends, especially his final confrontation with Martel. It encourages the reader to really think about issues of personal rights and how to make tough choices. What I didn't like was the ending. It's very sudden and leaves, I think, too many issues up in the air. I wanted more, a little sense of what might be down the road for DeQuin after his arrest.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

You can't take the sky from me

If you've been following my blog for a while you might remember the time I made Dr. Horrible action figures. While I was quite pleased with how Captain Hammer turned out I was never very happy with Dr. Horrible himself. I spent a lot of time thinking about how to make him look better. I eventually decided that he's simply the wrong fundamental shape to really resemble Dr. Horrible.

So, I decided to take this action figure in an entirely new direction. He struck me as more of a Malcolm Reynolds (from Firefly).

Liberal application of acrylic paint soon set him straight.

Barely looks like the same action figure, right?

Now, if you've ever seen Firefly you know Mal seldom travels without his crew. I dug through some old action figures and found this guy:

I believe this is Four Arms from Ben 10

He was missing and arm when I bought him in a bag of figures and has been tucked away ever since. I was able to take off his extra arm (and a half) with a Dremel tool and a razor knife made quick work of those spikes. The resulting figure was perfect for Jayne Cobb.

His feet are still forked but otherwise it's a decent resemblance

This is probably not the last you'll see of repainted action figures on this blog. I've been eyeing a couple for Firefly's Wash as well as Lord Ballister Blackheart and Sir Ambrosius Goldenloin from the webcomic Nimona.