On Sunday, November 25, a bunch of friends gathered at the Palace Theatre with a common goal: to learn to make “Muppet” style monster puppets.  Our fearless leader, Ceris, had already gathered all the necessary materials (pre-marked fur, ping-pong balls and velcro dots for eyes, foam templates, and much more) and we were ready to begin.

Making puppets was a long process.  We worked for 5+ hours each, starting with the inner workings of the puppet (the mouth) and moving on to the body.

I brought my own sewing machine, as I have not had much opportunity to learn how to use it, and it’s on my to-do list!  Making the first puppet arm was stressful — it was a little crooked and I wasn’t happy.  But the thing that Ceris kept saying was that our “mistakes” added character to the puppet.  And luckily, the furry material we were using is very forgiving.  Any mistakes were easily hidden.  Something difficult for a perfectionist like me to take in at first, but I couldn’t stress out too much about tiny mistakes because I’d get left behind everyone else!  And the rest of the sewing went much better — straight lines abounded!  I’m so happy and proud that I was able to do it!

One thing I really noticed is how happy and excited everyone was, and how supportive of each other we were.  Someone was heard to say, “It’s impossible to be sad when you’re making a puppet,” and it was totally true.  Everyone was exclaiming about how cute all the puppets looked and how excited they were, and how much they loved their puppet, even in various stages of completedness.  It was such a great, positive place to be in.

The Palace Theatre was a busy place that day, with various classes and rehearsals going on, and many people stopped by to see what we were all doing.  Everyone seemed to be really impressed and excited by the new friends we were creating!

(Sidenote: Why do people always want to put their fingers in puppets’ mouths?)

Puppet Making Day was (in my humble opinion) a huge success.  We spent quality time with friends, learned new skills, and created new, fun puppet pals as a result!  Who knows, perhaps a puppet-y production will be in our futures!

Thanks so much to Ceris Thomas, our wonderful teacher, and to the Palace Theatre for hosting us.  Thanks as well to the “magic fairy” who donated all the supplies to make the puppets!  And thanks to all the awesome friends who came out to create!  Let’s do it again soon!