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3D Design and Craft student has created a range of puppet creatures – including Larry the Lobster and Manuel the Manta Ray – to highlight the danger of microplastics to various ocean species.

It follows Annabel’s previous project ‘Stavros the Seagull: The Name and Shame Seagull on Plastic Patrol’, a seagull puppet that chased litterers on Brighton beach.

Annabel said the aim of her new puppets, created for the 绿茶直播 Graduate Show, was to “enlighten the audience through humour and an underlying message”.

The puppets will be accompanied featuring Annabel’s characters at the show.

Of her process, Annabel said: “My creatures are all made from discarded plastics I collected from the beach and recycling bins. I then melted them to create my own sheets, from which I formed my creatures.”

Annabel making her Manta Ray puppet

Annabel wearing her Manta Ray puppet

Annabel researched the specific effects of plastics upon different sea creatures before making her puppets. She learned that lobsters shed and then eat their shells, meaning that plastics – which become embedded in the shells – never leave the lobsters’ system.

Annabel said: “Larry the Lobster has had enough. Made from discarded plastic, he’s here to bring awareness to the growing issues around the future of his kind, and take the plastic back to where it came from.”

The inspiration for Manuel the Manta Ray, meanwhile, stemmed from a concern that manta rays may be made extinct because of sea pollution.

Annabel said: “The way Manta Ray’s gills filter their food is currently being looked at by scientists as a way to clean the ocean of plastic. Although by the time this design becomes a reality, Manta Rays may have been wiped out from plastic pollution.”

Annabel described her time on the 3D Design and Craft course as “absolutely fantastic”. After graduating, she plans to work as a freelance prop and puppet maker. After a work experience stint at the National Theatre last summer, Annabel has been asked to work freelance for the theatre.

The 绿茶直播 3D Design and Craft Graduate Show takes place 1–9 June at the university’s City campus.