by JJ Whitehead

Created on: September 23, 2008   Last Updated: October 07, 2011

THE MEDUSA

Creating Medusa as a paper bag monster puppet is not only a lot of fun, but also very easy to accomplish. Now, if you are not sure yet who/what Medusa is, then I will tell you here: Medusa is a woman from Greek Mythology that had snakes for hair and could turn people to stone. She was a rather nasty monster that was defeated by Jason (in the tales of Jason and the Argonauts) with a shield that was polished to a mirror shine... when she looked at her reflection in the shield, she ended up turning to stone herself.

STEP 1

Take the bag and face the folded-down portion towards you, bottom-up. Cut a hole in each side of the bag large enough for your fingers to fit through. This is where you will glue Arm Shapes when you get to STEP 2.

STEP 2

Take 4 pieces of felt material or paper and cut them into the shapes of arms with hands. Each pair will be glue together, leaving an opening at the non-hand end and partway up the center of the arms. When they dry, glue them to the outer edges of the holes in the bag so that fingers can go inside them.

STEP 3

Cut fabric materials in such a way as to create clothing... I suggest a black robe or something similarly vicious with a pair of ovals at the top for a hood. Glue this fabric to the outside of the bag, making sure to drape it around in folds and layers as you do so. The two ovals at the top can now be glued together in such a way so that just the facing sides of the ovals are glued together to form the hood.

STEP 4

Now is when your creativity is put to the test. You get to draw on the bag and color it in. You can color it an ugly greenish to make Medusa's skin. Then you can draw eyes or glue on some Googly Eyes on the bottom of the bag where the head will be. Cut out a piece of red fabric for a tongue, with a forked end like a snake's tongue. Glue on some additional things to make them look like warts and moles and nasty skin blemishes.

STEP 5

Take about a dozen pipe-cleaners and glue them securely to the very bottom of the bag where the snake-hair will be. Bend them into crazy shapes, cover and glue them up and down with green fabric, and then glue on some more Googly Eyes and forked tongues. Now glue on Pom Poms to finish off the top of the head in a crazy way.

STEP 6

Slide your hand inside, make sure that all parts work properly, and find someone to shake your fist at. The Googly Eyes should move and the pipe-cleaners should scare.

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