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You Can Make Puppet Costumes: A Free Ebook
There is a free ebook on the web entitled You can make puppet costumes. I have used this book for everything from muppet-type puppet costumes, to designing and making clothes for rod puppets. But you can use it to make clothes for every type of puppet, including marionettes, sock puppets, glove puppets… the whole magila.
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What fabrics can I use to make a shadow puppet screen?
I’ve been getting a couple of emails lately about the different types of fabrics used in shadow puppet screens. As in my tutorial [link to be added], I discuss predominantly using silk (or bisilk, which is cheaper). So I thought I’d post my responses here for everyone else to read too. This is probably the beginning of a new category of articles: ‘your questions answered’. I’ll not go out of my way to seek questions, but if you do email me, I might just put the answer here (which isn’t to say I’ll not reply to your email of course). Names and personal info removed/changed and posted with permission of the author. Questions are in block quotes, my response is below.
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Video: How to make a puppet stand
Different puppet types require different display/storage systems. A muppet-type puppet, sock or mouth puppet will require a stand - usually a vertical pole or piece of wood, housed in a heavy base. Some puppet makers even use microphone stands for their puppets! In this video, I show you how to make a stand for muppet-type puppets (or sock puppets). The video includes a list of materials and tools. The following will cost you about $15 in materials and take you less than 20 minutes to make.
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Free puppet theatre patterns
(Not to be confused with toy theatre)
Learn more about set design for puppetry, including lots of things to consider when building your sets.
I will be adding to this list as I find more patterns. Please note that these patterns come free courtesy of the credited people; please respect their wishes for creditation (if requested) if you publish the link elsewhere.
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How to make a puppet stage
Plenty of people do searches for puppet stages, but the thing is that there is no ‘one size fits all’ stage. (Actually, the term ‘puppet stage’ itself is odd, because in 20 years of doing theatre, I’ve never heard of anyone calling a set a ’stage’. Stage usually refers to the venue floor, not the set. So to me, this article is about set design, not ’stages’ and more than likely the incorrect terminology is from misinformation/uninformed general public.) It entirely depends on how you perform your show, and what your needs are. Since no two shows are alike, no two stages will be alike. Are there any rules to how you design your set and staging for puppet shows? No, not really. But there are some standards out there that you might want to use if you’re just starting out. First, be sure to go back and read the section on staging in the puppet design basics. That will help you figure out what considerations you need to keep in mind when building and designing your set.
You're welcome Hil!
... School of Puppetry on Where to find puppet makers in Australia?