Making (Almost) Instant Puppets E-Book

David Currell

• Herausgeber: The Crowood Press
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 179

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

This wonderful book is packed with a range of quick, inexpensive ways to make the main types of puppets using objects that are spare, scrap, recycled or easily accessible. With imagination and creative flair, it explains the principles and techniques that can transform a plastic bottle into a hippopotamus hand puppet or a few cardboard rolls into a dancing marionette. Alongside the practical information, it also gives staging advice so that your puppets can perform as living and believable characters. This is truly a book that will bring the magical world of puppet theatre within reach of everyone, whatever their time or resource limits.

Leseprobe

CONTENTS

Introduction

1 Different Types of Puppet

2 Materials, Tools, Heads and Costumes

3 Bodies, Limbs and Joints

4 Hand Puppets

5 Rod Puppets

6 Marionettes

7 Shadow Puppets

8 Staging and Performing

Index

INTRODUCTION

Puppets hold a fascination that embraces all ages and cultures. The slightest tilt of the head, a hand gesture, or a stillness can have a powerful effect, inviting the audience to interpret additional dimensions, just as we ‘see’ characters in a book or a radio play.

A hand puppet created from a plastic bottle.

For thousands of years people have animated inanimate objects in a dramatic manner for many purposes and puppets continue to be used for religious rites, entertainment, satire, education, propaganda, advertising and therapy. In recent years, puppet theatre has reaffirmed its status as an art form worthy of consideration by adults as well as children, and puppets can now be seen alongside actors on the professional stage.

The puppets can be as simple or as complicated as required and there are times when we need to see results quickly, so this book is intended for those who want to create puppets with limited time or resources, in an hour or two, a day, or a weekend.

They may be for a solo, group or family activity; for inclusion and diversity in the school curriculum; for creativity or problem solving; for therapy where the focus may be the construction or the ‘performance’; for drama workshops; for larger projects where quickly made figures facilitate rehearsals while the actual puppets are being made; or for object theatre in which objects can become characters themselves.

Nearly all the puppets in this book have been made by people with little or no previous experience of making puppets. Familiar household tools were used and very few materials were bought. Cartons, containers, packaging, fabric remnants and other items were used that would otherwise be recycled or binned. Please use this book to understand the principles and techniques of puppet making, upcycle whatever materials are available, experiment and be inventive.

CHAPTER 1

DIFFERENT TYPES OF PUPPET

Three-dimensional puppets tend to be characterised by the method of operation, most often by a hand, rod(s) or strings. Hand puppets and rod puppets have a hand or rod as their central core for support, so these are direct methods of manipulation. Marionettes, or string puppets, are usually manipulated from a short distance above by threads attached to a control.

The Devil, a mixture of string puppet and shadow figure, by Jonathan Hayter, Figure of Speech Puppet Company.

Hand puppets and rod puppets tend to go where the performer puts them, whereas marionettes have a little more of a life of their own on the end of the strings. All these methods have variations that sometimes involve combinations such as hand-and-rods or strings-and-rods.

Shadow puppets are normally flat, cut-out shapes performed with natural or artificial light to cast shadows, usually onto a screen. Three-dimensional figures and even actors can be used for shadow play, but they need a strong light source to achieve sharp shadows.

HAND PUPPETS

Hand puppets differ in the extent to which the puppeteer’s hand or arm is inserted into the figure.

Finger puppets are the simplest form of hand puppet. They are often a tube-like shape slipped onto a finger or a shape representing a head slipped onto a fingertip but there are many variations.

Glove puppets, used like a glove on the puppeteer’s hand, can handle objects and are good for fast, robust movement. You can operate one on each hand, which increases their scope, but it is not easy making a ‘glove’ body that fits well and is comfortable. Other types of puppet might be more suitable for children with tiny hands. It is often better to make a basic glove onto which the costume is added, rather than making the glove from the costume itself. Using draped material will be much quicker than making the traditional glove.

Quickly made and easily manipulated, finger puppets are wonderful for storytelling; a whole puppet family can fit on one hand.

Sleeve puppets have a head and a longer body so your whole arm fits inside, with the hand operating the head and, possibly, a moving mouth. These can be much larger than glove puppets and, depending on their size, you could operate two of these at the same time. If you choose to use your free hand as the puppet’s hand, then you are restricted to one puppet per puppeteer.

A hand puppet with a well-fitting ‘glove’ body, upon which a costume can be added.

A costumed human hand gives the puppet considerable scope.

