A while ago I was contacted by the Reach Out Mental Health Organisation to run a puppetry class for them. The organisation works with those who suffer from mental illnesses and provides a range of programs - including crafts and arts - to help their clients lead a full and active life. They’d never done puppetry before, but came across my site and thought it would be good to try. 

The initial plan was, and still is, to run a series of workshops next year as part of their Youth Week activities; but I was also offered the chance to do a short one-off class in December. Naturally, I was very keen to be involved. 

So yesterday was the day of the class and it went really well. Reach Out have this really awesome arts and crafts centre, which is a hub of activity. It’s a fairly large house, with an office, private rooms, a big kitchen/gathering space, and a small shed/granny flat thing which acts as the painting room. The org. also does movie nights and music classes, so it’s a serious set up. We gathered in the kitchen/lounge area, pictured to the right.

You can find more pictures here of what was created; I have more pics, but haven’t put them all up on the net (mainly because I’m not sure how many people would be comfortable with the idea of their faces being on the net).

The people ranged in age, with mostly people in their 20s and 30s, and a few seniors in there too. There were about 12 or 13 people. I brought some of my puppets and spent maybe 30 minutes discussing some history and background of each type of puppet - bunraku, finger, glove, shadow and muppet. I passed around all the puppets so everyone could take a look and a play. Luckily, the monster puppet I made for my pattern doesn’t have the head actually attached to the neck and body, so I brought it with me to help show how the moppets are constructed (everyone seemed more taken with the moppets than anything else, and if we’d had more time I would have loved doing moppets with them too).

Then we moved on to building. I brought some worksheets with me that explained all of the stuff that I’d discussed in terms of history, as well as the patterns for the finger/glove puppets and some instructions on how to make them. (Everyone took their booklets and patterns home.) People chose which one to make, and I took them through the building; very basic stuff. We cut out the patterns from the booklets provided, then used them to cut out two pieces of felt in the same shape. Then they glued the pieces together (I put a blue dotted line on the patterns to show where to glue) and then decorated them. The mental health org. provided all the materials and tools, and there were all sorts of great things to use, from furs and fabrics, lace and felt, to beads, sequins, small googly eyes, etc (I provided them a list of possible materials, but it looks like they had a lot of the stuff already because of the other craft classes they do). I tried to walk around the room and check how people were going, give them help when they needed it, etc etc.

One woman, who made a penguin finger puppet, remarked to one of the org’s helpers that she thought she was coming to see a puppet show. The helper replied no, and the woman replied that it was ok, cause this was just as much fun. I’m really glad, because she had some difficulty making things with her hands (like she had arthritis) and got a little bit of help with one of the other participants.

One of the younger women tried a glove puppet, and cut out the pattern incorrectly - she added her own arms at the sides of the puppet, not realising there were arms already. I explained to her that she could remove the extra bits, but she liked it. So I told her that was cool, and to keep going and she could make a puppet out of it; that there’s no wrong or right way to make a puppet. She ended up making a fantastic puppet with feathers and felt facial features (no pic provided, sorry) and seemed really happy with the results.

Another young woman made a finger puppet (the orange and green-striped one, pictured at Flickr), and when I commented on how I liked the stripes, she told me it was a puppet of her dad. Apparently her dad’s mum used to make him jumpers that were orange with green stripes, and so she made the puppet of him. She then asked me if she could make more (and of course, I said yes, because there was still an hour left of the class) and she made one of her mum and another family member - possibly a sibling, I can’t remember.

The helper also made a great finger puppet, a girl in the 50s, with a gigham skirt, googly eyes, white bead earrings and pink wool hair. She had a lot of fun. Another young woman made a dancer (pictured below, with purple skirt), and had a lot of fun imagining everyone driving home with finger puppets in the windscreen.

A couple of the younger guys built some finger puppets really quickly, but seemed to be a bit bored; that’s ok, puppets aren’t for everyone. They spent the last hour or so sitting and chatting. I asked them (politely of course!) if they wanted to make another one, or try the glove puppet, but they were happy just chilling, so I left them to it.

There were more puppets going on, but these are the ones I wanted to touch on because they really show how people were getting into it and expressing themselves. There’s one more story:

When showing my ice scream finger puppet (the one on sale at my Shop) to the group as an example of how finger puppets can be quite complex if you want them to (I also had a simpler version, made out of fabric, and another of felt). The girl who made the puppet of her dad remarked that she’d like to make one like that during the class. I kind of had to apologise and say it was a little too complicated to do now, but if she wanted me to explain it to her and she could try, she was welcome to do it. She didn’t quite seem interested after that, and moved on to making the simple felt finger puppet.

When we got to the building part of the class, one of the seniors asked me if she could try the ice cream, if I explained to her how to do it - she seemed very craft capable. (I should mention: I don’t mean to sound so discriminating. I was happy to provide help to the younger girl, but was concerned about time… ok, and I’ll admit here to a little bit of wanting to keep the design to myself. But I’m not that much of a scrooge and would hand it over if asked politely… The younger girl didn’t seem to mind too much about making the ice cream puppet and was just as happy to make the one provided) The senior made this wonderful version: white fleece for the cone, felt balls for the ice cream and some pillow stuffing inside. The pillow stuffing kind of poured out of the top of the cone too, which made it look like white fairy floss (cotton candy to Americans). The woman gave the puppet to the young girl as a gift, because she wanted the ice cream finger puppet so much. I think that’s so sweet! The senior remarked that it wasn’t as good as mine; I replied that it was better than mine, because it was made from the heart. (This senior also got so taken with the monster moppet that she’s now ordering the pattern for it!!)

People kind of left in small groups towards the end, and I didn’t quite have a chance to say goodbye properly to some - I was busy helping someone with their puppet - but everyone seemed to be happy with their puppets and had a lot of fun. People thanked me as they left, which was such a nice thing for me because of it being my first ever class that I’ve been commissioned to do. It’s pretty neat, and I’m really looking forward to next year’s set of workshops.

I get really nervous in terms of public speaking - I always used to say if I wanted to be seen I would have been an actress and not a techie - but I had psyched myself up for it and everything went really well. From the minute I walked into the centre I didn’t stop and the whole thing was over so quickly! But I had a lot of fun, and it was really wonderful watching everyone put so much work and expression into their puppets. It was very rewarding, and has given me a lot of confidence in terms of realising that I really can teach puppetry now - even though I’m still a mere novice in the scheme of things. It was also great to do something where puppetry isn’t just about entertainment, but about helping people improve their lives.