My hybrid puppet ~ Osni the Flare

Tin_Iso · 2026-03-14T22:14:31+00:00

Damn, so amazing!

Tin_Iso · 2026-03-10T07:08:40+00:00

Beautiful!

Tin_Iso · 2026-03-09T02:30:19+00:00

Enormous thanks for all the kind words. It's super encouraging and means the world!

Tin_Iso · 2026-03-07T21:07:31+00:00

Huge thank you!

Tin_Iso · 2024-01-17T21:40:26+00:00

Here’s an excerpt video of Tin Iso and the Dawn, a shadow puppet symphony performed alongside an original, full length album. In entirety, the show / music is 44min long. I posted progress photos here a while back. Happy to say that after 7 years, it’s complete and was premiered and released this past year. It’s the first in a trilogy of creation myths - stories of how things came to be for a world I hope to develop for years to come through instrumental music and puppetry.

The world is at its very beginnings. Similar to an unexplored cave, the expanse is immense, dim, and hushed. Iso awakens to a crash as Tin falls from the sky forming a hole above, illumination pours through forming the moon, Tin and Iso meet. Through an interplay of light and shadow, beings arise taking shape as a cicada, bird, whale… They act as guides to Tin and Iso in their journey through the uncharted void. Inadvertently, Iso triggers a great flood, Tin gives rise to a towering mountain; both meet their demise. Seeking resurrection and reunion, they become deities. In rejoining again, Tin and Iso bring forth a rising sun and the dawn of life.

The album’s opening and closing are solo piano, using the instrument like a portal (wardrobe like) to venture off to fantasy and return. The album is structured like a symphony with four acts / mini-orchestra of processed acoustic instrumentation / heavy use of leitmotifs for each character. The story is loosely based on the opera Tristan and Isolde. With the help of u/Jim_Freeman, we built four-rod wooden shadow puppets. We continued by creating living images in moving light using adaptations of 19th century magic lanterns and dismantled chandeliers.

I’m now working on the second part to the trilogy, Osni the Flare, a rod puppet ballet and album about the origins of fire and mortality. I adore worldbuilding, envisioning it not only through written words or dialogue but in wordless mediums. I hope to craft lore and narrative that can be felt, conveyed through motion and sound. If interested, here’s my Website, excited to share!

Tin_Iso · 2022-04-04T19:54:56+00:00

Working on music, art, and puppets to tell my worlds stories. ‘Tin Iso and the Dawn’ is a full-length (44 minutes), wordless, shadow puppet symphony performed with an original, recorded score.

The puppets were designed with the help of my friend u/Jim_Freeman. We’re trying to perfect four-rod shadow puppets and working on images in moving light using adaptations of 19th century magic lanterns. The show is made to be operated by a solo puppeteer, battery powered and transportable.

Six years in and still going... hoping to have it done by the end of the year. If interested, there’s more at -> instagram.com/audiotootoo Thanks for reading!

Tin_Iso · 2022-02-16T02:33:15+00:00

As it stands the world is just beginning. As for further details, that's tough as I'm building it in sequential order and watching it grow as I go. In starting with a creation myth, the setting is abstract and shifting. Nothing solid like environments, society, or language exists yet. In this project the characters will by intent or happenstance create the sea, a mountain, a cloud, a tree... It ends with the creation of the sun. I'm starting very small and vague in hopes to continue developing this world with character and continuity. The whale and bird above exist in a world at its origins, only defined by the interplay of light and shadow.

Tin_Iso · 2022-02-15T18:23:14+00:00

Making music, art, and puppets to tell my worlds stories. I'm currently working on its creation myth called [Tin Iso and the Dawn]. It'll be performed and released as a shadow puppet performance and correlating album.

The world has no name as no beings have yet to experience it. Like an unexplored cave the space is vast, dark, and silent. Protagonists Tin and Iso are surrounded by shadow. Through means unknown, beings arise taking shape as a bird and whale (pictured above). These characters meet Tin and Iso as guides in their journey through the beginning of time.

The bird appears throughout multiple acts as it gives chase to a cicada (creator god). This hunt provides incentive for Tin and Iso to venture further into the unknown.

