So you wanna put your hand where the sun don’t shine?

What’s the job?
It wasn’t that long ago that all a puppet-maker had to do was stitch a couple of pieces of furry felt together, put their hand up the hole, wiggle it about, and hey presto! Instant Sooty! These days of course, they’ve made it much more technical and difficult and people aren’t happy unless a puppet can sing, dance, rotate its eyes, and produce flashing lights from its nether regions. We blame Jim Henson.

Jim Henson? Who's he?
Are you kidding? Have you never watched Sesame Street? The Muppet Show? Fraggle Rock? The Storyteller? They’re all the brainchildren of Jim Henson, probably the world’s most inventive puppeteer, and the man responsible for taking puppeteering to unheard of heights in the movie The Dark Crystal.

Why? What was so special about ‘The Dark Crystal’?
It was only the world’s first ever all-creature animatronics feature film, that’s all! Whoopee! So What Is This ‘Animatronics’? ‘Creature Shop’, the puppet laboratory founded by Jim Henson in London and Los Angeles before his sad death in 1990, describes animatronics as ‘the art of bringing inanimate objects to life through computer technology, cable control, remote control and hand puppetry’ (see Links). The work carried out here has completely revolutionised the way puppets are perceived and used in modern television, film, and indeed theatre productions. No longer can a puppet maker get away with pulling out a talking sock, or a lump of wood with a big nose. These days, budding Gepettos need to master any number of disciplines before they can make a living in this particular sector of the industry.

Ok, hit me with it. What skills does a modern puppet-maker need?
Well, you saw our H is for Hand Puppet programme didn’t you? Were you paying attention to everything Mark and Andy from Masquerade were telling you? Ok, let’s recap…

Those skills in full
According to Mark, there’s a broad skill base you’ll need to develop in order to become a top-hole Puppet Maker, including: basic art skills – the ability to conceptualise and sketch an idea on paper; sculpt in different mediums, including clay, plasticine and foam; mould making; basic mechanical skills; research skills; and, most importantly: practice, practice, practice.

Where do I start?
At the bottom, like everyone else! Before you start trying to throw together your own Captain Gookin, take our advice: learn your trade from the bottom up. You’ll need to know how to make Paper Plate Puppets, Toilet Roll Holder Puppets, Sock Puppets, and Wooden Spoon Puppets, before you go anywhere near animatronics. In fact, we suggest that you should go to the following BBC site (see Links) for some top tips on 1st-base puppet making (it includes priceless advice on ‘Drawing a face on a bag and making a puppet’).