I've been asked to make large (about 1.5metres - they actually want 3metres, but I think that's too big to carry) parade puppets in the style of chinese/indonesian puppets, with the very detailed cut outs and colours. So far I have come up with an idea of using a flat material for the puppets and attaching it to a rod (probably something like bamboo or whatever is used to hold up parade puppets normally) at the back which sits in a lanyard someone can wear. Any ideas on what sort of material would be light enough - and big enough - to do it with?

Or any other suggestions on how to make them? I particularly like the idea of making them as colourful as possible, so something that could be painted would be nice - although probably needs to be weather-proofed as well.

Well, I see that this has been up for a while with no response so I can try, although my experience with this sort of thing is limited.

If you were going to cut and attach a flat, colorful material I would suggest corrugated plastic. Its lightweight, weatherproof and strong, comes in many colors and can handle detailed cuts. As for painting, I think you would need a paint designed to adhere to plastic, like Krylon's Fusion (although I don't know the availability of that outside of the US.) You could also use cut vinyl to decorate. Here is a corrugated plastic website:

http://coroplast.cat-x.net/Catalog.aspx

Thanks for the response Lucky Cat - I should have come back and updated, because I since got some excellent ideas from someone not at this site who knows about Aussie materials. Actually, corrugated plastic is exactly along the lines of what I was thinking and what was suggested to me by this other person. (We call it corflute here, but it's very much the same thing). Glad to see I was heading in the right direction