How to make a puppet

 

Topic : How to make a puppet

In this essay report writing, I will describe how to make a puppet. There are various types of puppets; namely; hand puppet, Shadow Puppet Theater, sock puppet, marionettes and many more. Specifically, the puppet that I m describing is the Shadow puppet. The materials and equipments used to make the shadow puppet theater are; A fairly strong large cardboard box, A dowel rod as long as the box, Masking tape, A piece of grease proof paper (as big as the largest side of the box), Black sugar paper, Sellotape, Craft knife and Scissors.

The first stage is to make the shadow puppet theater by cutting off the top and one side of the box. Make sure the box is freely enough to support the puppets in the theater. 2. From centre section cut a hole for the screen. Leave at least a 10cm – 15 cm border on each edge. So that It makes a rectangle shape screen. This will require the use of craft knife under supervision. Cut a screen from a single sheet of tracing paper, muslin, or strong white translucent paper, which will overlap the hole by 5cm on each edge. Fasten the screen over the inside of the hole using masking tape. Make sure the screen is taught and does not sag. This will help the screen from losing when the theater is in process. Then Attach the dowel rod to the inside top of the front section to strengthen the theatre. Use masking tape or sellotape. Or make the rod to have a rectangle shape surrounding the box itself to provide better support for the box.

Next is the method of making the shadow puppets (which is the puppet character). The materials and equipments used in this experiment are Drawing paper, Tracing paper, 'poster board' card (any colors depending on individual), Dowel, Paper fasteners ('rivet type'), Adhesive Velcro. . Design the puppet first on paper. Remember it will be viewed from the side. It must be the right size to fit the theatre. Make sure the parts which are to be jointed overlap. Then Transfer the design onto tracing paper. Transfer the design from the tracing paper to the card. Carefully cut out the parts of the puppet with scissors. To make the joints make a small hole in each piece of card and join with a paper fastener. For control from behind: use two pieces of dowel (30 - 45cm in length), one attached to upper body, the other to the hand or elbow. This can be attached to the puppet with Velcro. This will allow the rods to be transferred easily between puppets. You will need to practice who should control which puppets and which side of the theatre they will work them from to avoid confusion when performing.

From the instructions and procedures above, It will help to make puppet much easier and self-decorate.

 

Done by: Magson Anak Manggau (EP/24/039/08)

GROUP two