(No, this will not help you make your halloween costume… this about the craft of actual puppets, not costumes for humans)

13 Oct 2010: This tutorial will soon be migrating to School of Puppetry, where it will be updated with video examples of each step. As each part of the new tutorial will be released bit-by-bit, I recommend you subscribe to be notified of these updates.

You will likely never find patterns, diagrams and instructions for a wooden marionette online (see more about this myth), but hopefully my tutorial will help you learn the basics of marionette building.

Because marionettes can be complicated to the novice puppeteer or puppet maker, I suggest that you start with either: a rod puppet and then move up to a marionette; OR a marionette kit, which can be found at numerous puppet sellers or offered by independent puppet makers. A kit is definitely the best way to go if you’re planning on making a marionette with a child or are new to the building techniques discussed below. But if you are ready to tackle these puppets, then the following should help.

Firstly, I want to state that I’m very new to marionettes (compared to the other types of puppets), so the following (below) is given as an introduction to making a marionette, rather than a tutorial as such. If you would like to create a marionette, from scratch and professionally, then I suggest investing in the book pictured below. I have this book in my personal library, and already I am learning so much about these types of puppets. It also helped me make my first marionette - which is a ‘trick’ puppet - with ease and clarity. The book includes explanations of marionette types (Italian, Asian, etc.), as well as provides information on materials and different building techniques, describes the different controls, and also includes instructions for making trick marionettes, animals and humans. It is well worth the investment. Additionally, you can find my list of free marionette patterns here. Read about the types of materials needed to make marionettes. Learn how to untangle the strings here. Read about the myth of marionettes. How to string a marionette is discussed here.

by David Currell

Make a simple teddy bear marionette

Because marionettes can be as complex or as simple as you want to make them, I offer up this simple tutorial to make a teddy bear marionette. It will be much simpler than the one in the picture above, and is only really to help you learn the basics of marionette design. Later you can go on to making proper marionettes from scratch, with the help of the aforementioned book, or another resource.  (More photos will be added to help you through the process)

You will need the following:

• A teddy bear. Find one that is at a minimum 10cm (4 inches) big. Get one from a $2 shop or your local craft store. It doesn’t have to be a good one, this is just to help you learn the basics of marionettes.
• Some long pieces of dowel. Preferably thick enough to be comfortable in your hand, as this will make up your control.
• Some strong thread. Get upholsterer’s thread, which is very strong and durable.
• A sturdy needle
• Four or five screw eyes. They can be found in most wall-hanging kits or at a hardware store.
• A handsaw
• Two large hooks (the screw in kind). You can alternatively take a couple of screw eyes and open them out into hook shapes. They will have to accommodate the diameter of the dowel, so be sure they are big enough
• Optional: a nail

Step One

Take your teddy bear, and carefully unstitch the head from the body. If you have a furry teddy bear, rather than a calico one like the above picture, then get a scalpel or box cutter and carefully cut the head off the body. (Don’t worry, you’ll be sewing the head back on later)

Once you have removed the head, carefully remove the filling from the inside of the body. You need to have access to the inside of the bottom of the teddy bear.

Next, take your thread and needle, and sew it to the centre of the bear’s butt. (DON’T CUT THE THREAD to size just yet) The knot should be on the inside of the bear, and the thread, once sewn, should also run along the inside of the body. This thread will come out the top of the bear’s head later, so it’s important to sew it correctly.

Put all the stuffing back into the bear’s body, making sure the thread runs through the centre and out through the neck. Stand the teddy bear up if you can; lift it up by the thread, and make sure the feet are comfortably touching the floor. Keep the bear that high, and see how long the thread is - cut it to size. The thread will go on the control, so make sure the thread will be at a comfortable height for you to hold (this will depend on how tall you are). You will need to make sure there is extra, just in case you make a mistake, as well as enough to attach to the control.

Step Two

Take the end of the thread (that’s attached to the body), and sew it up through the inside of the bear’s head. You may need to remove the stuffing and replace it, as you did with the body, to make it easier to see what you are doing. The thread should now run right through from the bear’s bottom, up through the body, through the neck, through the head, and out of the top of the head. At this point, you can reattach the bear’s head to its body; just don’t do anything else with the thread coming out of its head just yet.

