Lohengrin. opera. sandwiches. cake

I usually expect to doze comfortably through the second act of an opera, and awake with some good ideas for poetry in my mind. However, the WNO production of Lohengrin at Wales Millenium Centre this evening was so thrilling and beautiful that I stayed conscious for the whole evening.

Our usual Wagner tribute picnic in the two intervals celebrated the swan, of course. Here are the sandwiches, photographed on a stylish leatherette seat;

and here is the cake, with a curiously relevant cake tin in the background;

Wagner birthday artefacts

Celebrating Wagner's significant birthday with knitting, collage, and letterpress. Photographed in front of my beloved Adana 8x5 letterpress machine you can see Brunhilde looking for a horse, Lohengrin looking for suitable transport, and the Flying Dutchman looking for love. The birthday cards have music from Lohengrin, birthday gift wrap and a letterpress printed name.

 I am taking them and lots of others to the Diffusion Festival Publishing Weekend at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff, 25th and 26th May. www.diffusionfestival.org

Here are the cards, with Brunhilde, who as you can see, has been looking in the Horse and Hound magazine for a new steed.

Knitted Literary Cohort ready for Diffusion Fair

Here are a few of the cohort of Literary and Operatic finger puppet collage cards, ready to travel from Hay on Wye to the Diffusion Festival Publishing Weekend in Cardiff.

Celebrating some of the great characters and stories of opera and literature, the idea for them came to me in a vision as I awoke at the end of Act 2 of a concert performance of Parsifal.

The cards have knitted finger puppets, text either handwritten or typed on my ancient typewriter, and collage. Here are King Lear and his Fool,

and Caliban and Ariel,

My current favourite is Don Giovanni, who you can see with the Commendatore on the bottom left of the first photograph.

I am really looking forward to bringing the cohort to Diffusion at Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff at the weekend, 25th and 26th May.
www.diffusionfestival.org

Be careful. I think the puppets come alive at night.

Flying Dutchman. Lovelorn. Film.

 Here is a link to a very short film about the Flying Dutchman, and his search for love.  Made with a fingerpuppet Dutchman, and various artefacts. Musical director is Peter Reynolds, who is actually a rather serious composer!

   http://youtu.be/jdyD7yOiLdk

                             The photo shows the Dutchman, stranded on a collage.

Haiku. Lulu. Opera gingerbread.

I am going to see the WNO production of Lulu. I always bake something relevant to the opera for us to eat in the interval. Lulu gingerbread seemed an obvious choice. Here's the haiku, in case the writing isn't clear enough;

Lulu, delicious -
everybody wants a piece
and then she is gone

Papageno. Papagena. Romance.

     Here is a short film, about Papageno and his search for love.  

    I am not sure I have downloaded it correctly, so here's the link if not. 

http://youtu.be/_xH3DnsZWQU

 It's the first of  a series, made with Peter Reynolds, who is actually a rather serious composer - ha!

More finger puppets to look at and buy on my website www.francescakay.co.uk 

Lohengrin. Transport. New Year.

Lohengrin considers his transport options.

Let's hope we all find ourselves on the
right track in 2013.

Happy New Year!






You can see more opera finger puppets here;    www.francescakay.co.uk

Papageno has disguised himself as a bird

My game is catching birds, you know

Here is Papageno, with his beautiful plumage, capturing the lovely Papagena.


It is one of my Operatic Finger puppet gift cards  now for sale through my website.

 Created on waking from deep slumber during Act II of Parsifal,  these gift cards are a unique tribute to some of the Literary and Operatic greats, handmade by me. 

Pay with Paypal, and shop with confidence and joy. 
www.francescakay.co.uk

Literary and Operatic Finger Puppet Gift Cards

My Literary and Operatic Finger puppet gift cards are now for sale through my website.

 Created on waking from deep slumber during Act II of Parsifal,  these gift cards are a unique tribute to some of the Literary and Operatic greats, handmade by me. 

Pay with Paypal, and shop with confidence and joy. 
www.francescakay.co.uk 

Here are two of the cards. Lots more on the website.
      

 Don Giovanni and the Commendatore

Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

                                                              

Brunnhilde and the Perfect Pony

Here is Brunnhilde, surrounded by adverts from the Horse and Hound magazine. Everyone looking for a horse has a clear  and possibly unrealistic idea of what they want, but a horse not afraid of fire?

I think the horse threw her off into the flames, and then galloped away to find a more sensible owner. 

Lohengrin and his Swan Boat

I have been trying to visualise
Lohengrin floating down the
river, and have had the vision of a swan pedallo in my head, complete
with Lohengrin pedalling like mad.

Either that, or an actual swan very slowly towing Lohengrin who is probably standing in a little flat bottomed boat.

Anyway, Kermit as always has provided an alternative. Just don't ask him anything about himself!

The Flying Dutchman

Wandering oceans
The Flying Dutchman
He is looking for love




I am pleased with the
chain stitched heart.
At last my embroidery is improving

One More Parsifal Knitted Greetings Card, and then no more!

  I had to make a couple of Flower Maidens, to meet up with the knitted Parsifal in the flowery meadow.
The caption says 'the Flower Maidens dream of their lovers, and the beautiful youth, Parsifal.'

I think that's it now for knitted Parsifal, but...

Parsifal Knitted Fingerpuppet Greetings Card

 I liked the idea of a fingerpuppet Parsifal.
It seemed logical to put him
on a greetings card, and
collage the meadow round him.

Originally I had a horse planned as well, but then
discovered that he was on foot!