Boy Scout Puppet Workshop!

What a great experience tonight! I had the honor of leading a Boy Scout workshop tonight in Ossining!
I started off the workshop by explaining how I came to puppeteering...trial and error career-wise, and then showed the first puppets that I made-Baby, then Gertrude...on to Fishie and Encephalopod, then Wormie, Bluebird, KooKoo, Parrot, Nicey Nice....through the whole gang. It was neat for me to see all of the puppets lined up (Rainbow Wiggles was absent tonight. He had a gig).

The Boy Scouts were amazing listeners-engaged, funny and sweet, and then they had a chance to take the puppets for a ride. The rule was-no puppet fights. Gentle puppets. After the boys had a chance to play with my puppets, it was time for them to do some creating.

At the craft table, the boys experimented with materials as they developed their puppets. I was MAJORLY impressed. Some of the materials that were used were: egg crates, chopsticks, plastic cups, pipe cleaners, an oatmeal container, tights, socks, feathers, (did anyone end up using the yogurt containers?) polyfil, plastic gloves, shoe boxes, paint and markers, pom poms....
I am probably missing a few!
Their puppets were masterful. I am truly blown away by their creativity. The boys in the Boy Scout Puppet Workshop in Ossining tonight are fantastic puppeteers.

Preparing for shows

Hi there! I am next to my youngest child, who is curled up on my left shoulder. She woke up just as I was wrapping up a lovely puppet hospital session with the puppets. I am performing at a birthday party tomorrow afternoon,and felt that certain puppets needed some tender loving care before 'going public" again. So, KooKooBird received some GLOW IN THE DARK paint decoration and some new chest hair (a kid innocently ripped that off one day). Parrot, whose plumage melted in the brutal summer heat of 2010, was adorned with some translucent purple tile pieces and a beautiful yellow retro necklace! She looks like a new bird. I can't wait until she gets a look at herself in the mirror (once the glue dries). And then I added some leaves and beads to the MAGIC MIRROR. And yes, they were glittery leaves and luminescent beads!

I wish that I could have been writing earlier before I was so sleepy, because I love this part of the process. It reminds me of when I watch my kids with stuffed animals, and it's not all fantasy, because the children genuinely care about their animals while they are playing with them. They cultivate a relationship as they play-act, just as I truly love and care for my puppets. And I don't feel nuts about this! It's a relationship with an artistic creation that is intended to be brought to life to enchant and entertain young children. I am excited to use these puppets tomorrow because now they have a slightly new dimension to them. I doubt that any of the kids will notice, but I have a more developed sense of the puppet as it moves along this new trajectory. I feel like Parrot will be thrilled about her facelift! Whaddaya think?

As Fall approaches....

Hi puppet folks. Sorry no blog for a while. I was on vacation in beautiful, tree-filled Vermont (did a fun puppet show at a lovely wedding on a farm-I love wedding puppet shows because the adults are in the mood to party with the puppets too!) , and now we're gearing up for Fall! This morning at the Pleasantville Farmer's Market show, the children in the audience and I made a special make-believe "soup" with carrots, a dog bone, a chocolate crossoint (sp?) , muffin crumbs, iced tea, and pretend string beans. Yummers! I also spilled a container of body glitter on me before the show, so I was EXTREMELY sparkley this morning!

This evening, I am performing at the Brittney Rae Fitzgerald memorial fundraiser. Brittney, a high school senior, passed away last year after a long fight with stomach cancer. Her family has established a college scholarship fund. Come down to Kingsland Point Park this afternoon to support this worthy cause.

In other Jilly Puppet news, I am gearing up for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur puppet services. I have written some original uke songs, and have lots of fun stuff planned. If you are interested in attending services, please contact me privately (jillypuppets@gmail.com).

Have a beautiful day.

love,

Jilly

Melting puppets

Hello party people. I have been having melting issues with my puppets. sniff sniff. The intense heat has been melting the glue off the puppets! Eyeballs peeling, seams opening! But the puppet hospital is always open here in the Liflander household!

And did you know, that in addition to the PV-2000 Puppet Vest, which has been a huge hit in the European vest market *just kidding* AND my new Sennheiser cordless microphone which I have used 3 times; AWESOME and a little daunting, I have A NEW FANTABULOUS ADDITION TO THE SHOW!? Folks at the Greenburgh Nature Center Show, on August 7th will meet and behold this new Jilly Puppets sensation!!!

NEWSFLASH! I have also been performing with the Bossy Frog Band, as the Bossy Frog! I wear a GIGANTIC frog costume and bust out my jazz moves as my froggy persona. It's INCREDIBLY FUN. Come check us out!

TREMENDOUS DEBUT

PUPPET FANS...PREPARE FOR THE DEBUT OF THE PV 2000 PUPPET VEST~ AN INVENTION THAT WILL REVOLUTIONIZE, um...it will revolutionize.... VESTS as we know them! And you don't want to miss that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

puppet production phase initiated!!!!

The Summerpuppet Muse has infused this puppet momma with some groovy puppets in the making! Not only that,but I think I have finally figured out how to import pictures to my blog! (technical muse?)It worked! And I'll see you at a show! June 26th 3pm Warner Library-Tarrytown...it's my home turf library-a special show indeed!

Summer puppetin'...having a blast....

Hi puppet fans! I have a puppet idea germinating in my head-I think I am going to start working on a new puppet tomorrow. And what will that puppet be? Stay tuned! I'll post a picture when I am done. :)

Summer shows are being booked-YAHOO! Warner Library show-3 pm June 26th....Hope to see you there!

Love-Jilly

night before show

Hi there. I have a show tomorrow at the West Harrison library, a small, cozy library-much like my hometown library-the Warner Library. I have two new skits to try out. It's a young group, so hopefully they will like Hugs with Heschie, Row Row Your Boat, Magic Eggs, Pretend Candy (who doesn't like pretend candy) and the Bluebird Song...plus some Rocky shenanigans.. and maybe the Wish Fish! My kids want to come, but they'll see me do a Shabbat children's service on Friday night with lots of singing, noshing, and storytelling.
Goodnight puppet people.
love,
Jilly

Homage to my roots

Hi all. I just sent out a new video-'Spring Training with Jilly Puppets!'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UyaW4v07Q_0
I grew up outside of Philadelphia, so it's only natural that Rocky Balboa (the music is the theme from Rocky) is one of my heroes. I listened to the theme from "Rocky" about 10 times a day after Ruby was born.
Enjoy the video. love-Jilly

Harrison Library show-ROCKED

Thank you to all of the kiddies and the excellent adults that attended the Wednesday show at the Harrison Library (librarians included!). The audience came up with some fantastic names for our new parrot friend: Shibbo, Rainbow, Alyssa...(why not use 'em all?) and I can't remember the rest! If you were there and you 'named' the parrot, write to me at jillypuppets@gmail.com and remind me! I think my favorite part of the show was doing exercises with Elmo. I can't describe this rivoting scene in too much detail-you'll have to see it for yourself tonite at A Nu Toy Store-IF I can perform this daring feat one more time. :) Have a great rainy one hour, sunny one hour day.
love-Jilly

Spring Has Sprung! Yeehaw!!!!!!!!!!!

Hi all of you in puppet-land! I have discovered my new best friend, the glue gun! Wait until you meet my 3 new glue gun-enabled puppets! They are so awesome, so new, that they don't even have names yet! Come to Third Friday in Tarrytown-April 16th, on Washington Street next to the firehouse-at 5 pm for an exciting and vigorous show! Get ready to dance and sing, my friends! (rain location-in A Nu Toy Store)