Hello my dear Puppet friends, I am wondering if some of you know how Ronnie Burkett makes his marionettes? Does he use's mould's in his process? Or is it more of an add-on process? Does he use paper mache or another material? I have just seen a 4 part interview he did online and I find that his marionettes are splendid and I want to try  my hand at something similar. Thanks!

He uses papier mache. There is an old recipe of his on the website proptology. If you google you will find it

Here's one link

This one seems to be written by Burkett, and has links to recipes.

Here's one link

This one seems to be written by Burkett, and has links to recipes.

That's it, the 2nd one. I talked to him a few years ago and he said he had improved on it but never mentioned specifics.

Awesome, thanks guys. Logic would be that he would use a kind of a wire mesh as a base for the paper mache to hold onto. I will order some as soon as I can and I will practice this recipe (among others) to find which one suits me best. You are awesome guys, huge thanks!

I don't know that that's how he does it. I'm pretty sure it's carved ... something. From my interview with him, he talks about pinned joints, using molds to form puppets, etc.

See: http://www.schoolofpuppetry.com.au/tutorials.php/podcast-3-interview-with-ronnie-burkett-theatre-of-marionettes?tempskin=2013tutorials

My guess is he's used different methods, predominantly wood-carving.

Thank you Na, I will check it out.

Thank you Na, I will check it out.

No probs! Hope it helps. I know there are a lot more interviews and videos with him though, should be worth a google. There used to be an awesome slideshow of his workshop that I had a link to but it's dead now. It had close ups of his patterns, work benches, etc. Pity it's gone.

Be sure to check out Ronnie's Facebook Page. Lately he has been sharing a lot of pictures of his process - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Ronnie-Burkett-Theatre-of-Marionettes/417661968269782

Thanks for the Facebook page link. The pictures of the various unassembled body parts looks like a scene form a cheesy 1950s Vincent Price movie.