The Maker’s Lab 2023-2025 Phase #2 – Ling Jia Le

This journal is an entry in The Maker’s Lab series. Click here to read the previous entries.

What have you achieved in Phase 2 of The Makers Lab?

There are two different sets of achievements:

I think the thing that I am most proud of is managing and balancing a full-time job while taking on this production. It was physically and mentally challenging. Knowing that there is nearly no one else doing what I do in the industry, made me realise that I have pushed through a task that not many people have achieved.

I am also proud of my designs and the things that I build. As always, I put effort and pride into whatever I build, so I naturally feel proud of them. Everything listed above is something worth feeling proud of.

It is good to feel proud to have achieved a feat, but it is also a reality check for me to know how much energy is required to accomplish something like this. It gets me thinking about practical aspects in the long run and for phase 3, when I will be taking the lead for the whole project, will I be able to accomplish it without hurting my body and mind?

What are the 5 most important lessons you took away from Phase 2 of The Makers Lab?

LESSON #1: Learning what works for me as a designer and maker and the importance of this awareness.

1a. Being in the space with the required equipment and materials helps me think through things better.

Pedestal Prototyping

Visions for the play shifted quickly with each meeting. We had to abort the previously discussed ideas on shadow puppetry. At the current vision, we had three components to deal with:

1. A backstage shadow projection of scenery changes
2. 3D puppets which are part of the metaphoric scene (they too will also be cast in shadows)
3. Life-sized wayang kulit-esque puppets that will represent the characters in the play

I was tasked with designing and building the pedestal that would hold up the various slides that would cast the scenery changes.

The first stage of this task was to plan the testing session. The testing session was to:

1. Find out if, with the given backstage space, the shadow projection is still feasible.
2. What are the measurements required to build the pedestals?
3. The type of material to use for the slides

These were the big goals but there are many more details to find out in the testing session like:

1. At what distance does the shadow of the slide start getting blurry?
2. How much will the shadow warp if the slide is diagonally above the light source?

There were many things that I had not considered or planned out that came up during the test run. Steps like marking out the window’s height, simulating the flats that come before the cloth etc. I realised that I needed to be in the space and be around the equipment and tools to think through my planning process. If not, it could be quite hard to envision, especially when I had never set up something like this.

1b. 3D modelling helps me figure out the information I need to prototype something.

I also took the opportunity with this assignment to revisit my 3D modelling skills, something that I had been wanting to refresh and improve on. I was pleasantly surprised that my skills were still in my muscle memory, although not the most fluent yet. 3D modelling is a craft!

This process of modelling the pedestal also helped me think through the design. It required me to think of what dimensions I needed and envision possible issues with the design. By simulating the entire set-up, I was able to see the big picture.

1c. Thinking through design and making decisions with someone helps me to clarify my ideas.

After each meeting, we had a discussion session with Daniel. First, we had to clarify our understanding of the changes and second, to make sense of these changes.

I enjoyed and learnt a lot during these sessions. We asked about our foundational design choices:

1. Why should we use shadow puppetry?
2. How many layers of dream spaces are there?
3. Which layer of the dream space do we need the metaphoric puppets to be at?

These were questions that we had to sort out on our own within our design team. I was not sure if these were things that Daniel would bring up to the director, but it seemed like it was something we had to resolve on our own.

Moreover, designing the pedestal and the shadow scenery concurrently made me realize that I enjoyed having creative responsibility but still being able to consult and discuss my creative decisions with colleagues. It helps me improve and think deeply about my design decisions while still having the liberty to decide whether to accept certain suggestions.

1d. Keeping it dynamic in the making and designing process is enjoyable.

I enjoyed working between digital and analogue work. I love working with power tools, and machines, and assembling things but at the same time, I enjoy creating things in software too. There is something dynamic that I enjoy about it. Another form of dynamism that I enjoyed was when I needed to balance practical and conceptual needs in a design.

1e. Prepare the information you need to provide before inquiring about something at a shop.

LESSON #2: Learning to make systematic productive progress while prototyping for a design.

2a. Goal setting before prototyping for lotus leaf

After researching and ideating in December, we spent most of January getting our hands dirty with the lotus leaf prototype. It was time we put our ideas to the test and think of practical approaches to realising them.

I like that we began by getting everyone on the same page and honing in on certain elements we would like to experiment with and achieve in our prototype.

