This is not so much a tutorial or explanation, but a true, honest-to-goodness question. Why do so many of you out there in internet land want free puppet patterns?

My thoughts are this:

• You want a free pattern because, like all people, you prefer saving money than spending it
• You want a free pattern because you think it will save you time and help you learn a craft where perhaps it may be difficult or costly to learn otherwise
• You want a free pattern because you think puppet building is complex and difficult, and that a free pattern offers you easy and quick insight into the building process (ie. easier and quicker than reading a book or going to a class)
• You want a free pattern because you’re not sure exactly what the outcome will be and would rather not outlay money on something which might not work out (ie. like getting a free sample at the supermarket; try before you buy)

I’m going to dispel ten eleven myths surrounding free puppet patterns.

MYTH: I was going to leave this for last, because many of the other myths are important to understanding this one. However, this myth is also probably the most important to understand, above all the others. It is a myth that all or most free patterns are provided by experienced or professional puppet makers. There is NO SUCH THING AS A "FREE PROFESSIONAL PUPPET PATTERN" or "professional puppet free patterns".

FACT: Let me say that again: most free patterns seem to be provided by mothers, teachers, or other craftspeople because puppet making is fun for parents, teachers and kids. All or most of the free patterns I’ve found have not come from what I would define as experienced puppet makers or professionals (what’s the definition: a puppet making site, puppetry company’s site, someone who is actively participating on some level in puppetry). This means that the below myth (the one directly under this) is even more true. This isn’t to say that the patterns are useless, or not worth trying: there are great patterns out there by and for those with limited puppet building skills. All I mean to say is that if a majority of them aren’t provided by experienced puppet makers, don’t expect those patterns to be of a professional quality or the resulting puppet to be of professional quality…. Now read on for some clues as to why this myth is so important to know.

MYTH: A free puppet pattern will give you the opportunity to make a puppet and have it come out looking like a professional made it.

FACT: The point of using free patterns is to develop your skills and/or confidence until you can understand enough, or want to do puppetry enough, to move on to bought patterns, books or classes. But a freebie won’t necessarily get you a professional-looking puppet. In fact, my guess is that you’re looking for freebies because you’re new, and if you’re new, you need to build your skills before getting it to look like something coming out of the Henson workshop; trust me, no one makes a puppet the first time round and gets it looking like that. There’s a reason why puppetry is a highly-skilled craft.

MYTH: A free pattern will have good quality instructions and will have step-by-step explanations that are easy to understand for first-timers.

FACT: Many free patterns go to certain lengths to explain the steps. However, a lot don’t have cut-and-use actual patterns, but rather text instructions. Many don’t have pictures. There are many reasons for this, some of which is that it is time consuming to offer both text and imagery; some of which has to do with keeping certain techniques ‘in the family’; some of which have to do with encouraging you to buy products. That’s not a bad thing; but again, don’t expect professional results with poorly described patterns. (It should be made clear here, and for the following, that there are some excellent free patterns out there, as well as tutorials and videos; and that obviously includes some of my own . However, not all are like that)

MYTH: That you’re saving money using this free pattern.

FACT: Like with all crafts, you must do a certain amount of research to find what you need and to learn, even just by finding those patterns. My first few puppets are experimental, and I can tell you I spent many hours working on them. I am constantly learning, and those in the business don’t stop learning. There are zillions of techniques, materials, ideas, characters, etc. If you’re serious about learning how to make puppets, then you should do serious things. By all means, use the freebies to start off with, but you’re going to eventually need to invest money into classes and books. There are some excellent guides to be had, and even a few free books out there too. And there’s nothing better than having a teacher who can answer questions as you think of them, or solve problems immediately. As well as this - and this is discussed more below - there are an infinite number of ways to make a puppet, and modifying a free pattern may cost you more in time, energy and materials than you might have spent had you just paid for a pattern that suits your needs.

MYTH: That puppet building is complex and difficult.

FACT: Yes, some puppets are hard to make and can take a while to understand. I guess people see The Muppets and because they can’t see the inner workings of mouth movements and construction, they think it is rocket science. The truth is I bought a book and in one month had made my first muppet-type puppet (granted, I was making three at once, but the first was finished in a month; perhaps a total of one week’s worth of work). Had I used a free pattern, I wouldn’t know half the things I learned in that month, and could have taken twice as long to build. The brilliant thing about puppets is that you can be as complex or as simple with the design as you like. Start with a simple puppet and work your way to the complex.

MYTH: That a free pattern will be free from kinks or problems, and that you won’t need to ask for help.

FACT: Every time I build a puppet, I don’t quite know what I’m doing or how it will turn out; even if I’ve got a pattern already made for it. …When people see my puppets, they are afraid of touching them or testing them out. I explain that it’s fine; that a puppet is just a tool that happens to look good. Because this particular tool needs to move, hold things, walk, blink, talk, or anything else you can come up with, it means that the materials must be: tough, pretty to look at, flexible, and any number of other things. Trust me, no matter how many times you make the same puppet, you will have problems. You will make mistakes; that’s ok. But at some point you may need to ask for help, and free patterns might go unsupported by those who offer them, or plainly put, not have instructions clear enough to avoid simple problems; or for that matter, not work at all.

MYTH: That using a free pattern is better than paying for one, just in case it doesn’t turn out ok.

