Sunday afternoon and the Puppets on Parade staging area is too quiet, devoid of all the chatter and laughter of the "artists" at work: molding clay, papier-maching, exchanging tips and advice and encouragement. No dogs running about. No kids proudly showing off turtles and jellyfish projects.

Wendy is taking a well-deserved break from the first week of getting started but I dropped in with a definite goal in mind: what to do with my larger-than-life almost completed papier mache "cone"--what was first envisioned as an octopus with eight flailing arms...then morphing (in my mind) into a bright orange gigantic starfish.

There it sits under the tent, almost dry...the top point still not finished and time is running out and the sun, the most important part when it comes to drying a large scale, ooey gooey papier mache piece has, of late, become a relunctant participant.

Recent cloudy, misty June days are not helpful. Wah!

As I ponder what to do, (undersea volcano, perhaps?), Richard Nelson of Oil and Water pops out of his shop.

While his energetic Wheaton "Duffy" romps with my little Havanese "Poco" among the frog masks and sea horse projects in progress, Richard looks over at the towering cone I've created and says, "y'know, I'm thinking hermit crab."

And then I see it, too! The wet papier mached newspaper strips that so many people's helping hands have smoothed onto the steel dowel and rubber tube frame have melded onto the tubing, creating a distinctive spiraling effect, just like a crusty old crustacean shell! (Sebastian from Little Mermaid?)

Richard adds, "with a couple claws and some big googly eyes..."

Genius!

I love the generosity of art and of artists! A hermit crab! But of course! I'm thinking now a pink shell with lots of glitter...stay tuned!

-Kathe Fraga  ¶ 7:07 PM