Referring to one of Daniel’s slides during our meetings, he outlined the scope of prototyping (purpose and design elements), breaking it down to the different components of the lotus leaf:

This helped me to focus my prototyping because I would not know where to start.

However, despite the prototyping goals outlined for us, it was still an intimidating task to start because I tended to overthink. It is not necessarily a bad thing as this overthinking includes being open to the many routes I can take to realise this prototype. The difficult part was deciding on an approach.

I eventually decided to focus on creating a leaf that could be transformed by light.

2b. Sharing of my prototyping process for the lotus leaves

The starting point of my lotus leaf prototype was to:

Use springs and a wooden dowel to create a bendy stem.

Use fabric gathering technique to create the shape and form of the lotus leaf.

After consultation with Daniel, this starting point implied the following actions:

1. What type of fabric to use?
2. What kind of stitching technique could be employed to give the fabric shape but also strength?
3. What kind of springs were available?
4. The sourcing of the fabric and the springs

To even begin prototyping, we needed to find materials and I think this is the part I least enjoy. I prefer to be in the studio and have my materials already prepared and ready for me to create hahaha. I do not like it because I do not have the confidence that I will find what I need and at times it can be daunting to explain what you need (which is quite out-of-the-ordinary) to the sellers. Given my commitments in January and the New Year’s period, I was having difficulty going to the shops at the hours that they were open. So, I deviated from my material sourcing as my first step and changed it to:

Make a lotus leaf with what I can find in the TFP maker’s space

Fabric sourcing became a rummage through the collection of fabric and bendy materials at the TFP shop. My experimenting process got streamlined into putting everything that I found together in a very rudimentary way. With the different fabrics I found at TFP, I was still able to continue with my intention to create a lotus leaf by gathering fabric. However, I was only able to continue to do it with one of the fabrics as the rest were too soft and would not create beautiful folds.

First Review of Prototype:

I presented a portion of my fabric gathering as well as this very quick stem that I made with materials I found in the studio. The stem was put together by placing a bendy rod that was already in the studio into an aluminium pipe.

The immediate observation was that the height difference between the bendy rod and aluminium pipe impacted the bendiness and uprightness of the stem. Another variable would be the weight of what was being attached to the tip of the bendy rod. This meant that the heavier the lotus leaf, the more the rod would want to bend.

I realised that when I tried to put the fabric that I had gathered on the stem that the fabric would flop a little. So, I created a wire lotus frame so that the fabric could rest on top.

This circular wire frame, which mimics the shape of the lotus or lily pad, also inspired me to just layer fabrics on top.

After the first review, the comments were:

With this, the overarching goal of my next steps for the current prototype became:

Make a lotus leaf that can support itself without additional supports branching out from the stem

Reduce the undulation of fabric to make it more lotus leaf

Daniel suggested that this could be achieved by playing/adjusting:

Second Review of Prototype (with Yong Huay):

I experimented with the following after the first review:

• Adding fibre optics and fairy lights to the prototype.
• Adding another round of gathering in the outer radial of my initial prototype in an attempt to reduce the undulations (did not continue as it did not make a difference).
• Adding another layer of fabric but only halfway.
• Adding stitches perpendicular to the direction of the gathering.
• Layering an additional layer of holographic fabric to the iteration.
• Stapling fabric to a small piece of plywood with a hole to attach it to the bendy rod

As such, my next steps were to:

1. Try stitching on Daniel’s layered organza
2. Try reducing the undulations on mine by adding more perpendicular stitches

Our meeting with Yong Huay was eye-opening and I learnt how stage lighting is a field of its own. I enjoyed the conservations Daniel and Yong Huay were having as they showcased the interdisciplinary nature of theatre. Both of them had a basic understanding of each other’s domain and were able to speak each other’s ‘language’, providing expertise and advice.

Third Review of Prototype (with Tze Chien and Grace):

I completed the changes mentioned above, but I was not able to reduce the undulations greatly as the additional perpendicular stitches that I added did not help a lot.

After our meeting, as the set design had yet to be firmed up, we decided to put the lotus leaf design on hold. Instead, we decided to focus on the shadow puppetry elements.

I had to start researching on puppets and other stage elements and I layered my previous research findings with Pinterest boards that I created using similar search terms.

2c. Sharing of my prototyping process for the pedestals

For the pedestal design, these were the following requirements:

1. Function as a stand that would hold up the light source and scenery slides (Needs to cast the slide shadow at the right height and size)
2. Function as a storage shelf for the different scenery slides
3. Function as a storage for the light source’s wiring and transformer
4. Has two sliding mechanisms so that when one slide is being used, the other slide can be changed for the upcoming setting change.
5. A slide frame that is attached to the sliding mechanism

Overall, the design should be structurally sound and quick to build.

