Hey Gang,

I have recently finished my second marionette puppet and currently working on a third for my kids birthday! My problem is how or where to store my new friends... Does anyone have any suggestions as to the best way to store them with out tangling the strings or damaging the puppet! The two that I have stand about 22-23inches tall. Any comments would be great... thanks for your time! 

Sincerely,


Mr. Spoon

Have a bag ready that is large enough not to muss up the costume. Tie a string around the strings near the top, push up firmly to hold the foot bar in place, then wrap the strings around the control and lower the marionette into the bag. Place the very end of the control into the bag and tie the string around the top outside of the bag(a drawstring bag would be best in the first place). Also learn to untangle string 'cause this method isn't perfect. Hope this helps.-Steve

P.S. this is much more clearly explained in Helen Flings " Marionettes- How to Make and Work Them" Still available from Dover Books

I keep mine simply hanging from a shelf in my bedroom. I use a vertical control with an open hook in the top and the shelf has a string loop to hang the puppet with the hook. If you were worried if permanent sunlight could bleach the colours, keep the puppet inside a felt, dark bag.

Hanging the puppet is always the ideal method.  Like Steve mentioned I place a bag over the puppets body and the pull the drawstring tight around the strings.  This well normally allow the top of the closed bag to rest a bit above the head of the puppet and keep dust off the puppet. If I am wanting to protect the strings a bit more I well make the bag longer and bring it up over the top of the control. My controls have a rope loop they can hang from so I close the bag down with it sticking out.  I then hang the puppet from the rope loop.  Cheap metal shower curtain hangers are great for this.

If I am going to transport the puppet then I normally do as Steve suggested and take a couple lengths of string or ribbon and tie them around the strings in two places.  I then bag the puppet but I don't place the control in the bag or wrap the string around the control. I just lay the bag down flat with the puppet in it and then lay the strings and control on the bag. If I have other puppets to transport I lay the next bagged one on top of that.  The fabric of each bag helps keep the strings separated between the puppets.  Often I have not had enough bags for all my puppets so what I have done is lay it flat but then place a sheet on the puppet. I then place the strings and control on the sheet. Sheets are big so you can kind of accordion the fabric to add more puppets on top.

Thanks everybody,


Great suggestions and My puppets thank you as well!!!

Sincerely,


Spoon
 

I made a rack for my marionettes out of the PVC I found in my husband's garage.  It had screw in hooks to hang the controllers on.  I'll hunt up a picture of it.  I made it tall enough so that my marionettes feet were close to the ground once they were hung up.

Found it.  Here are my wonderful neighbor kids with the marionettes that we made together one summer.
You'll have to click on the photo to see the rack better.  There are wooden two by fours stabilizing the pipe legs.

Great idea PuppetLady - Very nice puppets.  I should offer a neighborhood puppet build to get to know my neighbors better.

I was just thinking that I've seen more creative uses for PVC tubing suggested here than I would have ever imagined.

One other thing -  over Thanksgiving my dad reminded me that when I was 11 or 12 I had built a flamingo marionette.  He said that he had some of the parts to it in a box at home.  If he ever sends them to me I'll see if I can rebuild it and post some pictures.

That would be fun.  My mom sent me my first puppet, Pierre, just this year.  I totally loved that puppet as a teen.  He was so "handsome"!  It was falling apart by the time she returned it to me.  I made it out of a vellux blanket and the foam center just crumbled to bits.
Here is a closeup of the marionettes.  The kids helped sculpt some of the heads, the ogre and the princess and Puss in Boots, and the queen.  They helped paper mache over the plasticine sculptures as well.  The boys helped cut dowel rods for the limbs.  The girls helped dress the princess and queen.  It was a HUGE project!

You guys gonna post pictures of your first puppets?  That would be fun.  (I'll dig up an old photo if you do.  I even have one of me as a teen making puppets with ladies from my church.  I had braces on and was prepubescent looking.)

Great job on those puppets. I've got some old ones of my first I'll post if I ever find them-Steve