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Crafts from Indonesia
Indonesia is famous for its shadow puppets. The
puppets are worked behind a screen, and a light shining from behind throws the
moving shadow onto the screen.
Though the Indonesian shadow puppets are quite
elaborate, a simplified version can be made.
Shadow Puppet
Materials needed:
Poster board (inside of cereal boxes can also
work)
Scissors
Paper punch
Crayons or markers
Metal paper fasteners
Plastic drinking straws or thin dowels
Draw a the head and body of a person or animal.
Draw the arms for the figure in two sections, the upper arm and forearm. (The
arms will be jointed at the shoulder and elbow so that they can move.)
Cut out the pieces. Punch holes in the shoulder
and elbow, and join the pieces together using paper fasteners.
With tape, attach the dowels to the body and
each hand so that the puppet can move its arms. If using straws, pinch both ends
of one straw and slide it into two other straws for one long piece.
For a screen, hang up a white sheet, stretched
in a doorway. Shine a bright light from behind, and work the puppets between
light and the sheet. (Cover the bottom half of the doorway with an additional
covering to block the puppeteers shadows.
Batik cloth very popular in Indonesia. The
fabric is made by putting wax on fabric, so that when it is dyed, the dye does
not penetrate the wax design. You can have similar results with oil pastels or
crayons and watercolor paints.
Batik cloth
Materials needed:
Muslin (cut into 9" by 12" pieces)
Oil pastels or crayons (oil pastels resist the water color paints better)
Water color paints
Newspaper
Give each crafter a piece muslin. Have them draw
simple pictures or designs on their muslin with oil pastels (or crayons). For
best results, limit them to white, orange, yellow colors, and make sure they
press hard to get bold dark lines.
After the designs have been drawn, lay newspaper
on the table. Place the fabric on top of the newspaper, and water color the
fabric. For best results, use blue and green watercolors to contrast the wax.
The designs should show through the fabric.
Let dry. When finished, crafters can be
encouraged to glue their batik onto the cover of a spiral notebook, to frame it,
or to hem it and put it on a table.
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