From my reflection on how one function affected another, I realized that designing something is often about balancing the different functions at the same time. It is also about identifying the priorities and the order of things. For example, in this case, identifying the size of the slides seemed to be the first and most important step as it implicated all the other major design decisions. This meant that finding out the size of the windows, and the distance between the pedestal and the screen were the most important details.

I wish I had been able to see this big picture earlier, which would have helped to clarify my prototyping and testing priorities and aims.

2d. Sharing of my design process for the shadow scenery

For the design of the shadow scenery, I started with something simple but still had some Chinese elements. After the review with Daniel, the feedback was that the designs could be more elaborate.

Daniel gave me the order of ‘grandness’ for each of the setting designs. This is something I might keep in mind for future stage designs.

Please see examples of the changes in design after the first review.

Version 1 – Banquet Scenes:

Version 2 – Banquet Scenes (Made Designs More Abstract and Elaborate):

Version 1 – Mansion Scenes:

Version 2 – Mansion Scenes:

The second review was more about tweaking the minor details, like removing the door knob which made the doors look like a beetle.

Please see examples of the changes in design after the second review.

Version 2 – Baoyu’s Room: 

Version 3 – Baoyu’s Room:

The third review was with Director TC and we got clearance on all the designs!!

To proceed with laser cutting the designs, we needed to vectorize the designs. I used Adobe Illustrator software to create vectors but realised it might not work for the laser cutting software as I had used the stroke thickness to create the intended shadow thickness as opposed to using two separate lines to trace the outline.

This made me think about how sometimes when working on design files, it is important to choose the right software and way to draw the shadow scenery so that it saves work down the line.

Issues I had to resolve for the file to be ready for laser cutting; the lines drawn were overlapping each other.

Eventually found a relatively simple method to remove the lines in Illustrator:

To summarize, there are three key points for making systematic progress when prototyping a design:

1. Understand the big-picture goals to identify which variables to explore first.
2. Determine the order in which to explore these variables, for example, prioritizing structural or mechanical aspects before considering aesthetic choices like colours.
3. Outline all possible options, recognizing that some may not be immediately obvious. This often requires hands-on experimentation and research, including online searches, workshop trials, and visits to retail stores to discover available approaches and materials.

LESSON #3: Learning to conduct design research for a theatre production.

3a. Object extraction – script analysis

I learnt in our object extraction exercise that the required props may not be found only in the scene description but also in the dialogue and actions within the script.

A possible reason for this was our understanding of the play may not be the same as the director’s vision for the play, which led me to question the roles of the director and the designer. Does the designer have autonomy in their design choices? If they do not, will that make the designer more of a visualizer or fabricator? Does the director’s vision supersede everyone else’s vision? Or are designers treated as an equal, a collaborator?

3b. Identify components within the play – props, set-puppetry elements and settings

While doing the object extraction for Dream of the Red Chamber, I realised that it required quite a bit of imagination to envision the play on a stage. It is somehow different from reading a book, where we enjoy luxurious details in the description of a setting. Sometimes the setting for each scene may be scarce. I also found myself constantly asking how are we going to make that scene change happen.

In the case of contemporary theatre, the definitions of props, settings and puppetry are sometimes challenged and blurred. Multiple things may be happening simultaneously in a scene to layer and emphasize certain thematic concerns within the play. Settings in Dream of the Red Chamber move, transform and possess somewhat anthropomorphic characteristics.

3c. Research into the idea of emerging, lotus leaves, and materials

One of our first research tasks was to look into the idea of emerging. After reading the draft, I got too excited and distracted by the other components of the play which led me to research broadly into various other things, like the stone, the tree, the island etc.

I think it was important that the idea of emerging was a starting point of the research as it seemed like the central idea in the vision for the play. 

My approach to research in the case of designing something is to chase down as many rabbit holes as there are and to be as distracted as we can be. It is within the chaos and the random that we find the most brilliant ideas.

3d. Maximising performance potential

Maximising performance potential is the equivalent of being succinct in an essay. This succinctness translates to the props transitioning neatly and smoothly into the next scene, without too many extraneous actions.

3e. Considerations

There are many considerations when designing a play’s props, set and puppetry. I wonder if there is an order to this list of considerations and whether everything has to be thought out before we make certain design decisions.

