Namaste!
I think ShivaFan will appreciate my latest project. He is unfinished, but I hope I do Mahadev justice. I am more familiar with Sri Lakshmi, but Lord Shiva's third eye presented a puppetry challenge I couldn't pass up.
This is a marionette or string puppet. The only working string at the moment is the one used to control the opening and closing of Shiva's third eye. I was proud of figuring this out because it is a mechanically complex problem to make a vertically oriented eyelid rotate. The mechanism is hidden inside Shiva's hair and head. I hope to post a video once he is complete and fully strung.
Peace!
Namaste Jodhaa,
You seem to get the faces and emotions of deities just right! They all have a serene composure and great beauty about them and Shiva does possess this same charm!
One correction: Please change the hands of Lord Shiva to give the 'blessing' gesture. Only devotees have the 'namaskar' gesture - Parameshwara should have the 'abhaya' (will save you) and 'Varada' (trust your devotion to my feet) gestures.
Thank you for the correction, Aspirant. I was posing him for the picture to see how well his joints hold. It's good that you brought that up because now I have a question...
There is a string function in puppetry known as the "prayer string". It allows the puppet to pull its hands together in the gesture of 'namaste(skar)'. I'd been having trouble figuring how to get this function to work because Shiva will have many controls and be very complex. But now you have mentioned the pose is improper for a deity, so perhaps it is not required? I will have to look the gestures you mentioned up because it may require I remake the hands.
Thank you!!
Peace
Namaste Jodhaa,I'd been having trouble figuring how to get this function to work because Shiva will have many controls and be very complex. But now you have mentioned the pose is improper for a deity, so perhaps it is not required?
Yes, I do believe you can skip the prayer functionality of the hands altogether. Because, Lord Shiva is never in this mode - his hands are never in gesture of praying to anybody.
Namaste Jodhaa,
Out of curiosity - I was wondering if you've completed Parameshwara? Does his right hand now show the blessing gesture? (I think even earlier his hands simply had to be rearranged in the photograph to show the blessing gesture, is it not?) I personally opine that you could have painted his eyes (not the 3rd eye) open like you did with Ganesha...
Regards,
Aspirant
jai hanuman gyan gun sagar jai kapis tihu lok ujagar
Namaste Aspirant!
At first I didn't know who you were talking about! I'm so new that I don't know many of the Deity's other names yet Out of curiosity, should certain names be used at certain times, or is it just personal preference?
To answer your question: No, Lord Shiva is not yet complete. He is a complex marionette and even when they are your only project they can take several months to build -especially for a novice puppeteer like me. At the moment I have shifted my attention to the control. Then comes stringing and balance.
As for his hands - they were posed in "namaste" for the photo only and are easily moved. I'm actually considering remaking his hands and modifying the wrist joint entirely - I'm not happy with his level of flexibility. Did I mention I'm bit of a perfectionist?
As for the eyes - I debated many ways to paint them. Originally, this marionette was going to be Lord Vishnu, but then I wanted the challenge of the third eye. I chose to keep his two eyes closed because when I first learned of Shiva he was described with two main states - the cosmic dancer and re-modeler of the universe, and then there was the contemplative Brahman.
My marionette version is both serene and very much aware. Of course, if this depiction is inaccurate, I would change it. I will know once I get feedback from an audience.
Thank you for your critique, Aspirant!
Peace!
"God will not have his work made manifest by cowards."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
jai hanuman gyan gun sagar jai kapis tihu lok ujagar
"God will not have his work made manifest by cowards."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Namaste,
Any new creations that you might want to share?
Pranam.
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