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Why I love my on-line puppet group...
Mar. 2nd, 2010 10:02 amEven though we can be highly dysfunctional but we have such a great moderator that those sorts of things go away very quickly.
Today one of the grand masters of puppetry asked a very interesting question about secret sharing. Where do you draw the line at your trade secrets? Do you teach others the clever way that you do something or hold it close to the vest?
Back in the day when I was first trying to figure out how puppets go together, I had to use interlibrary loan to get books on the topic and a lot of the books were missing the juicy details about how something went together. I was told by an older puppeteer that it was close to impossible to get how the trick was done or how a puppet was made out of other puppeteers. They had learned the hard way so you had to also.
A lot of what I learned was by trial and error with a lot of errors along the way. It got easier for me to learn things when I got a job at the Center for Puppetry Arts. Part of it I think had to do with I had to know how the puppet went together before I could repair it correctly. Also there was an unwritten rule that if you worked a load-in or load-out at the museum, you could play with the puppets as long as the puppet wasn’t too old/fragile or the creator or the creator’s estate specifically said that they didn’t want anyone poking around their special puppets, which didn’t happen often but it was a hard and fast rule when it was invoked.
Since then it has gotten much easier to get information. There are more puppeteers that are willing to share what they know. Part of it has to do with the Internet. We can talk to a wider group of puppeteers with a wide scope of knowledge. Also there are many more pictures to look at where you can figure out how something was done. If I have a question, there are boards and groups that I can throw the question out there and get at least a couple of answers within 48 hours which is just wonderful.
Now as to where I draw the line, if someone teaches me something and asks me to keep it to myself. I try to remember to ask if I can teach others or if this is something that I need to hang onto. That’s my line.
So if you have any puppet questions, ask away. I am more than willing to share unless I have been told not to.
I am grateful for some good news in my inbox that I can talk about later once the embargo has been lifted.
Today one of the grand masters of puppetry asked a very interesting question about secret sharing. Where do you draw the line at your trade secrets? Do you teach others the clever way that you do something or hold it close to the vest?
Back in the day when I was first trying to figure out how puppets go together, I had to use interlibrary loan to get books on the topic and a lot of the books were missing the juicy details about how something went together. I was told by an older puppeteer that it was close to impossible to get how the trick was done or how a puppet was made out of other puppeteers. They had learned the hard way so you had to also.
A lot of what I learned was by trial and error with a lot of errors along the way. It got easier for me to learn things when I got a job at the Center for Puppetry Arts. Part of it I think had to do with I had to know how the puppet went together before I could repair it correctly. Also there was an unwritten rule that if you worked a load-in or load-out at the museum, you could play with the puppets as long as the puppet wasn’t too old/fragile or the creator or the creator’s estate specifically said that they didn’t want anyone poking around their special puppets, which didn’t happen often but it was a hard and fast rule when it was invoked.
Since then it has gotten much easier to get information. There are more puppeteers that are willing to share what they know. Part of it has to do with the Internet. We can talk to a wider group of puppeteers with a wide scope of knowledge. Also there are many more pictures to look at where you can figure out how something was done. If I have a question, there are boards and groups that I can throw the question out there and get at least a couple of answers within 48 hours which is just wonderful.
Now as to where I draw the line, if someone teaches me something and asks me to keep it to myself. I try to remember to ask if I can teach others or if this is something that I need to hang onto. That’s my line.
So if you have any puppet questions, ask away. I am more than willing to share unless I have been told not to.
I am grateful for some good news in my inbox that I can talk about later once the embargo has been lifted.