I think the trick is to not overthink it as it might hinder our creativity when designing but just go for it and resolve the possible complications as we go.

3f. Idea sketches

I like to reinvent the wheel, which sometimes leads to me designing something quite over the top. At the core, I have always enjoyed creating something visually compelling and exciting, so that comes to mind first in my designs.

An example of this was that I had two design ideas for the lotus leaves initially when we were in the early prototyping period.

Covering a metal wire outline of a lotus leaves with threads of various thicknesses

Creating a fan-shaped lotus leaf that can open and close

I went with the fan-shaped lotus leaf design that could open and close in the end because I liked that despite the minimalistic aesthetic it had, it could also transform.

3g. Research into the play’s background

I felt that this was an important component of our research and that it should come before our idea sketches as the various adaptations of the story and the context of the story will also inspire and influence our ideas for the lotus leaves.

Knowing what has been done already also allows us to think about other design possibilities and build on existing ideas.

Some background information on the play can influence our design decisions. For instance, knowing that there was no known period that Dream of the Red Chamber is set in but only that it was probably during the dynastic eras of Ancient China, allowed us to be at times, more fluid with how we designed the props and puppets.

The plays reference to Nuwa, which has appeared in the book, Classic of the Mountains and Seas, 山海经. This inspired us to create a creature that was from the book for the “creatures” that Tze Chian writes about in his script.

See below, half-human, half-snake creature, similar to the picture on the left.

3h. Shadow puppetry explorations

Shadow puppetry gradually became a central design element in the play. To help us gain a better understanding of this puppetry genre, Daniel gave us an in-depth sharing on shadow puppetry – how it works and some world-class examples.

It opened our eyes to the potential of shadow puppetry and the science behind it. Knowing this, helped me to understand how far I wanted to push shadow puppetry, which would require understanding how it works (a.k.a the science).

We came across a shadow puppetry company that incorporates projections into their performances. As technology advances, we are sometimes forced to make well-thought-out decisions between shadow puppetry and projections.

Daniel had two ideas he wanted to explore:

1. Shadow puppets work as physical puppets, where the shadows of the puppet and the puppet itself can visually be different subjects or similar subjects, just that one adds more details to the story.
2. Multi-layered shadow scenery, where each layer can be manipulated to add details to the scene or create a change in atmosphere.

I was tasked with exploring the first idea but was unable to explore it fully.

Nevertheless, with the idea that I was given, I made a simple paper puppet, where I drew Baoyu (one of the characters in the play) curled up into a ball while holding a grass. The audience will see this front side. When its shadow is cast, the silhouette of Baoyu resembles a rock and the grass next to the rock symbolises Daiyu.

3i. Analysis of Puppets that are Symbols and Metaphors in the Play

I enjoyed having to analyse what the puppets meant in the play. It reminded me of what puppetry can add to a performance. Acting almost as a prop, puppetry can create atmospheres and add visual, conceptual and thematic layers to a live show. Considering what the puppets symbolise in both the context of the story and its much broader meanings can also be ways to inspire design and materials decisions. Moreover, I was surprised that even though Shawne misunderstood the homework to be about researching the cultural meanings of these puppet symbols, the information was still very relevant and even inspired some ideas on how to represent the puppets visually. Knowing what these symbols mean culturally also helped us understand how the audience may read our designs.

3j. Research for the flower blooming mechanism

I was tasked with figuring out a way to make a puppet flower that blooms, meaning open and close its petals.

Rather than trying to build something from scratch, I consulted the all-knowing internet for some existing examples of flower blooming mechanisms. I found four approaches to making a mechanism that results in a “bloom”. Each approach brings with it a different way of activating the “bloom” and a subtlety to the gesture of blooming. The design of the flower is also impacted by the mechanism greatly as certain mechanisms do require the petals to be of a certain material and shape.

Both of the approaches above used wire guides and an upward-downward motion to create the bloom. The drawbacks to this were that the flower could not bend and it had to face upwards towards the ceiling. In the context of this play, the audience would not be able to view the flower properly. The motion of the blooming was quite elegant but the designs of the petals looked slightly stiff in both examples above.

Daniel mentioned that this was also the method for June the Octopus puppet’s tentacles, which can contract and relax to mimic the propelling movement of an octopus.

Here is what my prototype for the blooming flower looks like:

This approach also allowed me to customise the petals.