ROD PUPPETS

Rod puppets are frequently controlled from below or behind. They may be very basic figures, sometimes no more than a wooden spoon, but they are usually more substantial with arms and hands controlled by rods or stiff wires operated by the puppeteer’s free hand. It is common for rod puppets not to have legs and feet but to perform behind a screen where they are visible to their waist or hips.

A rod puppet with a long central rod can be held up high and can be quite large if required, which helps with sightlines and visibility for a large audience, provided it is not too heavy. One disadvantage of a long central rod is the puppet cannot bend at the waist, so it is somewhat limited in its range of movements.

A rod puppet with a short central rod has flexibility at the waist and enjoys a greater range of movements, but it cannot be held as high as one with a long rod.

A rod puppet with a draped costume, which is quick and easy to create. It needs no legs and feet – a common feature of rod puppets.

Sometimes rod puppets are controlled from above. This is particularly suitable for animal characters where very direct control is needed, possibly alongside marionettes.

Two-person operation increases the scope of rod puppets and invites cooperation and coordination. One person may control the head/ body rod and one of the hands while a second person operates the other hand. Alternatively, the second person might control both hands.

Table-top rod puppets are similar to the traditional Japanese Bunraku style of presentation that has three operators to each main figure. The modern version is often smaller in scale, with the puppets manipulated at table height, whether on a stage surface or operated in the air; with skilful manipulation you feel you can ‘see’ the surface, even when there is none. A table-top puppet can be operated by one, two or possibly three puppeteers, as necessary, but its size may determine how many puppeteers is feasible.

Pierrot, by the late Barry Smith’s Theatre of Puppets, was designed to be operated by three puppeteers.

Control by a combination of hands and rods is common. Hand puppets may be operated by a hand in the head while rods control the hands (a hand-and-rod puppet), or a rod puppet may have human hands (a rod-and-hand puppet). Similarly, strings and rods (or wires) may be combined in the control of what are often called rod-marionettes.

Orlando Furioso, a Sicilian rod-marionette, has rods to the head and sword arm, and a string to the shield arm. The legs are controlled through the momentum created by the head rod.

MARIONETTES

The term ‘marionette’ can have different meanings. In some countries marionette simply means ‘puppet’ and the international puppetry association, L’Union Internationale de la Marionnette, is inclusive of all types of puppet. In English-speaking countries, it is more often used for string puppets.

Marionettes that are string puppets may have less direct control than other puppets, but they can adopt almost any position. They are not well suited to fast, robust, forceful movements but they can twist, turn, move gracefully, even defy gravity and fly through the air. They are generally regarded as the most complicated type of puppet to operate but well-balanced marionettes have built-in movement, like a pendulum; with a suitable control, they do a lot of the work for you.

Eight strings support and operate this marionette. It has extra strings for moving the eyes and mouth, playing a piano and raising his hat.

Very simple controls require the operator to pull individual strings to achieve the required actions, but a slightly more complicated arrangement enables the puppet to move effectively just by tilting and turning the control.

Tangles need not be problematic if a control is dropped; the trick is to pick up the control gently, not the puppet, and undo any loose tangles without taking the weight of the puppet as this might pull a loose tangle into a knot.

SHADOW PUPPETS

Shadow puppets can range from simple cut-out cardboard shapes to colourful leather figures with intricate designs. Depending on the materials and techniques used, a shadow puppet is one of the quickest types of puppet to make and even roughly cut shapes can look surprisingly delicate on the shadow screen. It is remarkable how even beautifully made shadow puppets often have a greater impact as shadows than they do when viewed without the screen.

A shadow puppet created by Lotte Reiniger, one of the early creators of animated films. She drew rough proportions on the card and did most of the shaping with scissors.

The puppets are frequently controlled by a rod or stiff wire from below or behind, though it is possible to hang them on threads. Often performers require a method that keeps the puppet tight to the screen, but the nature and position of the light source will also influence the angle of operation.

Simple shadow puppets may be just a cardboard shape in which the outline has been drawn and then cut out. Lotte Reiniger, who created the first feature-length animated shadow puppet film, would scribble a rough shape on the card and then use small, sharp scissors to create the detail as she cut.

Jointed shadow puppets may have many moving parts, with control often achieved indirectly through the main control. Controls attached to the head and/or body, hands and legs require very skilful operation; in inexperienced hands or with two-person control, damage often occurs, so it is better to have one main control and add one additional control only if it is essential. With a little practice you can achieve considerable control by the way you move the figure against the screen.

