COMING SOON: WOMEN OF HERSTORY

(Original Project Proposal)

For my final project, I am proposing two animal puppets, both with legs. One will be a turtle in muppet fleece and the other is squirrel in fur. The animals will be very classic in their design and the patterning of their skin and fur. They will be made fully of foam and fabric (any hard surfaces will be soft i.e. the turtle shell).

These puppets will be competing in a puppet version of RuPaul’s Drag Race with the theme for the main stage as ‘Women of HERstory’.

My squirrel puppet; Squirrel Nutkins will be dressed as Lady Die and my turtle puppet: Frank Lynne, dressed as Mother Mary (of Nazareth).

There are two main features of each puppet: patterning and fabricating the puppets and painting their patterns on accordingly. The second part of the projects is creating the costumes, accessories and makeup. The latter part will be what turns the puppet into their drag alter egos and therefore the costumes must do the part to actually alter the body shapes of the puppets, which will be built to be inherently masculine.

Each costume will have a reveal that the Queens do as they walk the catwalk to awe the crowd. The costumes and the makeup will be fully removable so that they puppets can be brought back to their original form.

Frank Lynne Is a Sea Turtle made of muppet fleece who’s drag character is based off of Mary of Nazareth features a detachable back soft shell.

The puppet will be patterned to have a slightly triangle shaped torso, to give the appearance of a more masculine build. She will feature her bald head, covered by a veil and topped with a large golden North Star halo. She’ll wear a white sequin, high neck bodysuit with built in padding to give her a womanly shape with a blue sheer robe and thigh high white patent boots. Her reveal will be her her detachable back shell, which will be padded in glitter and have a little turtle baby Jesus sleeping inside.

Original Frank Lynne Concept Art

(Please Note that Squirrel Nutkin's drag character has changed to Mann Boleyn)

Squirrel Nutkins is squirrel who is dressed as Lady Die.

Her fur will be feathered on the top to replicate Diana’s signature hairstyle, topped with her jewels: tiara, pearl drop earrings and multi-strand pearl chocker. Her main look will be an off the shoulder royal blue sequin backless dress to show off her stripes. I want her dress to open up at the front and she can shrug it off on the main stage to reveal a sleeveless sequin corset with a sheer, high slit skirt.

Original Squirrel Nutkins Concept Art