| Canberra Region Feltmakers |
Something Quirky ..... The Last Word |
For inspiration:
Below you will find a selection of websites and videos about puppets, their history, puppet makers, design ideas and performance possibilities... browse and view items that catch your interest... then work out how you might be inspired by, and adapt, the approach as a feltmaker.
You can also find more ideas by browsing the 'Quirky Inspiration' board on CRF's Pinterest site.
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| Types of puppets This website, The Drama Teacher, includes a collection of informative and interesting videos of puppets and interviews with puppet makers and puppeteers. You can also find information about puppets from the online Encyclopaedia Britannica. Note that much of the information on this page about puppet types has been drawn from this source. For some really simple puppet making ideas that you might be able to ingeniously adapt to the felt-making world have a look at this site |
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Hand or Glove Puppets
Glove puppets have a hollow cloth body that fits over the manipulator’s hand. Fingers fit into the head and the arms and give them motion. The figure is seen from the waist upward, and there are normally no legs.
Jennie has found a very useful website that shows how to make a glove puppet. You can see her and her friend Snip Snap in the video to the left. Snoofs of the world provides you with inspiration, information, patterns to download and instructions on how to make the tricker parts of a combination glove and rod puppet. |
Pinterest can lead you down myriad rabbit holes for ideas on glove and hand puppets. Here is one site that you might start from:
https://www.pinterest.com.au/pdeuber/hand-puppets/ Norwich Puppet Theatre have produced many videos on how to make and use simple puppets. Their instructions on how to make a sock puppet are to the right. How might you adapt these ideas if you were to use a resist to make the head and body instead of a sock? Note that a sock puppet can also have rod puppet techniques added to the design if you include arms, or a tail, or antenna.... |
Rod Puppets
Rod puppets are also manipulated from below, but they are full-length, supported by a rod running inside the body to the head. Separate thin rods may move the hands and, if necessary, the legs. The hand-rod puppet is a modification where the hand passes inside the puppet's body to grasp a short rod to the head, the arms being manipulated by rods in the usual way. An advantage of this technique is that it permits bending of the body. Norwich puppet theatre has a series of videos on how to make rod puppets - processes shown could be adapted to include felt making techniques. |
Spare Parts Puppet Theatre (an Australian company) gives a one minute overview of rod puppets. Another Australian company, Handspan Theatre, was one of the theatre companies in the 80’s that inspired Lynn as a theatre maker with their innovative and creative approach, pushing the boundaries between scripted theatre, puppetry and object theatre. Their work may well still be considered avant garde. To see some of their achievements go to the website that outlines the history of the company. Get ready for more rabbit holes - you can find a set of inspiring photographs and links to videos of rod puppets in action on this site. |
Marionettes
Marionettes are full-length figures controlled from above. Normally they are moved by strings or threads, leading from the limbs to a control held by the manipulator. Movement is imparted to a large extent by tilting or rocking the control, but individual strings are plucked when a decided movement is required. The Scarf marionette is one of the easiest to make - either with three strings (as in the video to the right) or with five strings. The two videos below show different ways to construct a marionette. |
Shadow Puppets
These are a special type of flat figure, in which the shadow is seen through a translucent screen. They may be cut from leather or some other opaque material, as in the traditional theatres of Java, Bali, and Thailand; or they may be cut from coloured fish skins or some other translucent material, as in the traditional theatres of China, India, Turkey, and Greece.
They may be operated by rods from below, as in the Javanese theatres; by rods held at right angles to the screen, as in the Chinese and Greek theatres; or by threads concealed behind the figures, as in the ombres chinoises and in its successor that came to be known as the English galanty show. Shadow figures need not be limited to two dimensions; rounded figures may also be used effectively. The most interesting of these are the Japanese bunraku puppets.
Below are two videos about shadow puppets. These are for inspiration on how puppets might be made and used - not as a model to replicate out of felt as we need to be aware of cultural appropriation in the creation of our work.
Object Theatre
Object theatre uses everyday objects rather than puppets to create a story. Some example of object theatre are in the videos below. What 'everyday' felted items might work in performance with an actor bringing them to life to endow them with personality and character?
Some more videos to enjoy (and be inspired by) the magic of puppetry |