Dose anyone else have puppeteering as a special interest?

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I am a puppeteer; have been practicing this art form since I was 16, and was just wondering if anyone else had "puppet fever".

I love making them, but have not tried performing with them. I've made a few cloth marrionettes, and would like to learn to carve wooden ones. Tons of materials lying around, but the focus to actually do it is lacking right now.

I want to try my hand at crafting some, but I haven't been able to find a good local place to learn/get supplies. Know any good spots in New York?

I have helped make a few of my troupes Rod Arm and Human Hand puppets. It is both a time consuming and labor intensive process to take a puppet from the drawing board to the finished product. The gluing and the dying of the fleece I don't enjoy; but the hand stitching, costuming, and wig construction are alot of fun. I have only preformed with a marionette once; my troupes primary form of puppetry is rod arm. Have you ever done any shadow puppetry?

I actually haven't done any form of puppetry before, but I am developing an interest in it currently. I've done other kinds of performing: acting, music etc.

Most of my training in puppetry was either self taught (trial and error) or gained through attending classes at a local puppet fest. I used to watch Jim Hensons Muppet videos, and try to mirror the actions of his Muppets with my puppet. One Way Street is the only company that I am currently familiar with that offers local puppet training. Unfortunately I did not see any training events scheduled in New York this year. http://www.onewaystreet.com/category/mi ... ing-events
The “Puppetry 101” DVD is a good place to start if you want to learn how to manipulate a basic Rod Arm Puppet. http://www.onewaystreet.com/product/pup ... t_director
The mechanics of manipulating a puppet are simple enough; it’s the actual manipulation that’s not easy. That’s why I tell my new students to put in at least 15 to 30 minutes of hard practice a day. It always amazes me how that extra time invested changes a mediocre puppeteer to an outstanding one. It usually takes about a year of practice to master the basics of puppetry, after that the fun begins. Often when I am practicing I completely lose track of time; time really dose fly when you are having fun. I wish I could be more helpful, but most of my contacts and resources are down south. Churchs and youth programs sometimes have puppet programs. They might be able to direct you to some local training resources, or even be able to teach you the basics themselves. Good luck

Thanks; that is helpful I also found a few videos on youTube, but nothing really amazing. I'm more interested in the creation of the puppets themselves over performance with them (though that is interesting to me too); I would love to build something as complex as the ones in Labyrinth some day, but of course that's an involved process.

The puppets in the Labyrinth were out of this world! Have you ever seen The Dark Crystal? http://www.creatureshop.com/darkcrystal.php
Like the puppets in the Laybyrinth, Dark Crystals puppets were beutifuly crafted, and the puppetry top notch. I do wish I could puppeteer like that; Jim Hensons company dose awsome work.

Yes, I love the Dark Crystal...though the soul juice siphoning pupil shrinking ranks among the creepiest things I have ever seen; I still use it as a basis of comparison against any horrifying vision I come across