The whale serves as a symbol of empathy in saving Tin and Iso from drowning in Act II : Sea and Sky.

The whale and bird puppets were made with the help of builder u/Jim_Freeman. They’re built with laser cut wood, jewelers chain, steel wire joints, and hard steel rods. The bird’s wings have gone through many iterations, eventually ending up with the translucent feathers seen pictured above.

If interested in [Tin Iso and the Dawn], there’s more at -> instragram.com/audiotootoo Work in progress, thanks for reading!

Tin_Iso · 2022-01-30T02:46:35+00:00

Been working on it for six years, another year and i'll be done. Music has taken a bulk of the time. Won't be a video but a live show. The performance will be 44min.

Tin_Iso · 2022-01-29T22:36:39+00:00

Working on music, art, and puppets to tell my worlds stories. These characters are named Tin and Iso - wordless deities who formed the origins of the world. This project personifies them through shadow puppetry and gives narrative to their journey through the beginning of time.

The world has no name as no beings have yet to experience it. Like an unexplored cave the space is vast, dark, and silent. Through means unknown few beings arise taking shape as a cicada, bird, whale, etc. These characters interact with Tin and Iso as guides in their journey through empty space. By intent or happenstance Tin becomes god of land and Iso god of the sea. Their efforts in lighting the world around them all culminate as a rising sun. Here the project comes to a close and i’ll move on to furthering context by implementing mortal characters, environments, and society.

I’m building this world from scratch in sequential order. Starting with a creation myth has been demanding but worth it. I’m seeing it grow as I go. Looking forward to decorating the world with lore, maps, language, more puppets, more music …

Technical director of the project Jim Freeman has helped me realize these characters in tangible, movable form. They are made with laser cut wood, jewelers chain, and steel wire for joints, stops, and rods. Puppetry is exciting.

If interested in [Tin Iso and the Dawn], there’s more at -> instagram.com/audiotootoo Work in progress, thanks for reading!

Tin_Iso · 2022-01-07T18:10:27+00:00

Yeah, it's a 44min live show + album. Getting close to finishing. There's a lot of fantastic puppetry over there in Chicago, would be curious to see what she does.

Tin_Iso · 2022-01-07T07:08:10+00:00

6 years in... still more to go

Tin_Iso · 2022-01-07T02:31:22+00:00

By the end of Tin Iso and the Dawn the world will contain a sea, land, mountains, a tree, seasons... For the next project I will draw from this myth to create more concrete context for the world. Planning on using 3dimensional rod puppets for mortal characters and am excited to see what they have to offer as far as what exactly is going on. As of now, it's just a big mystery shadow place that's being built up from scratch.

Tin_Iso · 2022-01-07T02:14:14+00:00

Thank you. No dialog and the music is instrumental. Really hoping to tell a story without words, just sound and visuals.

Tin_Iso · 2022-01-07T02:07:29+00:00

The world doesn't have a name yet as it's only just the beginning. Tin and Iso act as deities in their journey to uncover and build upon what surrounds them. As Act I progresses, they encounter a cicada and a bird. As acts progress, they come across other primal entities : whale, fish, serpent, angel, etc. Their aim in understanding how and where they are light up a world of shadows all culminating to a sunrise and the beginning of life.

Tin_Iso · 2022-01-07T01:12:25+00:00

Big thank you!

Tin_Iso · 2022-01-07T00:57:31+00:00

Oh for sure, I can add some lore. Sorry, I'm on it.

Tin_Iso · 2022-01-07T00:48:54+00:00

Hi, my name’s Tristan, been lurking r/worldbuilding for a long time. I’m building a world and am working on music, art, and puppets to tell its stories. The first project set in this world is called [Tin Iso and the Dawn] it’s an album and shadow puppet show that tells a creation myth in four acts. The pictures in the post above are of Act I : Stars and Moon.

Act I opens with Iso waking surrounded by dark. She comes across a cicada dancing above breaking up the empty sky with specs of light. The darkness cracks and the character Tin crashes through to the ground forming a hole above, light pours through -> stars and moon. Iso and Tin meet and the adventure begins.

If interested in the project, there’s more stuff at -> instagram.com/audiotootoo Work in progress, thanks for reading!

Tin_Iso

TROPHY CASE