Painting. When you have finished carving both the head and hands you are ready to paint them. You will need red, yellow, blue, and white oil paints. Use a piece of smooth wood or glass for a palette. Squeeze onto your palette a small amount of each color. As you know, people do not have pure-white skins. There is a tinge of yellow-orange in the white man’s skin, deep red and orange in that of the red man, brown in that of the Negro, and yellow in that of the Oriental. Begin by squeezing out onto your palette a small quantity of white paint. Only clowns’ faces, however, are painted a pure white. You must add a bit of yellow and red to the white paint if you are painting a white man’s face. If you are painting a red man’s face, you must add more red and a bit of blue. For the face of an Oriental, add yellow to your white paint and the least bit of red and blue. For the black man’s face, use black paint instead of white paint and into it mix a very small amount of orange and blue. Use a palette knife for mixing oil paints and turpentine for thinning them. Do not be timid when you begin to paint. Strong and vigorous painting is as important and necessary as strong and vigorous modeling in bringing out the features and expression. When the painting is finished, the face should fully express your idea of the character.
The Body. Now we come to the mantle or cloak which gives a kind of body to the Burattini. The illustration shows patterns for the front, back, and sleeves. To this foundation you can sew any costume that your character may require. The hands are fastened into the ends of the sleeves. When the cloak is fastened securely about the neck, it becomes a kind of sack, open only at the bottom. Now slip your hand inside this sack or mantle, your forefinger into the head, your thumb and second finger into the arms. The head will bow, the arms will move, and the little figure comes to life.
ANIMAL BURATTINI
A After completing papier-mâché head, cut out lower jaw as shown by dotted line. Then replace and paste a piece of thin muslin over lower cut, as shown by light line. This will not be seen when the head is painted.
B Dotted lines show the narrow elastic glued to upper and lower jaw. One piece on each side. The forefinger of the puppeteer pulls down the lower jaw, when it is released the elastic snaps the mouth shut.
Burattini animals can be made for such stories as The Three Pigs, The Three Bears, and Little Red Riding Hood. There are several ways of making them. The first way is to use the head of an old toy animal. Into the center of this head cut a hole for the forefinger. Then attach this head to a suitable sack or coat. The forepaws of the animal can be fastened into the sleeves.
Another way is to carve the heads and paws out of soft wood. A third way is to cut them out of suitable cloth. A fourth way is to make them out of papier-mâché in the same way as the papier-mâché heads described on page [67]. This illustration will show you how the lower jaw is cut out and then attached in such a way that the puppeteer can open and close the mouth.
Scale. Before you begin to make your marionette, you must decide upon the kind of stage you intend to use, for the size of the stage determines the size of the marionette. It is the right relation of the marionette to the stage that creates an illusion and makes your audience feel that the little figures are life-size. For the semi-professional stage, use a scale of 2½ inches or 3 inches to the foot. If you use a scale of 2½ inches to a foot, it would make a 15-inch marionette represent a 6-foot man. If you use a scale of 3 inches to a foot, your 6-foot hero would be represented by a marionette 18 inches high. Never forget your scale of measurements. All properties and stage settings must be worked out to the same scale you have fixed for your marionettes.