I have made 3 wooden marionettes, each about 14" high. While they perform OK, I am not satisfied with the knee and elbow joints. Their motion is not as smooth and controlled as I would like even though I have tried manipulating the strings very carefully. As an engineer, I know that those joints need more "dampening". I am asking experts here to share their experiences on this topic. This issue is very obvious while manipulating walk. Am I doing something wrong here?

Welcome to Puppets and Stuff................ while I'm not a expert on anything. We do have some expert marionette builders here. While you wait for there replies would you mind sharing some pictures of your builds and the troubled joints you are talking about.

Billy D.

Hello, sometimes, the problem is not the joint itself, but other matters, like the point were the string attaches, the weigh of the limb, clothes that hinder the movement, or the type of control.

As Billy said, let us see some pictures. I am not an expert builder at all, but I will be happy to share my mistakes and what I did to solve them

Wellcome to P&S

I have to second Jorge's comment about the location of string attachments and weight. While the underlying structure is important these things are just as important.

Not sure how you have made the joints but I've actually make my elbow joints and even some knee joints a simple sewn line in a fabric tube.   On the elbows I normally place a fishing weight on the outside of the arm. This can help keep the elbow from bending in the wrong direction and it adds the weight needed. I also use elbow strings. These run from right above where the weight was placed up to a position on the control right past the the center balance point going back.  I put just enough tension on this line to pull the elbows back just slightly. That string along with the hand strings helps stabilize things.

On the legs you want to make sure you have weight in the feet. Then it is the position of the string that you need to play with at the knee. I often end up trying four or five location before I get what I like.  It can be tricky since you need to do this with your puppet clothed.  I have the advantage since at least the upper legs on my marionettes are normally cloth.  I can reposition the location easily.