I experimented first with fabric boning for the internal structure, but it did not work as well as the plastic boning.

I used paper petals as placeholders to see how the flower would look like with the mechanism.

LESSON #4: Learning the importance of communication.

4a. Learnings from Production Meetings

We attended several meetings with the rest of the production team, which included:

1. Masks and Costumes (Tze Chien, An Ni, Max, Dan Fong, Daniel)
2. Puppets and Set (Tze Chien, Grace, Dam Fong, Daniel)

We received new information and changes to the vision of the production after every meeting. At times, these changes reflected a streamlining progression and other times, a spontaneous shift towards a new idea. These movements in ideas always caught me by surprise but to the seasoned players, they wore an unfazed expression on their faces. I am learning gradually that this is part and parcel of producing a play.

In the initial phases of the production, when things were not so firmed up and subjected to big changes, ideas were communicated through pictures, mood boards and simple sketches consolidated in the form of slides with annotation. While this combination of pictures and words communicated a lot, they were still limited in precision because people interpret them differently. Moreover, with words especially, the extent of the meaning of the word is something not captured. For example, during one of the meetings, the term ‘abstraction’ was up for contention.

• Person A interpreted abstraction as a likeness to an object with simplified lines and shapes.
• Person B interpreted abstraction as very little likeness to an object with few details provided.

Here, the spectrum of abstraction was the issue, as both represented a form of abstraction but at differing degrees. In a production where many things need to be cohesive and synchronized, alignment becomes very crucial. Is there a way around this misalignment of interpretations? Is there a better way to convey our ideas? My solution will be to make even finer iterations of our designs to better convey exactly what was needed and to constantly ask questions accompanied with pictures and mood boards to clarify ideas.

As visions took shape and ideas were communicated to a certain clarity, Daniel began pitching his ideas in more concrete forms. This included presenting to the team preliminary scene sketches that show a general design direction that outlines key sets, props and puppetry elements. These sketches got a nod from the director before moving on to a detailed scene-by-scene sketch.

I was constantly reminded, just like in our previous meeting with the lighting designer, Yong Huay, that it is crucial to learn the terminologies and requirements of your colleagues’ field of work. This is important as our work scopes overlap a lot. For example, in the case of this production, the set and puppetry designers both had a hand in the set and props elements. I saw how Daniel and Grace, the set actualizer, communicated their ideas. They are both well-versed in each other fields and also understand well what needs to happen for the idea or design to work.

In all of these, I also realized that the production manager needs to have a basic or even slightly advanced understanding of all the different areas of expertise for them to plan out the meeting sessions. The production and stage managers are almost like the glue of a production.

4b. Collaborating with Myra on the Creature

Towards the end of the fabrication process, Daniel roped in other makers to assist us with completing the making of the puppets. This meant that we had to shift gears and take on the role of a collaborator. Communication became especially important, as the make now becomes almost like a tag team kind of approach.

It was the first time I was making this way because usually, I am the sole maker of my sculptures. In this collaboration, I was glad that Myra communicated our roles in making the creature.

I would be designing the look of the puppet and she would be working on the mechanism that made the puppet move. I think it played to our strengths as well, me as a designer and maker and Myra as a seasoned director and puppeteer.

I learned a lot from this collaboration. Myra took the initiative to be communicative about her progress with the creature when I was not in the studio. She would outline to me what had been completed and what needed to be done. This allowed me to orientate myself when I was back in the studio and know what to work on. I also reciprocated the communication, which helped facilitate a smooth collaboration.

Some pictures of the creature puppet:

LESSON #5: To be proactive and take ownership when designing and making in a group.

Phase 2 made me understand what it means to take ownership of a task given to me. I know I already have a strong sense of responsibility but I think my sense of proactiveness and effort has been pushed to new heights in this process.

I think it is also about being very aware of the implications of the tasks given to me. Like, whether the incompletion of a particular task will affect other parts of the build etc. This meant learning to take the deadlines more seriously and looking at ways to assist and support wherever possible.

On the topic of deadlines, it is also good to be familiar with the overall timeline and to de-escalate clashes in the schedule due to other ongoing activities in our lives.

Things were in constant flux and I think it takes a certain level of energy and focus to really keep tabs on everything and to adapt and change our priorities accordingly.

Due to unforeseen circumstances, Ling Jia Le will cease to continue his involvement in Phase 3 of The Maker’s Lab 2023-2025 Cycle. We wish him all the best in his future endeavours!