FACT: Armed with the above fact about things going wrong, it should be clear that it doesn’t matter whether you buy a pattern or use a free one; it may simply go awry. Ever try to bake a cake, exactly as the recipe says, and it turns out wrong anyway? It’s not because you’re a bad cook, or that the recipe is wrong, it’s just sometimes it happens… whether you paid for the recipe, or whether it’s a family heirloom. Again, by all means, use the freebies to test your skills or because you’re unsure if you’re going to enjoy the process or the results; but it’s no reason at all why you can’t spend a couple of bucks getting a good pattern.

MYTH: That patterns you have to buy are just tarted up free ones and are a scam by puppet makers to get your hard-earned cash.

FACT: Totally untrue. In a paid-for pattern, you can have infinitely more instructions, tips and hints, images or other things than can’t be practically available in a freebie. For example, I have a free shadow puppet pattern available at my website, but, due to the nature of the difficulty and length of describing how I build my rods, I didn’t include that particular set of instructions. I give a brief, but hardly step-by-step account of how to make and attach the rods, but in the patterns available in my Store, I offer the full set of instructions. It’s not a scam, it’s just that there’s only a certain amount of space to use - and attention span that I tend to get from my readers at my website. But a person buying a pattern will have that attention span, and can continue learning at their own pace without having to stare at a computer screen. Also, the fact of the matter is that people who offer patterns for sale generally spend months and months working on them, from getting out as many kinks as possible, to making sure all the instructions are clear and precise, to getting good photographs and making examples for those photos. A free pattern on the other hand may have been worked on for a couple of days or a week, and not be as full of information or graphics. 

MYTH: That learning how to make puppets can be expensive, so I’m better off using a free pattern.

FACT: It entirely depends on how far you want to take it and what you want to build. Recycle materials to reduce costs; the biggest factor in making a puppet is time and labour, and that’s what makes puppetry expensive. I can tell you right away that building muppet-type puppets will almost certainly have you end up spending money on a pattern. The few free ones around are minimal in instructions, and don’t explain half the steps necessary to make a good one. In certain cases, it’s infinitely easier to pay for a pattern and know you’re getting a quality product, than waste your time hunting down an appropriate free one that won’t necessarily meet your needs anyway (since there are zillions of puppet types, characters and designs, puppet makers can’t practically offer a puppet pattern for every occasion… not without hurting themselves anyway ). 

While I mention books and classes above, the fact is you can still make puppets on the cheap, since many patterns are available as ebooks in pdf format. This makes them just as expensive as spending a few hours on the net hunting for a freebie, so in the end, it cancels itself out.

MYTH: I’m a parent/teacher and only need to make a couple of puppets for my kids/students. Why should I spend the money on a pattern when there’s a free one available and I’m not interested in making something that’s TV or stage quality?

FACT: While kids are fascinated with puppets no matter how they look, they’re also more likely to be interested if the puppet is constructed well. There’s a reason why TV producers spend millions of dollars learning about colours and shapes and what appeals to kids; the better the design of the puppet, the more likely the children will, a) learn, b) enjoy themselves, c) get attached to the character.

As for teaching children how to make puppets, many, if not most, of the free patterns are not designed to be used as a classroom activity. Those puppet patterns that are designed for use in the classroom invariably include instructions like ‘cut up’, ‘paste’ and ‘decorate’; not patterns per se, rather a guideline of how to make a puppet. So if you want to teach your 10 year old son how to make a sock puppet, a freebie is great for a more creative and improvised process. But if you want to teach your 16 year old daughter the step-by-step process of building a marionette, you’re better off buying a pattern or puppet kit. Ultimately, this one is more about skill level and how much the child wants to learn about making a puppet, rather than the child just having fun with craft.

MYTH: Ok, I’m putting this one out there, and I know it’s going to get me a little trouble. Not so much a myth, but here goes. I reckon a small percentage of people out there are just lazy and can’t come up with their own ideas - before you jump down my throat, I’m not talking about people who just need a little inspiration or wish to (legally) modify an idea or technique to their own character. I’m talking about the people who want Miss Piggy in their living room no matter what the cost. I’m talking about the people who want a custom made Avenue Q puppet with no regards as to the rights or respect of those who designed the puppets - and then expect it to cost them less than a cup of coffee. I’m talking about the people who can’t seem to come up with their own need or want for a puppet character other than because they saw a show, liked it, and want to feel like they were part of it or because the puppet is famous and therefore attractive to purchase.

FACT: Fact is, that it’s at this point that you should not be making puppets, but buying legitimate merchandise. I’m a big fan of the TV series Farscape. I would love to have worked on the show. I love the puppets. I would love to have my very own Rygel sitting at my desk. Instead of making something to rip-off someone else’s work, I have purchased costume designs, autographs, figurines and other collectables. If I could afford it, I would buy some of the animatronics occasionally on offer. In this way, I support the cast and crew, without ripping anyone off, and without causing disrespect within the artistic community. I can assure you, we puppet makers take copyrights seriously (and unfortunately, music/film/TV rights and the internet have made everyone and their dog think that it’s ok to rip ideas). Fact is, you won’t, ever, find a free pattern based on a copyrighted puppet, UNLESS the copyright owner has given permission. You won’t find anything even remotely close, and if you try to modify a pattern to make it look like something off TV, you will invariably make something that looks nothing like it. If you can’t deal with that, it’s time to move to another hobby. Harsh, but I’m sorry, very true.

The above is said with no disrespect to any providers of puppet patterns, free or otherwise, and does not refer to any pattern/provider/builder in particular. And no, this isn’t just a sneaky way to get people to buy my patterns. I sincerely wish to dispel some myths and query the reasons behind so many people wanting free patterns.

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