· Making · Puppets
How a shadow puppet is made
From a pencil sketch to a fox that turns its head: the six steps every puppet goes through on our workbench.
Every puppet on our screen starts on the same workbench, under the same lamp.
Draw it as a shadow
We draw in black only: no faces, no colours, just the outline. If you can’t tell what it is from the outline, it won’t work on the screen.
Cut the lace
The fine holes, feathers in a wing or windows in a house, are cut with a craft knife. A fox takes about four hours.
Pin the joints
Brass split pins make the joints. Too tight and the puppet can’t move, too loose and the head falls off mid-scene.
Add the rods
Thin wooden rods, glued and taped where the puppeteer’s hand will be. Then it goes on the screen for the first time, and usually back on the bench.