Cut-out designs are used to enhance the character, and colour and texture with both solid and translucent materials may also be added to the cut-out designs.

Coloured and oiled card is the modern equivalent to the traditional Asian and oriental shadow puppets for which leather was treated to make it translucent, designs were cut in the surface, and colour was added with dyes. This technique has been adapted to make full-colour shadows quickly using felt pens or inks on white card.

A Turkish shadow puppet made from leather. It is translucent with cut-out designs and coloured with dyes. Parallel techniques with decoration and colour are described in Chapter 7.

CHAPTER 2

MATERIALS, TOOLS, HEADS AND COSTUMES

RECYCLED MATERIALS

Many containers that are useful for making instant puppets are already shaped in ways that may suggest heads, features or bodies. These items were designed not just for their functionality but also to attract shoppers, so they often have inbuilt potential for puppets. Whatever materials are used for making a puppet, ensure that the finished puppet is as clean and attractive as possible, unless the characterisation requires otherwise.

Instant puppets invite creativity and divergent thinking.

It is a good idea to have a collection of empty containers of all kinds and to sort them into labelled boxes. When selecting a container for a particular purpose, consider whether it is strong enough in itself or whether it needs a supporting structure inside it.

Keep off-cuts of wood, rods and tubing, whether cardboard, plastic, foam rubber or even metal. Galvanised wire (coat-hanger wire) and other types of wire are useful for joints, controls and shaping of flexible materials. Blocks of foam rubber and other packaging from boxed items are useful for making puppet parts or for padding other items to the required shape, and sponges can become heads, features or bodies.

The shapes of cartons and containers immediately suggest all manner of heads and bodies.

Rods and tubing are quickly turned into a range of body parts or limbs, as well as controls.

Lightweight materials in blocks or layers give puppets shape without making them heavy.

Off-cuts of wood often provide a solid core for a puppet, its limbs and controls.

Note:Although there are examples of polystyrene blocks being used, it is not generally recommended where any significant shaping is required. Breathing the particles from dry shaping or the fumes from hot-wire shaping is a health hazard which should be avoided.

Ropes, cords and twine, ranging from thick and heavy to very fine, may be used for joints, hair, sometimes in place of arms and legs, and for control strings. When threading a cord through a small hole, a darning needle with a large eye is useful. If the ends of the cord are loose, wrap a small piece of masking tape around, and just over, the end and twist it into a point.

Fabrics, remnants, old socks and clothes that young children have outgrown are very useful. Dolls’ clothes are usually unsuitable because they restrict movement. Old leather or suede leather garments are handy for joints and trimmings. Make separate collections of things that may be useful for hair, eyes and other features.

From fine thread to thick rope, there is something useful for almost every puppet.

Materials in all sizes are invaluable; even small pieces find a use.

Colourful buttons, beads and balls have various applications, not just eyes and costumes; matching pairs are especially useful.

Balls and beads of all sizes will be useful for puppet parts and for helping to create smooth joints. Interesting-looking buttons are ideal for creating facial features as well as enhancing costumes. Simple buttons help with attaching control strings and rods and sometimes with making joints; they need to be secured firmly to avoid risk of detaching.

Wools, embroidery threads, string, rope, fur, feathers and tissue paper are examples of materials useful for hair and other trimmings.

The way hair shapes the head and frames the face can change a puppet completely.

Materials for Shadow Puppets

Reasonably stiff cardboard, such as a cereal or detergent box, is suitable for opaque shadow puppets and cut-out designs. For shadows in full-colour, good-quality white card (such as Ivory Board) is required. In order to protect all surfaces while cutting, a self-healing cutting mat is a good investment as it will be useful when making all types of puppet.

Further suggestions for useful materials are detailed in Chapter 7, Shadow Puppets.

The materials suitable for shadow screens include polyester cotton fabric (an old sheet), shower curtain material (preferably plain), greaseproof paper/baking paper, artists’ or architects’ tracing paper, or tracing linen is even better. If you are lucky enough to find a theatre with pieces of unwanted rear-screen projection material, this is ideal. However, the shadow screens in this book used nothing more than a shower curtain and, mostly, greaseproof paper from the kitchen, so do not feel the need to purchase expensive material.

A cutting mat, shown with various shadow screen materials, is one of the most useful pieces of equipment to purchase.

