It matters little when you're just interested in how things move. And it was not that bad- it was creative. And I am always missing the ability to turn things more easy. I am a junkie for details... not subtle at all.

Yes, I agree. And as a learning experience it was very good. I'd never used a cable-control mechanism before and was shown how to do it from a friend (also in the same course, but having done puppetry before). It's not a pretty puppet, but then we were only aiming to use it for one week of performances.

I think the best part of this site is seeing the 'guts' of the puppet. I wish more people - here or on other sites - would post images of their designs and discuss their processes, mechanisms and decision-making. It would be very useful to learn from.

Agreed, it is often quite hard to work out mechanisms. But then some mechanical designs might be copyrighted? So people might not want to have others to copy them.

Yes, I think's that probably why very few people share them. They're worried about other people copying the designs. However, I don't think there's any reason why you couldn't share part of the design, without giving away all the details. For instance, I'm currently working on a shadow puppet design, and though I won't share all of it, I do plan on blogging about how I am improving the rod attachment. Nobody will see or know about the overall design, but will be revealing the mechanism itself.

EDITED TO ADD: Also, most people have galleries of their work online, with photos of the finished products visible. Many people know how to create a puppet just from a photo (see below comments about Kermit, but extend it out to include replicas) so if you're worried about people replicating and stealing your work, then you should simply not advertise online at all.

It's like with Kermit: many people ask how to make it, but really the mechanisms and methodology of building the puppet is the same as discussed on Project Puppet, my site, The Foam Book, etc. The only difference is in the character design. So I think it's important to share the background of mechanics and 'theory' behind building something; we don't necessarily need to share the overall design itself.

True. But not everybody would agree, I guess. I don't think my design is out of the ordinary, but I'll put some pics in this weekend (backed the last stuff last night- put it'll take time for the eyes to dry) and with the next puppet I want to make pictures of the "instestines" as well. I compliment myself on  some ideas, but there are so many great people here, somebody will have a way to improve something!

I know most wouldn't agree, and would guess that's exactly why there are so little draft designs/blogging about processes available on the net. However, I do think that if you can provide a book on making puppets (as many puppeteers have done), provide workshops, there's not much difference. There's no reason to explain the process with a commissioned puppet or something you'd make a profit from. You can just as easily build a throw-away prototype that shows the mechanism without revealing info about something you'd actually sell.

Main reason I make this complaint is that learning puppetry here in Oz seems to be pretty much reliant on figuring it out by yourself via books, etc. Workshops aren't available on a regular basis for adults. For those of us learning, understanding 'why' is very important and hard to pin down via books. It's one of the reasons why I love this site, as most people are happy to discuss their mechanisms and theory, as well as show pics.

Speaking of which: love to see some intestines

While I do feel that some puppet builders may feel the need for secrecy and don't want to share their methods, I think there are just as many of use that simply forget to take the time or don't have the time to document the process of making them.

Yes, you're right Shawn. I guess I'm so used to documenting stuff now. It's basically how Puppets in Melbourne started: I simply wanted to document how I built my first puppet, so I could remember or note any changes/faults. And because of the patterns I make, I tend to photograph every step of the process and can relatively easily write up a process later on. (I'm currently doing that for a puppet I made a couple of years ago)

But there's a big problem with theatre companies in general in that they don't archive their work because they're busy with other things. Some of the companies here in Melbourne that are pivotal to the history of theatre in Australia have had trouble writing biographies/archives now because they didn't do it then - and so have to rely on faulty memory and sparse documentation.

Interestingly, someone I've been talking to recently about my puppet 'business' has suggested that I offer a service to puppeteers: for a small fee, provide assistance in keeping blogs/website up-to-date by creating content from photos and other archives. While I think the idea is a good one in theory, the problem is that: most people don't have archives to work with; and most people wouldn't spend the money on it (and probably want to have their own personality infused, which I could hardly do even with provision of daily diaries, etc.) But I've been mulling over the idea, because I know a lot of puppeteers would find such assistance with documentation useful in the long run.

Cool stuff. And I will keep in mind to show the "instestines" to you. You can have the pics for PiM, too, if there will at some point in time be anyting of interest to you.

Oh please do show the pics: but I won't use them for PIM, only because it's very messy over there whilst I prepare for some changes in how I use the website.