What are caricature puppets?
Caricature puppets are usually muppet-types, glove puppets or marionettes, which are designed and made to look like a real person - someone you know or yourself, for instance. In fact, they can be any puppet type.
Caricature puppets (or portrait puppets) are usually made as presents, and are commissioned puppets - you won’t find them in stores. That is because not everyone looks like you, or your friend, or family member, and so they must, by nature, be commissioned.
David Tennant as Dr Who puppet made by (and photo with permission of) Dr Puppet
Because of the highly personal nature of the puppet designs, they can be very difficult to make. It’s along the lines of doing a portrait in oils; it requires a certain skill to capture the essence of a personality, as well as to recreate the person’s features, shapes, and colourings. On top of that, you are transposing to puppet materials, which is all the more difficult.
Caricature puppets are definitely not something you should start out making, but if you’ve gotten a handle on the basic concepts of puppet design and building, you can always give it a go and see how you fare. - Don’t forget, there’s a reason why they call it ‘caricature’. It’s because human puppets always look slightly cartoonish. Instead of trying to avoid that fact, embrace it.
If you want someone to make you a caricature puppet, contact your local UNIMA branch, which will have a list of puppet makers in your area.
Want more? Help build a puppet!