How much does a puppet cost?

When people go out to buy a puppet, they often ask this question. There’s no ‘price guide’ to puppetry, and being a smart consumer and knowing how much is too much to pay is quite difficult. There are a number of reasons why this is, and from the information below you’ll see that there’s no right answer. We start with a myth, and then I’ll explain in detail what factors puppeteers use to determine prices.

Puppets aren’t cheap

Most people assume that because they can grab a sock and some buttons from a drawer that puppets are cheap and easy to make. Or that because your average Folkmanis puppet costs $30, that all puppets should or will cost the same. There are three problems with this thought: one is that yes, you can make puppets cheaply, but the puppets made by professionals are made for durability which means that cheap materials are usually avoided. The second is that of course, puppeteers also provide a lot of products that are in the ‘affordable’ range specifically because the average person can’t afford the high-end puppets. The third is that most puppeteers don’t have access to a factory, which can knock out puppets fast and cheap (I’ll get more into this later on).

So already we run into problems of defining costs. The affordably-priced puppets are usually things you can use with kids, or things for hobbyists, or things that are small and easy to use. But once we get past that stuff and look towards the ventriloquist dummies, the muppet-type puppets and the marionettes (not to mention all the other puppet types), things get expensive.

Mary Robinette Kowal, an American puppeteer, wrote about her experience in trying to explain the cost of a puppet. Her story is an ideal example of why things are not cheap; it’s not materials you’ll be paying for, but labour. You see, in order to make something that works on stage, every time, for a long time, that looks good even under TV cameras, that’s easy to use, and so on… well, one must spend a lot of time working on the details. If you think about it, a puppeteer must research ideas, develop sketches, scout for materials, work out problem mechanics, build the thing, test it, fix problems, and you’re doing 99% of the work by hand. This is why the myth about the sock from your drawer is so true: of course the materials are cheap! But you don’t pay a puppeteer for their materials really, you pay them for their skill. Think about it. If it were that easy to make a good-looking sock puppet, why are you looking to buy a professionally-made one? My guess is it’s because your skills aren’t as good as the professionals.

The venn diagram of ‘good/cheap/fast’ and why it’s wrong to expect all three. Graphic courtesy of and with permission from, Colin Harman.

Good, cheap or fast?

A common complaint amongst artists of any field is that customers often want something unrealistic. That is, they want something good, cheap and fast. As many have pointed out over the years, the truth is that expecting all three is for the artist, an extremely difficult balancing act and extremely unlikely to achieve. If you compromise on any one of these things, high quality products go out the window. Want it fast? You’ll be compromising on durability or the quality of aesthetics. Want it cheap? You’ll be compromising on the amount of labour or time that goes into making a puppet, or the materials, and again, quality will dip. Want it good? Well, be prepared to spend the dough and time that’s necessary. We puppeteers aren’t out to strip you of your money, and by far, it’s the other way around. As a customer, please respect the fact that we are charging you - and probably low-balling it anyway - only for what we need. Folkmanis can provide cheap puppets usually because they’re paying extremely small labour rates, in countries that don’t have reasonable living conditions. And in order to compete, we puppeteers lowball our prices and end up cheating ourselves even before you contact us. You get what you pay for. So think, before you spend.

Puppets don’t have a set price

As with the rest of puppetry, the only limit is your imagination. And because you can make a puppet trillions of different ways [link to be added], there’s no easy way to price things. This is why puppet makers will provide quotes for commissions. So with that in mind, a puppet could cost anywhere between $20 to thousands. Here’s what puppet makers use to determine their prices:

• Size - A small puppet needs less material than larger ones
• Materials - Want antron fleece for your puppet? Well, that costs a lot more than buying regular fleece. Antron fleece (used for muppet-types) is harder to find and more expensive to buy, than something that can be picked up at your local fabrics store. The more expensive the materials, the higher the cost
• Type of puppet - a hand-carved wooden marionette will require a lot more work and material than a small finger puppet made out of felt. I’ve seen puppeteers all over the net/world selling small, fun puppets, because they are easier to ship and can be bought from $5 to $15; alternatively, other puppet makers sell larger muppet-types and marionettes, which can cost several hundred dollars
• Skill involved in building - Additionally, muppet-type puppets and marionettes require a lot more skill and knowledge of a wider range of building techniques than is needed for finger puppets or sock puppets. Each type of puppet has its own particular techniques and quirks, and the more skill needed to make the puppet, the more complex it is. Complexity will mean a lot more labour and time going into the building process, which will of course, influence the cost of the puppet
• Labour and time spent - no explanation needed, although actually yes, some is needed. Because most people genuinely don’t realise that making puppets on a professional level takes a lot of time. For instance, the simplest shadow puppet that I make takes at least 4-5 hours of meticulous building - not including drying time for painting rods. Most muppet-type puppets can take several months to make; fast puppet makers could ‘knock’ one out in less time, but quality-wise it may not be the same. Factory-made items, like Folkmanis, are cheaper because they can cut back on labour.

This is just some of the factors used to calculate cost of making a puppet, and if you’re buying an already-made puppet from someone, then you will have a set price which will reflect the above considerations. (This post doesn’t go into collectible or antique puppets… though some of the above may apply)

If you are commissioning a puppet maker, then you should think about the above. If you are unsure of how much you think the puppet will cost to make, then have a puppet maker give you a basic quote - they will have experience on how much the puppet should cost to make, although it should be noted that different puppet makers might have different quotes. That is because each one will factor labour and time spent differently, as well as the cost of materials which might differ in their area.

Additionally, you can always set the puppet maker a budget if you prefer - some puppet makers might not be accommodating to this, since a small budget may be too small to create something to a high standard, others may be extremely interested. Puppet makers may also be willing to negotiate if you are commissioning them.

As you can see, the price of a puppet really is hard to define, so your best bet is to do some price comparisons before buying or commissioning - and then figuring out what you’d be happy to pay. Want to know how to commission a puppet maker and where to find them? The answer is here.

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