When I go to make a new(for me) style of puppet I usually make a few different test ones to see which I like best.  I have been making marionettes for a number of years now, but they weren't moving the way I wanted them to, so I  experimented with different ways of construction.  This style of puppet is influenced by Hazelle marionettes.  It is made with a wooden block, muslin, wire, and stones to weigh the limbs down. 

The advantage to building the marionettes this way is that the head is now much more expressive and mobile, and more movement can be gained in the legs by having them on a separate controller. I also prefer the look of this kind of marionette over what I was doing before; it is a little more old fashioned.

     A selection of sketchy-ness from a recent sketchbook.  Though animals are the more common inhabitants of my sketchbooks, occasionally people set up camp in there. 

     I have always felt like I should be keeping some sort of written journal, however they never seemed to last beyond a day or two. I like the idea of keeping a record of my life as it trips along, so it took me a long time to accept the fact that I am just not the journaling kind.  I am, in truth, the sketchbooking kind.  I have filled many sketchbooks over the years, and always like to go back through them and see what I was observing or thinking about way back then.  Sometimes I don't remember drawing certain images, other times images will bring me right back to a very particular day or event.  I try not to be too precious with my sketchbooks, and will draw over old sketches, fill it up out of order, and go back and draw in any empty spaces.  Not so good for chronology, but good for idea development...

I heart my sketchbooks!

     Hello, and welcome to Run Rabbit Run, I am glad you could join me.  My name is Kelly, and I hope to use this space to introduce you to what I am up to, working on, interested in and inspired by.  Some of you may know me as Kirkham Puppets; if you don't, feel free to check out my Kirkham Puppets Blog here. There will be plenty of puppet-y goodness on this website too, in addition to illustration and art.


     If you take a look at the accompanying photo, you will see a part of my workspace in the studio.  Papier mache materials, bird reference book, acrylics, brushes, coloured pencils all at the ready.  A finished papier mache chickadee puppet head sits in the foreground.  He is one of two bird puppets(the other being a common yellowthroat) created for a show in Chatham Ontario, entitled 'Big Spaces, Small Animals'.  I also made a video, with the filming and editing help of Brynley, of the chickadee and yellowthroat puppets at the Beaches here in Toronto.  Please forgive their performances, they were feeling a little stiff and out-of-sorts that day.