Cinderella will be performing again!!!

Hello dear readers:

After about 3 years now, we  will be performing this coming monday , our Cinderella play.

We spent a bit of time this week practicing and my grand-baby, Alissa,  seems fascinated with our marionettes.... perhaps she will be the next puppeteer??? Grin (( hope so)) 

It's today!!!

Yesterday we set up the theatre and rehearsal Cinderella. I can not tell you how much fun we had. It has been 3 years that we performed and I had almost forgotten how funny this play is.

the play is this evening at Ansonia Theatre in Wadesboro, North Carolina at 5:30 pm. will you come??*grin*

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs DVD , preview trailer

First Show is TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!

I always get a little nervous before our first show. We set up yesterday and we did a practice .It was very smooth. I was nervous about the dry ice and afraid to burn my hands but I used gloves and was able to slide the cauldron without problems..... if you look at this scene you can see the *smoke* effect.... It is so cool!

Press Release -

Snow White performance at Wingate University
www.wingate.edu/culture

NEWS RELEASE
Contact: Jennifer Gaskins
Director of Marketing & Communications
jgaskins@wingate.edu 704-233-8117

Wingate, NC. -- The classic children’s fairytale about a princess who is poisoned by her wicked stepmother, the Queen, but is saved by Prince Charming is coming to the stage with the Magical Marionette Theatre in the Recital Hall at Wingate University’s George A. Batte, Jr. Fine Arts Center.

“Snow White” will be performed at 7 p.m. Fri., March 26 and 3 p.m. Sat., March 27 as part of Wingate University’s Family Feature Series.

“Snow White” was originally written by the Brothers Grimm in 1937. The play tells the tale of a beautiful princess named Snow White who is befriended by seven dwarfs and hidden from her stepmother who is jealous of Snow White’s beauty. The play follows Snow White’s life in the woods through her final confrontation with her wicked stepmother.


Tickets for children 12 and under are free with the purchase of a $5 adult ticket. To purchase tickets, please call 704-233-8316. Visit the University’s website www.wingate/edu/culture for more information about this and other performances.


Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a private four-year co-educational institution of 2,159 students offering active learning opportunities through personalized instruction, world travel, career discovery and community service.

Wingate offers more than 34 undergraduate majors in arts and sciences, business, communication, education, fine arts, music and sport sciences. It also offers graduate degrees in business, education, physician assistant studies and sport administration. In addition, the school awards the doctor of pharmacy and the doctor of education degrees.

Bulldog student-athletes compete in 19 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past three years.
-www.wingate.edu

Cinderella DVD available now

Hello everyone~

We are just around the corner to have our premier for Snow White. We are SO excited!!!!*grin*

I have a good news... for those of you that would not be able to attend at the Univesity , I wantto tell you that we will be professionally recording the play -Live!

For those that have not bought our previous DVD - Cinderella - I want to make available right now. The DVD is $9.99 plus $2 shipping to all US. Internationally is a flat $4. If you like one please send me a note at sevenkidsfarm@msn.com and I will send you a paypal request or you can mail me a payment via snail mail.

Snow White ....coming up soon!*smiles*

Below is information 2008.

I am proud to present a DVD recording of the premier performance of The Magical Marionette Theatre’s production of Cinderella!

We are a family theatre, and almost everything in our production was hand-made. From our beautifully hand-crafted stage that was built with 100 year old barn wood, to the marionettes, each handsculpted and uniquely designed from wood and clay. Our back drops were all hand-painted with oils, and most of our props were hand made as well.

The play itself is our own rendition of the beloved classic, Cinderella, which takes place in 19th century Spain. It was written by Patricia and Kate Cabrera.

The music was also entirely composed by Kate Cabrera, between the ages of thirteen and fifteen.There are five puppeteers, a curtain master, and a lighting/stage operator.

They are all my children, their names and ages as follows:

Kate (15)

Kevin (14) stage/lighting

Gabriela (12)

Joshua (10)

Rebecca (9)

Benjamin (6) curtain master

I am also a puppeteer.*grin*

Snow White

Hi~
I am hoping to finish stringing the marionettes by tomorrow. Here a close up of few of them and Snow white.... I will then start molding for the hands and feet!

Wicked Queen

*** If you click on the picture you will see a much bigger*** The wicked queen is almost ready.... I will be working on the hands and feet after all the marionettes are dressed and strung.For her costume , I choose to make a simple black dress -yet elegant.
Today we also rang up all the backdrops behind the theatre to see how they look. The one behind the queen is her own chamber . I still have to add some canvas and paint to make it larger but that will have to wait.
I am feeling a little overwhelmed right now because I need to get the children practicing soon and when I look at the unfinished marionettes it makes me feel rush and I don't like that. Although this is our family theatre, and I do this so my children can enjoy and learn art , I still like to do the best of me. I am working on the dwarfs right now... today , for the past 8 hours I have sew 7 pants and now my daughters are helping me with the details.Next week I will post the Prince... he is a gem!*grin*

The wicth is ready

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!*grin*

Hi!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am back!!*smiles*

We had a wonderful Christmas and I am still enjoying the company of my sis and her children however , my hands can never stay still. I confess I have been working more than any other time.

