I have always loved early 1900's clip art and so I built some puppets by simply gluing 2-D Xerox copies to sticks. I have about 20 puppets that are these simple images on a stick. In the case of Pier and Linguino, they are 2-D puppets with controllable arms and legs via a device I built. (picture unavailable as of yet).
The most recent work that I've done with my puppet show has been the use of raw meat as puppet characters. I set them on sticks or sometimes forks, put little birthday-day cake candle holders in their flesh for eyes and Bingo! I've got puppets that are mildly repulsive . Since the meat goes bad within a couple days, each show is original and is seldom repeatable. Titles of past shows are things like: "Little Pepperoni Slice and his quest to save Meat Land", "Chicken Leg and his personal battle with beauty products". The plots for the plays I figure out when I shopping for meat (usually the day of the show). It has been great fun, the meat puppets have stole the spotlight from many of my other puppets.
Some of the 3-D puppets are rather complex, as in the case of Vampire Chicken McNugget. He was a renovated McDonald's HappyMeal toy, who has some mechanized working parts put inside his head to make his mouth open and close. In addition he has a parasol (a cocktail umbrella) that opens and closes according to a little ring that I can operate with my hand.
The most popular puppets that I have created are the puppets made of copper. The first two are about 10 inches tall and named Kafka and Franz respectively. They both have moving mouths and independently controlled arms as shown in the picture beside Vampire Chicken McNugget. The most recent one that I have built, I call Francis. He is an 11 inch tall articulating skeleton with fine bone structure detail. He has a working mouth and has arms that are controled by a complex mechanism that is attached to my hand by way of a glove-like mechanical fixture. Both arms can move in all the degrees of freedom of a real person's arms (fore arm and upper arm both move independently). I am currently working on making his fingers be able to be controlled as well. When finished, he will be able to point, grab things, and make simple sign language. He will be the most detailed, mechanically complex puppet I have ever built. I intend on making him a flexible muscle structure, internal organs, and a translucent latex skin. So that he will move, and look like a real person.
The puppet show tent is an altered cafe umbrella that was cut, recovered and mounted on a large projection stand for stability. The stage inside the tent is free standing and is a suitcase that folds out to become a stage. In its stage form, it is a complete stage with backdrops, overhead working pulleys, overhead scenery rails, puppet holding arms (so I can have more than two puppets on stage at one time), working tiny stage lights, and a motorized set of clouds that move across the sky for special effect. Miraculously enough, in the stages closed-suitcase form, it can hold all of my puppets.
I have only done about 7-8 puppet shows, each one with a new cast of characters, and some tried and true ones. Performance locations have been: at my Goth Night shows, at Outland Bar (Columbus, Ohio), and one local street fair.
