How to make a puppet stand
Puppets are great fun, but difficult to store. Sometimes, a puppet can be damaged, or squashed, without being protected. So for all my muppet-types, sock puppets, and glove puppets, I often use puppet stands to ensure nothing gets majorly damaged in storage or transit. The following discusses the use of a puppet stand for one puppet, and only for mouth puppets or glove puppets.
A puppet stand is basically a vertical piece of wood, attached to a horizontal one at the bottom. The horizontal piece is the base, and the vertical piece can be inserted into the body or head of the puppet; offering stabilisation for the puppet.
You can spend time making up your own puppet stand, but there is a better and simpler way to get your hands on a puppet stand. I go to Spotlight, and buy up some large ‘dolls stands’; the larger ones cost about $10, and are roughly 10-15 cm tall. These are designed for holding Barbie dolls, and the good thing about them is that they are pretty cheap, stable, strong… but they also have a wire ‘clasp’:
The base of the stand is made out of a circular piece of metal, which joins to a metal vertical piece. Inside the vertical piece is a loop of wire, that sticks out the top. This loop creates the ‘clasp’ between which you are supposed to insert the doll’s waist. Instead, I use this clasp to insert into the mouth or head of my puppet, with the entire stand fitting into the body of the puppet if it has one. Because this wire loop and clasp is extendable, it means that I can sit the puppet comfortably on the stand - and buying different sized stands will suit a range of different sized puppets.
However, to get the best use out of these doll’s stands, I wrap a piece of wire around each side of the clasp, creating a new loop. Angling this loop slightly up, I can insert the top loop into the finger tubes for the upper jaw of the puppet, and then insert the bottom loop (the one that I added) into the fingers tubes for the lower jaw. This way, I can have my puppet sit, closed-mouth, and quite sturdily. (Modified stand pictured above. To the right, and below, pictures of how the mouth of the puppet fits onto the stand. Click on images for larger views. You can see how I’ve used one of these unmodified stands to take a photo of my muppet-type, Amy, here)
By doing this, I’ve also found a great way to work on a puppet during the building process. Once the mouth is made, I can insert it onto the loops on the stand, and comfortably work (standing or sitting) on building up the head and jaws.
It also makes it easier to add features to the head, because you don’t have to hold the puppet in order to test placement of eyes, noses, etc. Furthermore, it allows you to set aside the puppet during the building process, without worrying about it getting dirty or accidentally ruined, while you have paints and glues, and other objects lying around.
Even better, these stands provide a great way to take professional-standard photos of your puppet. Just set your puppet on the stand, place the limbs, etc. in a good position, add a black backdrop, and grab your camera! And you don’t have to worry about your puppet falling over or sagging - which means plenty of great shots to advertise and promote your work!
Because the stands are so cheap, and very readily available, I don’t bother thinking about building one. But if you do want to build one, you can use this tutorial to learn how to make a puppet stand out of PVC tubing.
Want more? Help build a puppet!
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