I don't even know if *work* is the right word.... I love to make *things* so very much is hard to feel that what I do is called work.*grin*

I am in the midst of marionettes making, miniature work, and FINALLY I have a wood stove installed on my main shop so the final molds for Patitadolls can be made.( that will be coming up next)

I plan to weekly post my progress.Although I have few other characters ready , I choose the witch to do my first post because she is one of my favorites.*grin*

Costuming is a lot a fun but sometimes stressful because I not always have the right vision.

When I was thinking of the witch , I want to create something different than the black-dark-moody costume seen at most plays.

I figured , if the witch is approaching snow white she should have a combination of a poor woody lady and somehow a fear looking as well.

I think this is it. I am always afraid how the young children will react too but I think she will be fine.

I will finish all the costuming before I start the stringing each marionette. I already know that when i string the witch I will let her have a permanent curved back.I think that will give her a nice characteristic, don't you agree?

Rehearsal starts soon....

Today, we cleaned up our living room and made space to set half of the theatre . We set up only what is necessary because the theatre is quite large when we add all the curtains.

My children were eager to get the sitting in. I am working on the outfits and I can gladly tell you that I have completed 5 of 14. I plan to work as many hours as possible this week to get ALL the costumes done.

Jackie , our tea cup chiauchiau has no glue what is going on...grin...I am getting anxious to get started but I confess to you that I still have much to do before that.

*The marionettes that you see on the farm back are not Snow white*

Snow white costume

I am currently working on all the marionettes outfits. Prince is ready and Snow white is almost done. I plan to show one at a time , once a week , starting in January. I still need to make the hands and feet and that will be the next thing after they are dressed.
After Christmas we will be setting up the theatre and I our living room will be transformed into a *real* theatre.... pictures will follow. This is very special for our family as we all work together. I hope you stay around and check out our updates!
Merry Christmas!

New faces , hands and body progress

I managed to finished 2 new dwarfs. they look so much younger and different from the others and I like this look so much more ...sigh...but I will have to happy with what I got now,grin!

When I work with the costumes , I will then add hats on them.

Sorry for the bad picture.... I just want to show you the fiber glass hand , already painted with a first coat. I haven't made any others , not even the other hand 's mold because I need to finish one first to see if I like it. I *really* like fiberglass as medium, it is hard like a rock.

Kate started to carve.... she will be making all the legs and arms.... she needs to *hand- carve* 112 pieces..... yep, she will be busy for while. when ever she is not playing or composing , you can see kate with her carving knife sculpting these darling legs!

It is always a celebration!

*** I had some problems uploading so if you kindly would click on picture, you will see the right photo***

Today we received the program for the George Batte Jr. Fine Arts Center. Needless to say that this makes my children jump up and down. It all becomes very real to them ( and to me too,grin) when we see the program.

The Fine Arts Center offers incredible entertaining and the shows are first class. I am so proud to be part of this and a little nervous now.... I always get like that.

The program is beautiful but if you never been at the theater you don't know what you are missing. The Wingate University theatre is gorgeous and reminds me when I was in Italy and visit the cathedrals .....

Yes ! It is time to celebrate. the children and I will have punch and dress up tonight while our victrola plays some oldies..... life is good , no?*grin*

I invite you to see what else is presented at the theatre, click on link below please:

http://www.wingate.edu/Culture/series.aspx

Prince and the others....

It has been harder and harder to post . I am so sorry about that. I love to work with the theatre and to talk about it. I am working on the marionettes but very slow, because my time is 90% devoted to the patitadolls and I honestly wish that I could have more hours in my day.*grin*
No, there is time for many things, if I don't sleep much of course, smiles, but I am trying to manage well.
I am closing my 7kidsfarm and I will no longer make soaps. I just don't have the time. And I will probably not sculpt , only for my dolls and the marionettes. I am no longer taking commission work and computer time is limited too because I have many projects right now.
I am a mom of 7 children and with a husband that delights in my company ,grin, and visiting my friends and their blogs has been more difficult just because I don't get to come to the computer until late at night but I always manage to take a peek at your blogs, so please , if you are not hearing from me lately don't think I am not visiting you , I am , just for a shorter time.


My daughters will be working with the wood carving for the bodies. I am so excited about this because I have done most things alone but now I will have considerable help.yes!

