Simple rods puppets from recycled materials
Jan 27th, 2006 by Hil
These are two simple rod puppets which were made by my son when he was about 8, at a workshop that I was involved with.
The materials were recycled bits and pieces. The basic pattern was a plastic bottle for a body; a stuffed sock for the head; cardboard tubes running through the bottle neck for the neck, and for holding the puppet from below; strips of foam for the arms; wire rods for manipulating arms and hands; and odds and ends of fabric and other things (glitter, eyes, bobbles, straws, paper, offcuts of leather, ribbons and cord, and so on) for features and decoration.
The main preparation for the workshop, apart from collecting all the materials, was making the rods, though they were simple enough. They were a strong wire (it must not bend too readily), cut to size, straightened, anchored in a length of dowel at one end, and bent or hooked (so that could be poked into the foam at the wrist) at the other end. To fix the wire in the dowel, drill a hole down the centre of the dowel that the wire will fit in tightly, and then make a tiny bend in the wire a centimetre or so from the end before pushing it it. For this purpose the bend is enough of a barb to keep the wire in.
Craft glue was used to attach fabrics and foam, but we had a nifty way (I still think it’s nifty!) for the kids to attach the arms to the body: cut a X about 3 cm across into the plastic and just push the foam through. Again, the tension and points of plastic are enough to secure the foam. The elbows and wrists are made just with string tied tightly around the foam, but they are surprisingly effective.
I think the most important aspect when doing this kind of workshop (after providing basic ideas, materials, and help) is to leave the rest to the imagination of the makers, so that other ideas in construction, features, characters and the stories that inevitably emerge with them, are welcome and valued.
Oh, thanks for that Hil! Excellently useful! Haven’t tried a rod pupet yet and was wondering about the wire for arm manipulation. Funny you mention the creativity aspect for the kids. I’ve made up kits for my next workshop and fine, the kids will end up with a smart looking product - but all the same. Not really the name of the game, is it? Unless you’re making the robot army from hell of course. These ones have tiny see through bottle bodies and I’m going to have the kids stuff them with old candy wrappers (it’s an eco project). That’ll give them a tiny bit variety, but not enough scope to develop character. Will keep that in mind in future.
I’m sure the kids will love their puppets, Sally. And it will likely also give some of them the idea of making different ones at home once they know the process. Planting seeds…
BTW, in one of your posts you were talking about the strings on marionettes? (I can’t find it now!). One way to stop them tangling when storing them is to hold up the puppet so the strings are hanging normally, and then to spin the puppet gently so the strings twist. Then you put the puppet in a bag or box. It sounds dreadful, but it works, and it was a revelation to me when I first tried it.
Thanks a million for that! I have to set up a display of all these puppets and the vision of having to untangling 33 lots of strings was giving me the willies. Was going to leave the legs unstrung to make it simpler but like the sound of your tip a lot better.