Maiden Rapunzel Stick Puppet

Inspiration

have two sisters. My oldest sister Laura Maria, and my twin sister Claudia Elena. Growing up, I had long hair clear down to my waist. My black curly ringlets were my grandma’s pure pride and joy. When I would come visit, she would spend hours brushing my hair with her sterling-silver brush she had laying on her vanity. Alternatively, my twin sister had short light brown hair. I am not sure why she wore her hair short? Perhaps it was because having too many heads with long hair at home was too much for mom to take care of? Or perhaps, it was simply because this way she could climb trees without the risk of getting her hair caught in the branches of the mango? Regardless of the reason, my twin sister was lucky to escape the pain that accompanies those with long, tangled hair.

My Sister’s Long Hair

My older sister also had long hair that would go past her butt. Her hair was dark brown, thick, and untamable, like the tail of a horse. Certainly, her hair was not blonde like Rapunzel’s, but for all practical purposes, it was as long as hers. The diameter of her ponytail was easily the diameter of a silver dollar! So, untangling her hair was not an easy task. For those of you who are foreign to caring for long hair, one of the things not to do, is to sleep with your hair tied. So, all three sisters would go to bed with our hair all nicely brushed and loose. Only to awaken the next day with a tangled nest for hair. I’m not sure why my hair was always less tangled than my older sister’s. Perhaps, I did not wrestle in bed at night while asleep. Perhaps because my hair was not as thick as my sister’s. Or perhaps because she did not brush her hair one hundred times as you were supposed to before going to bed. I suspect it was all the above.

Getting Ready for School

As we would get ready for school, I would manage to get my long hair presentable. Good enough to pass the school nuns daily uniform inspection, anyways. The same could not be said for my sister. She would somehow manage to put her hair in a ponytail, but as I said earlier, the ponytail truly looked like the tail of a horse that had been galloping through rolling hills all night long.

Every morning, my mom’s primary concern was to get breakfast in our stomachs. Dealing with our hair was secondary. I have plenty of breakfast stories to tell you, but for now, I can tell you that when we were lucky, we had floating raisins on our oatmeal. Yikes! I am diverging! Sorry, let me focus back on the topic at hand, the untamable hair. Once we all siblings had ingested an adequate amount of breakfast, we would all climb in mom’s car to be dropped at school. By the way, I never knew how mom determined what was an adequate amount of breakfast. I guess I’ll never know.

The Ride to School

We spent the car ride reciting addition, subtraction and multiplication tables. Or naming the states, capitals, rivers, and mountain peaks of Venezuela. Whatever the homework was, or the test we had, those would be the words that filled the morning air, as mom’s car would zig-zagged through the streets among school buses and station-wagons. Indeed, there was not much wasted time for us. The first stop was my brother Carlos’ school. So, he never witnessed mom’s wrestling matches with my sister’s hair. A few blocks before getting to our school, the Academia Merici, mom would park the car on a side street and brush my sister’s ponytail. Hopefully, one of us had remembered to bring the brush or the big toothed comb along. This task always seemed to take forever. Once mom had managed to untangle the hair, she would proceed to braid it. Our uniform rules were very strict, so you could not have an exposed elastic ponytail. So, to complete the hairdo, mom would tie two burgundy bows on my sister’s hair. One at the beginning and one at the end of the braid. Finally, she would use hairpins to secure a burgundy “boina” or beret with our school seal.

Rapunzel’s Braid

Once mom was done, my sister had nothing to be jealous of Rapunzel’s braid. Usually, we would get to school in the nick of time, just before the bell rang. On occasions, time was against us. Consequently, we would blame my sister’s Rapunzel braid for the tardy demerits we accumulated over time. There were days that, in the rush to get to school, we would forget our beret. If we were lucky, we could pick one up at the lost-and-found, before having to pass the nuns’ uniform inspection. Such were the tribulations we had to undergo to get my sister’s Rapunzel hair neatly braided for school. And so, the same routine would take place every school morning until my sister was old enough to wrangle her own hair herself. I do wonder if Rapunzel had a similar experience wrestling with her hair, every time she would let it down when hearing the words “Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let thy your hair?”

Rapunzel Stick Puppet Ornament Design Process

A few years ago, I came across a beautiful black and chartreuse ribbon at a rack sale at my local Hobby Lobby store. Most of the materials I used on my ornaments are recycled and repurposed, but occasionally, I find some unique ones on the sale racks. This was the case of this gorgeous grosgrain ribbon. Someone had opened it, and part of it had been soiled. It was like the ugly duckling of the ribbons on sale. Who would buy that damaged ribbon? Well, I did. When I decided to create the Rapunzel ornament, my mind remembered that special ribbon I had once bought. The ribbon had a romantic and regal air. I think it was the floral print that gave her that medieval romantic essence. So that ribbon became the anchor for my color palette.

To make the dress long enough, I had to add some trim to the edge of the ribbon. To trim the dress, I used two different types of notions. Ones are trimmed with an olive satin and velvet ribbon that came from a present’s bow. The other ones are trimmed with a black ribbon that came also from some old bows. I decorated the edge of the skirt with a pale cream ribbon rose. I added silk ribbons streaming from her waist and a plastic light-yellow jewel. I also added a petticoat made from white tulle.

I used a golden yarn found at a garage sale for the hair. So, just like the Grimm Brothers described it, this Rapunzel ornament has “magnificent long hair, fine as spun gold.” To accentuate the gold tone, I weaved her hair with threads of gold. I found this golden thread at Volunteers of America, one of my favorite thrift stores. I used that same thread to give Rapunzel a tiara. To complete the outfit, I gave Rapunzel a regal cape. Given that I am always limited by the materials I have sourced through thrift stores and friends, some capes are olive green, and the others are mustard yellow.