The Complete Book of Hand Shadows: Instructions for Shadowgraphy

By Louis Nikola

Generations of entertainers have amused audiences of children and adults with the art of hand shadows, using only a light source and their own two hands to form immediately recognizable profiles of people and animals. Lovers of nostalgia and aspiring hand shadow artists will delight in this facsimile of a 1913 book, which features more than 50 hand shadows.
These quaint illustrations depict many different types of shadows, from swans, rabbits, and other animals to historic figures and fictional characters. Each hand shadow is accompanied by a description of specific hand positioning and an illustration. Additional helpful tips include instructions on lighting, projection screens, and hand exercises.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Release date: Nov 28, 2016
• ISBN: 9780486817798

Book preview

Pantomime

INTRODUCTION.

SHADOW entertainments are as old as the hills, but their popularity at the present day is undiminished, and the hand shadow expert is a recognised artist in the entertainment world.

Either to the student of physiology, to the professional or amateur entertainer, to the man or woman who seeks only occasional inspiration for the amusement of others, or to the mere spectator, the subject is full of interest.

Every part of the human frame is a storehouse of wonder to the student, and it is often left to the makers of amusement to reveal its extreme possibilities ; the gymnast, the contortionist, the strong man, the juggler, and many others of their class, each shew the marvellous degrees of skill, endurance, and adaptability to which various functions of the body can be trained. Not the least surprising of these of nature’s wonders is the ability of the hand to conform to the outlines of things far removed in shape and structure from itself, and to present in silhouette striking representations of birds, beasts and human types, and to stimulate in them the appearance of animation and life.

HAND SHADOWS.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR SHADOWGRAPHY

CHAPTER I.

THE LIGHT.

The requirements of the performer of hand shadows are of the simplest—his hands, a light, and a white surface upon which to project the images of his skill. We will deal first with the light.

Many forms of illuminant are available, but the choice, if the best results are desired, is not a matter so easily settled as might be supposed.

Of course, any kind of light will do. Only a few forms of light, however, do well. It is not merely sufficient to cast a shadow. Any source of light will do so much. But the efforts of the expert shadowgraphist carry with them a precision and delicacy of outline which must be preserved. To maintain this condition, the great essential is that the light shall proceed from the smallest possible point. The smaller the point of light, the clearer will be the resulting shadow. A large area of flame causes a blurring of the edges of the shadows it casts, and to get anything approaching clearness it is necessary to hold the hands very near or close to the surface upon which the shadows are received. With the perfect light, proceeding from the nearest approach to the mathematical point practically obtainable, it becomes possible to hold the hands at some distance from the projecting surface, and so produce a magnified shadow. This, especially in a hall or theatre, is a great advantage, and adds much to the effectiveness of a hand shadow performance.

The ideal form of light, best fulfilling these requirements, is the electric arc, and the second best is the limelight if used with a high-class jet. These illuminants, however, are not generally available or convenient, and are only used in theatres, where great intensity is a first necessity.

For all ordinary uses a much less powerful and more portable form of light is sufficient and desirable.

The great obstacle in the way of the drawing room demonstrator has always been the question of light. The difficulties in the way of meeting the several requirements, viz. brilliancy of illumination, clearness of shadow, and portability of apparatus, can be appreciated only by those who have given practical attention to the matter by personal experiment ; and in the past the secrets of construction have been jealously kept by the few who have been able to overcome the difficulties. Acetylene gas, by reason of many advantages, has generally been the favoured illuminant. The apparatus for the production of acetylene gas on a small scale is quite portable, while the intensity of its light admits of the reduction of the flame to a practical minimum. One other virtue it has, and that is that it casts an intensely black shadow.

It may here be noted that both lenses and bright reflectors are quite useless in conjunction with the light to be used for projecting shadows, as both cause a fuzziness of outline that is fatal. Only a bare light may be used, and as the reflector must be blackened there is a great waste of light, and this and the necessity for a minimum flame area confront the would-be shadow producer with a problem that has always been more or less a stumbling block.

Few of the available projection lamps have been really satisfactory, and the man who has wanted the best has had to make it, and, what is more to the point, to find out first how it should be made.

The introduction of the Sunburst acetylene shadow lamp has removed this initial difficulty, and provided for the shadowgraphist a both satisfactory and convenient means of displaying his skill.

Fig. 1 fairly illustrates