I was doing some research last night into the history of Afro combs, as well as the anthropology of combs in general. The aesthetic of the comb has interested me for a while. Here are some drawings I did a few years back:

I wondered about combining these aesthetics with some of the ideas I had been exploring relating to African mask dancing and possession ceremonies among the Dogon and Yoruba tribes. Within the framework of puppetry of course. So I did some sketches to explore the idea of making some 'comb- face' puppets:

I thought it could be interesting to play around with putting mirrors behind the teeth of the combs or have lights illuminate faces concealed by the combs. It might also be interesting (and perhaps a little creepy) to have something like a curtain made of hair that the characters emerge from by combing their faces through it. In any case the 'comb-face' characters have been knocking around in my head for a while and it would be nice to make something out of it at some point.

 As an interesting side note the image of the comb also resonates with that of the Mbira, an African instrument I have been learning to play over the last few months. I think the sound and character of the music could work for puppetry and I have a few ideas in that vein that I will discuss in more detail in a later post.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPWmWk8uv-I