Subject: RE: Anyone here make hand-puppets?
From: Genie - PM
Date: 21 Apr 09 - 08:56 AM

'"Tempera paint," in fact. I think it's made from eggs.'

True tempera paint contains egg the base. I'm not sure whether yolk is allowed. For manuscript illuminations, "glair" was used. Glair is made from egg white and any trace of yolk will spoil it. The egg white must be beaten stiff and the glair is what runs out. Never tried this myself.

Most "tempera" sold in stores is really gouache rather than true tempera, because egg tempera doesn't last that long (unless I'm confusing it with casein paint, which contains something from milk). Gouache is like watercolor, except that it's opaque. Cheaper grades of gouache may contain chalk to make them opaque, while better grades will be opaque from the pigments only.

'Then we'd cover that there "paint" with another high-tech stuff called "shellac" (which is made from dead bugs).'

Actually, it's made from a secretion from the bugs (beetles, if I'm not mistaken). I don't believe they are harmed in the process.   I used to use shellac frequently for woodworking and for sealing plaster. Very nice stuff.

'The maracas were quite colorful, and the broken glass - for the maracas, we'd break the lightbulb after the whole papier-maché maraca was a closed unit - made a nice, tinkly percussive sound.'

Perhaps the delicate sound of lightbulb maracas makes them best-suited for chamber music rather than Latin dance music.

Another thing we did was to glue macaroni to things and paint it with gold spray-paint. That seems to give any object that certain je ne sais quoi.