TOOLS

The tools that one might find in a household toolbox are often sufficient for most instant puppet projects and you could manage with fewer than those illustrated here. You may not need chisels, but the odd screwdriver may be handy along with large and small pliers, a tack hammer, a selection of brushes, a measuring tape and a try square or a set square.

There are certain items that are not so common but are particularly useful to acquire:

• A paper drill that has interchangeable heads for different-size holes; always use it with a strip of wood or MDF underneath to protect other surfaces (a stationery punch is an alternative but this limits where a hole can be positioned and its size).

• A de-burring tool that can be used to enlarge holes in a wide variety of materials (see overleaf).

• A fine, round file (and a flat file is often useful too).

• An awl or other tool with a sharp point.

Each of these household tools was used during the making of the puppets but it is not necessary to have all of them.

These tools proved useful in making many of the puppets, especially the de-burring tool for enlarging holes. Left to right: paper drill, de-burring tool, round file, any sharp pointed tool.

Occasionally improvisation is required, for example when you need a very long needle with a large eye.

Keep the tools clean, sharp where appropriate, and use them for their intended purpose to preserve their usefulness and for reasons of safety.

To thread cord through any large object or a solid block of foam rubber or polystyrene, cut a length of coat-hanger wire and bend the end into a loop to make it into a long needle. Taping the closure of the loop is not essential but it helps to prevent it catching inside the object.

Note:It is strongly recommended that you wear an apron, other protective clothing or old clothes when cutting, shaping or gluing the puppet parts. It is easy for a large spot of glue to drop unnoticed onto a skirt or trousers or for a rough edge of a container to snag a jumper, so always dress appropriately to protect your clothes from mishap.

Cutting

Always protect any surface with a cutting mat unless you are using a work bench.

It is desirable to have at least two pairs of scissors so that you do not cut fabric with scissors used for paper or card.

It is a mistake to try to cut large pieces of foam rubber with scissors as foam rubber is more resistant than it appears. An old bread knife, a hacksaw blade, or pulling and tearing pieces off, is much more suitable for the general shaping; if necessary, use scissors for snipping away at the surface for the final shaping.

Craft knives with replaceable blades – one with wide blades and one with finer blades like a scalpel – are among the most useful cutting tools. A metal safety ruler with a finger groove for safe cutting is recommended. When using a knife, never cut towards the hand holding the item being cut.

A coping saw and a junior hacksaw will cover most other cutting requirements but a tenon saw would be a bonus.

Tin cans and cut edges in plastic bottles may need protecting with a little foam rubber or masking tape, especially if fingers or hands are to be inserted into them.

Drilling

To make small holes or to start a hole for a drill-bit to grip, an awl or other sharp pointed object can be used. Alternatives are a bradawl or gimlet, but you could manage with any pointed tool. A de-burring tool is particularly useful when you want to enlarge a hole gradually.

You may not need to do much drilling, so a power drill may not be needed, but a hand drill is useful to have, with a variety of twist drills and spade drills (or points).

Shaping

While a rasp or files are useful, for most of the puppets included in this book a few grades of glass paper were sufficient. Large corners in wood can be removed with a saw, and glass-paper around a sanding block can be used to round off or smooth any uneven patches.

To hold items while shaping, drilling or other work on them, a vice with wooden jaws is desirable, either permanently attached to a workbench or one that can be clamped to any suitable work surface.

Please note the warning above about cutting foam rubber. The same issue applies to shaping it.

ADHESIVES

It is always a good idea to test any adhesive on a small, inconspicuous part of the surfaces or materials with which you plan to use it as some adhesives will eat into or dissolve certain materials. To improve adhesion on shiny surfaces, it may help to roughen them with glasspaper first.

Strong contact glues like UHU and Bostik are very useful as general, all-purpose adhesives, as is PVA or wood glue. Copydex or special fabric adhesive is often recommended for joining together pieces of cloth, but UHU and Bostik work well and quickly on many fabrics.

The term ‘foam rubber’ is used loosely to cover many types of sponge or foam packaging with different constituents that respond differently to certain adhesives. UHU or Bostik are often useful with such materials, but it is best to test it first as these adhesives will dissolve some foams. They also eat away at polystyrene, so try PVA as an alternative.

Adhesive tape is useful for some joints or making hinges (for example, elbows or knees); masking tape or duct tape is preferable to Sellotape, which is not recommended.

If a joint or attachment needs reinforcement, strong adhesive tape, or a fabric strip glued on, may serve the purpose but a few stitches with a strong thread and a large-eyed needle, such as a darning needle, may be helpful.

HEADS