Kirkham Puppet Diorama at Open Door Designs!

Until the end of October, the puppets and their lucky rabbit friends will be having a month long birthday party in the window of Open Door Designs, a beautiful and one of a kind puppet store that carries handmade and vintage puppets of all sorts, as well as very lovely and functional portable puppet theatres. Open Door Designs is located at 1597 Dupont St. in Toronto's west end and they are open Fridays and Saturdays. Or just stop by and knock; Joanne Bigham, artist, puppetmaker and proprietor, is often working inside.

Open Door Studios website is: www.opendoordesigns.ca

Both Open Door Studios (V-12) and Kirkham Puppets (V-23) will be at the Toronto One of a Kind Show from November 27th to December 7th. Please come by for a visit, we would love to say hello! Also, be sure to check out www.oneofakindshow.com to see our artisan profiles!

Till the snow flies...

Kirkhampuppets

hand puppet pictures...

Currently at One of a Kind Show in Toronto

More to follow post show... KP

Whooo's there?

Good evening! Thought you might like to meet this odd looking character, who is in fact an owl. He was a commission, and was a pleasure to create. I would like to do more, perhaps a set of different owls from Ontario. Back home, there used to be a family of Saw whets that would visit the backyard at night: an adult and four owlets, all very small with very large eyes. This owl is based on a great horned owl.

Ciaociao,

Kirkhampuppets

New friends for St. Patrick's Day...

Hello! Happy St. Patrick's Day from Kirkham Puppets. Hope you are enjoying all things green and leprechaun-y. Just wanted to introduce a few creatures you may not be familiar with, as they are newly minted.... Above you will see a dear little woodchuck, the first one made here at KP. She has wise and tender eyes. Below you will see a rogue-ish band of rabbits, fat from feeding on the tasty cloth scraps that lie so abundantly about on the floor of the studio. I hope to soon have dozens and dozens of them.... Bye for now....


kirkhampuppets

2007, it's about time...

Happy New Year! It is the first day of 2007, and what better way to usher in a fresh new year than by completing a blog entry. The handsome devil you see to the left is Faolan, a commissioned wolf dog marionette. I was pretty excited to find the fun fur you see him sporting; long, soft white fur and variegated grey black nubbly fur. And a piece of sweater on the front. He was a good challenge due to his need for a believably furry face. I like his big black nose. I wish I had one.
Anyway, keep your eyes peeled for some new and interesting additions to the Kirkham Puppet family, particularly an owl hand puppet and lucky...elephants?! What will the lucky rabbits say? Probably "**,****,* *. **!"
Which is what they usually say. See you soon!

Kirkhampuppets

P.S. Crystal: keep an eye out for some suitably foppish frogs, real dandies, and Monty: poking puppets, whilst a lot of fun, generally invites biting and other less than pleasant acts of retaliation from the aforementioned puppets. Why not try giving them snacks? They like tissue paper and dried up bits of glue. KK

They don't bite...much.

Hey! It's a little posse of finger puppets. I know they look kind of tough, like they'd be bullies and stuff, but it is all an act. Underneath those sneering exteriors beat wee little hearts of gold.
I realize it may look like all I make is rabbit finger puppets, but this would be untrue. Look at the top row... a bear! Heh heh. No, I was just low on rabbits. I will make others too, more bears, horses, cats, ducks, sheep, leopards; all sorts. Sometime I would like to make small portable finger puppet theatres with backdrops, curtains and all. Could be good...

Keep warm in this windy weather,

Kirkhampuppets