Puppet Making

In this two-day workshop, students will explore fundamental craft techniques that transform simple materials into expressive characters, connecting with a tradition that bridges storytelling, sculpture, and performance.

Students will learn paper mache fundamentals using recycled materials—a sustainable approach that creates lightweight yet durable forms. Understanding how layered paper, paste thickness, and texture choices impact both appearance and functionality becomes essential knowledge for successful puppet construction.

Fabric integration adds another dimension as students learn to incorporate textiles that enhance movement and visual appeal. Different fabrics drape, stretch, and respond to manipulation in unique ways, creating puppets that move with grace and expressiveness.

Beyond construction, the workshop introduces performative aspects that bring puppets to life. As time allows, students will explore basic character development, voice work, and animation principles—discovering how small movements and gestures convey complex emotions.

To ensure completion within the timeframe, the workshop uses pre-made base kits that provide structural foundations while leaving room for individual creativity and the creation of the human, critter or creature puppets of your imagination. This approach allows focus on decorative techniques, character development, and performance skills rather than time-intensive structural work.

Students will leave with a completed puppet ready for performance and the fundamental skills needed to continue developing their puppet-making practice.

This workshop is facilitated by members of the Slow Blink Puppet Collective, featuring Chelsea Biagioli.