Princess Strawbert

Props for a puppet animation film. Originated from my participation in a workshop by Annie Atkins.

Props for a puppet animation film based on the book of the same name "Princess Erdbert (Princess Strawbert)". The movie doesn't exist, but it could. The props were created after a workshop with graphic designer Annie Atkins in Dublin.

A bit outside of Dingenskirchen („Somewheretown“), West Germany, 1957. Princess Strawbert, Prince Brainy and Joe, the bear, live in their beautiful villa, called Villa Owlsnest. For Princess Strawbert's birthday, which she celebrates every day, they prepare their legendary pudding (prop 1). But this gets boring after a while. So they search for new housemates (prop 2). Then, for example, the clumsy horse moves in. It loves to dance to marching music (prop 3). They have a great time together until the evil investor and architect wants to take over their villa. It seems he already owns it legally (prop 4). But the friends don’t care. They develop a plan to defend their home (prop 5).

The booklet with the pudding recipes used by Princess Strawbert and Prince Brainy for the daily birthdays. They added their own recipes and comments to it. The watercolor illustration with the vanillapudding and the notices are painted and drawn by me. I imitated the layout of the recipes on the right from a booklet from the 1950s.

To find new housemates, Joe, the bear, painted a sign and attached it to a broom. It stands at the edge of the property of Villa Owlsnest. The sign says: Ther is still room for housmates at Vila Owlsnest.

The cover of the clumsy horse's favorite record with marching music. I illustrated the cover based on an original design, but replaced the human musicians with horse musicians. The paper has been aged with the help of coffee.

The paper circle in the center of the record is designed by me. The text reads: The most beautiful cavalry marches. Played by the orchestra from Dingenskirchen. Conducted by Otto Ferdinand Hengst. The voice
of his master is the German version of the label His Master's Voice, which existed at the beginning of the 20th century. It used this iconic illustration, which I have digitally imitated.

The house ownership certificate, which the investor obviously got from the municipality of Dingenskirchen (Somewheretown). He paid a fee of 4 deutschmarks for it. The reference is my own birth certificate from 1982.

This is the seal of the municipality of Dingenskirchen. The laughing horse is a detail from the old gothic church in the town centre. It became part of the coat of arms and the seal of the town. I developed the template for the rubberstamp in procreate.

The plan to get rid of the investor.
1) Architect enters house.
2) The friends throw pudding at him.
3) Architect goes through front door, preinstalled bucket falls on his head.
4) They tie him up with tape.
5) Then they „borrow“ a tractor from the the neighbouring farmer.
6) They drive him to the port.
7) They throw him there on a ship that goes to China.