What fabrics can I use to make a shadow puppet screen?

This is about screens not the puppets themselves. For info on the materials for the puppets, go here.

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.

I am trying to make a human-sized screen for a drama production. it doesnt need to be perfect, but does need to be ripped down easily. we’re trying to make it as cheap as possible, do you think a cotton-polyester blend would work? and if you have any ideas on how to construct it, advice would be welcome!

I got another question, which has basically the same response (just less detailed):

I am going to make a shadow puppet screen. Can I use cotton for the cloth? Other than bisilk, what other materials would work?

Cotton-polyester blend should work fine too, I think (I haven’t tried it, but so long as it is translucent enough to let the light through it should be ok). I think silk (or in my case, the cheaper bisilk) is recommended because it is a thinner fabric and lets the light through better than cotton/blends (which is thicker). Additionally, silk is of a softer texture, allowing the puppets to move over the fabric slightly easier. However, cotton/polyester should be a good substitute anyway.

Another idea is to find a clear or white shower curtain. Sounds silly, but it’s a very cheap, easy to replace, and commonly found item.

Other substitutes are a little more expensive: commonly I hear of puppeteers using plexiglass or similar clear plastics. If you get hold of a book on puppetry at your local library, there’s probably some more suggestions but off the top of my head I can’t think of anything more suitable than silk, cotton or shower curtains.

I recommend testing any fabric that would allow the light to pass through: that’s all you need really. Obviously anything in a white or very light colour would do, since that lets the light through the best. I’ve tried tracing paper, and though it’s not as good as bisilk, it still gets the job done. Often you don’t know which is better until you do some trial and error.

As for building something human-sized, you could get two tripod stands and a single bar (PVC piping or aluminium works well), and set the single bar horizontally ontop of the tripod stands. It’s hard to explain in words, so here’s an example.

Although the above product is used like a glove puppet booth, you could easily attach a piece of fabric to it with velcro or another method, and shine the light through it from behind. It may sound more expensive, but you have to remember that performers will be pressing *against* the screen (even I have trouble avoiding pushing against it!) and so the structure needs to be as sturdy as possible so it doesn’t topple over into the audience; it will definitely require some sort of brace at the back to prevent this from happening, or at least weighting of the bottom of the screen. A PVC piping or aluminium structure can easily be taken down through the use of extendable pieces or joints, and can be reused for other purposes. (PVC tends to be a lot cheaper than aluminium though)

On a side note, I actually experimented with a large, ’scrollable’ screen, which you can see in this time-lapse video. It doesn’t have a stand to keep it upright, but the basics is that the fabric is attached at either end to a cardboard tube. Each tube can then be slotted into place on a stand, such as two tripods or the upright legs of a chair (be careful though, you’d need to weight the bottoms of the stand, I found the scroll would warp or move without warning otherwise!).

If you can, get a hold of these excellent books which describe methods of building shadow puppet screens, materials, etc.:

Shadow Puppets & Shadow Play by David Currell

Puppets and Puppet Theatre by David Currell. You can find my review of the book here.

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