Step Three

Now’s the time to start making the control. Take your dowel, and cut two pieces. We’re going to make an ‘upright’ control, so the pieces should be about 5cm (2 inches) long each. Take one piece and lie it on top of the other. You should make a cross, with the top dowel high up on the other (imagine Christ’s cross and you’ve got the same basic idea). You can either nail the two pieces together, or you can wrap the two pieces together with the thread. You can wrap them by simply running a piece of long thread up and over, and around where the two pieces overlap, continually, until the two pieces are held together tight. This probably isn’t very durable, but it is simple. You will need to make sure, whatever you do, that the dowel pieces don’t come apart very easily. (Click on the image at right for a larger view of the diagram)

Step Four

Take your wooden cross and attach a screw eye to the bottom of the vertical dowel. Take another screw eye, and attach it lower down on the vertical dowel, just below where the two dowel pieces join. Take the thread running from the head of the teddy bear, and string it through the bottom screw eye, and then through the top screw eye. Tie it off to that top screw eye.

You should now be able to hold the control at a comfortable height, with the teddy bear’s feet touching the floor. If the feet are dragging, the control needs to be higher or the string needs to be tightened. If the feet are off the floor, the control needs to be lower, or the string needs to be loosened. You may want to create a gallows to make the stringing easier, or you can hang the control off a door handle or table ledge, and position the teddy bear beneath; using either of these methods will help you get the height/tightness of the strings correct. Hang the marionette from the gallows/door/wherever whenever you attach a string to the control.

Step Five

Ok, so now the head is attached. Time to do the feet. Take your spool of thread, and sew one end to the top of the foot, at the toes. You may want to, instead, sew it to the bottom of the foot, and run the thread up through the foot and out the top of it. Either way, don’t cut the thread to size before sewing it to the foot. Once it is sewn, run the thread up to the control, and cut it to size; be sure to keep extra for mistakes and for attaching to the control. Do the same for the other foot. Be sure to keep the strings separate, as they will get tangled easily.

Now go back to your control. Attach a screw eye to each side of the horizontal dowel. Take the thread for the left foot, and run it up to the corresponding screw eye (left foot = left screw eye, etc.), and tie it off to the screw eye. Hold up the control to double check your work. If you hold the control at a comfortable height, with the teddy bear’s feet just touching the floor, you can now ‘walk’ the puppet. By tilting the control slightly from side to side (the horizontal bar should tilt down slightly to the left, and then tilt the horizontal bar slightly to the right), you should be able to give the marionette a bit of swing. This is necessary to make the puppet ‘walk’, as the swing helps facilitate the walking motion. If you instead, simply walk forward holding the marionette control in your hand, you will find the puppet itself does not walk, but rather drags.

(If you like, you don’t have to use the screw eyes on the horizontal bar; you can cut a rounded groove into each side of the bar, and then wind the ends of the threads onto those grooves. Be sure to sand the grooves if you do this.)

Step Six

The feet are done - now to do the hands. Using the same basic concepts as in Step Five, sew a new thread to one of the hands, at the ‘fingers’. Again, don’t cut the thread to size until you have sewn it to the hand. Do the same for the other hand, making sure to keep the strings untangled.

Step Seven

Now cut a new piece of dowel - this should be the same length as the other pieces. Attach a screw eye to each end of the dowel; alternatively, use the method of creating grooves as stated above. Go your control, and get the two large hooks. Screw one hook on each side of the horizontal bar of the control. You will want to screw them in closer to the center of the bar than the screw eyes. Rest the new piece of dowel in the hooks. This new piece of dowel will make up the part of the control that operates the hands.

Step Eight

Take each string and attach it to the corresponding screw eye on the new piece of dowel (ie. left hand = left screw eye). Make sure not to attach them to the wooden cross, or attach the new piece of dowel to the cross - just rest that new piece in the hooks.

Take the marionette for a test drive when you are done. The hands should rest comfortably at each side of the teddy bear, not sticking out like a zombie, nor up in the air. Pick up the new piece of dowel from the hooks, while hold the cross comfortably in your other hand. Tilt the new dowel to one side, or the other; raise it up; lower it. You will now have all sorts of hand movements for the teddy bear to do.

Step Nine

You can now practice with your very own teddy bear marionette! Make modifications if you need to, give the teddy bear some decorations or accessories… it’s all done! Be sure to hang the marionette somewhere when not in use, otherwise the strings will tangle.

If you’re stuck on the above steps, or want some other advice on making marionettes, please leave a comment.

AKA How to make a string puppet, AKA making puppets with strings, AKA how to make marionettes puppets, AKA how to make a puppet on a string