Hi all! My name is Sara, and I’m the daughter of Helene, the creator of Past Times. My mom has spent years of her life pouring love and creativity into shadow puppetry, a story-telling medium
Blog
Greek mythology
Using an Overhead Projector for Shadow Puppetry
If you are doing a shadow puppetry performance for larger audiences, using an overhead projector as the light source has several advantages. The light is stronger than traditional lamps and is distributed more evenly over
Read More
Tricks and Techniques
Going Bigger: Using Masks and Direct Projection
If you are using an overhead projector and big screen and want to have some variety in size (for instance to emphasize the difference between gods and mortals) there are two ways of doing so.
Read More
How to
Using a Tri-fold Presentation Board for a Durable Screen
If you are thinking of doing shadow puppetry more than a handful of times you may want to invest in a durable frame that can be stored easily and will withstand stains and humidity. One
Read More
How to
How to Make a Shadow Puppet Theater from a Box
If you want to use a box as your shadow puppet theater, the size of the screen will depend on the size of the box that you use. For puppets the size of about 10″
Read More
How to
Using Bendable Straws for Puppet Rods
Instead of using velcro to connect moving rods to a puppet a cheap alternative is the use use bendable straws, first introduced by David and Donna Wisniewski in Worlds of Shadow, Teaching with Shadow Puppetry. You can
Read More
How to
Using a Big Screen
If you want to do shadow puppetry as a class project or for a performance, you need a larger screen and puppets that are big enough to be seen well by the audience (12″-15″). The
Read More
Dutch heritage
Dutch “Sand Cookies”
Did you know that the English word “cookie” is derived from the Dutch word “koekje?” (hear the pronunciation). The history goes al the way back to 17th century, when the Dutch had a colony on
Read More
Greek mythology
The Huge Greek Mythology Birthday Party Game
If your child, like my nine-year old son at the time, is really into Greek mythology and you are looking for some creative fun preparing a birthday party, you may like to use some of
Read More
Dutch heritage
How to Make Wooden Shoes out of Paper
What you need yellow poster board from your local craft store (for size of an 8 year old at least 24″x 13″ or 65x35cm) scotch tape stapler two pieces of thin elastic How to make