Almost forgot... here is the prince. I didn't think to make him handsome but rather gentle looking . I think he is nice looking thought. *grin*

The Captain is here!

Yes! I am finally done with the captain dwarf. He has been sculpted for while and now that he is ready , I regret not have taking a picture of him prior the glasses and the hair were added.

He is much a character I must say. I truly love how he turned up.

His glasses were made from welding rod. I love to weld ( my new passion) and thanks to my dolls I had to learn about it. The lenses have 3 coats of clear resin.

It still a little wet and today the humidity was high so i got foggy pictures, sigh, sorry about that*grin*

I did not forget about the hands. They are setting now. I have been working many hours daily while we are off school. I have been working with many things at the same time so it tales me more time to get one thing done but when I do, I get several done at the same time.

All my marionette will look very different when I start the costume. They will have hats or head pieces. I can't wait!

Making marionettes hands and molds

I know it has been a while since I posted about the marionettes. I am sorry about that and thank you all of you that are interested in this art and to follow me. I know you have busy lives and to take your time to visit me and leave me comments is so precious to me. *Thank you*

Here is a picture of a hand ,that was at the time I took this picture, unbaked.

I have now a set of baked hands. This will serve me as a prototype, a test in fact.

I have, over the years, tried to improve in how the marionettes not only looks but performs. I will always admire and enjoy the *old time* wooden/plaster marionettes but now days we have a huge variety of options for mediums that dramatically improves the final results.

My idea is to make a silicone mold and use resin as medium to reproduce the hands. Why? Because it will be faster but will not compromise the looks plus it will be strong too.

Remember my puppeteers are children and believe me , back stage they *play* their own *plays* with one another and I am always telling them "be careful with the hands".*grin*

It will be more economical too. I like that. If this works, I will make a set of hands for the witch, one female, and probably one more male just to have the variety.

I don't like to use my camera when I am doing things because my hands are always so messy , but I do plan to take you to this process all the way.Perhaps you too one day will try to make a marionette for your own?grin. You will love that forever- I promise!

First of the 7 Dwarfs

I don't think I have ever been as busy with my art as I am now. I have a doll show next month for my Patitadolls and it has taken all my time with the short time that I have to prepare everything on time however; I had sculpted this face few weeks ago so it was easy to paint and wig.

This is one of the seven dwarfs.... I am not sure which one yet ...perhaps Reed, I will wait until the others are ready to name each accordingly. I will add the accessories such glasses , hats ...when I have all the dwarfs ready.

I made a little audio video so you can hear the voices of the 7 dwarfs. When all 7 are ready, I will do another one with the faces and voices as they introduce themselves.

***** You may want to pause kate's music, so you can listen to the audio below****

All the audio was recorded at the Wingate University of Music, Wingate. The voices belongs to the students and faculties . I have a lot work to do with the audio . This is just at the *raw* stage, but I think you will enjoy to listen as much as I do. *grin*

Can you pictures them as you listen?

The Hunter WIP!

I have been waiting to feel * ready* to sculpt my first male marionette for Snow White play. I consider a challenge because I will need to sculpt , the prince, the hunter, the mirror , AND the 7 dwarfs... yes! A total of TEN male characters and all of them need to be *very* different from each other.

I am particularly fond of sculpting girls . I also need to feel excited about what I am making otherwise I won't be happy, I know it! However; I must tell you that this hunter has been *hunting* my mind the past week and tonight I had the chance to start sculpting him.

I wanted him to have a old-man-kind-of-look and I think I got it!

I am looking forward to finish him , fire and ...paint! I love that!*grin*

I will post pictures very soon....

Updates :-)

Just few ....
We are now officially scheduled for our grand opening performance of Snow White!*grin*
It will be at the George A. Batte Jr. Fine Arts Center, Wingate ,NC on March 26 and 27 of 2010!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Puppeteers of America will be reviewing our work . There is a possibility that we will be performing for them at the 2011 gathering in Atlanta , Georgia. This is a major organization and I cannot tell you what it will mean to us , if we are invited!*grin*
I just found out about them recently and they were already booked for the the 2009 gathering. The shows are biannual.
Sculpting new heads:
I am *kneading* 5 lbs of clay at once and believe me this is NOT an easy job! I should start my next marionette this weekend.
My daughterwent to the Library yesterday and got 3 wonderful books on historical costumes for me. I want to share the books and some pictures with you . I will post again this week!

Snow White is here...

Snow White is here...

I believe this will be the only time that Snow White will ever peaceably lie next to the Evil Queen. Literally. We have fourteen characters altogether, and at the pace that I make them, it seems like Princess Darling and the queen will have to endure each other awhile longer.>grin<>