No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on September 8, 2020

Or why I do what I do even when I think I cannot do it.

I was talking to a fellow puppeteer the other day about this that and the other. 

This person keeps their tricks close to the vest and rarely shares how they do it.

I will say they have given me ways of doing things or looking at a project slightly differently. 

We have known each other for many years now so I am apparently safe in their books.

We have had a discussion about sharing how we do it a number of times over the years. 

They don’t understand why I am willing to show anyone how I make my puppets. I think they think that the magic is lost when you know how the trick is done.

I love teaching others how to do what I do. If they surpass me, great. I helped give them the tools to get to where they are.

I am in the school of the more people who know how to do something, the better it is for our puppetry community.

I am a textbook case for Imposter Syndrome.

Imposter Syndrome –

a psychological condition that is characterized by persistent doubt concerning one’s abilities or accomplishments accompanied by the fear of being exposed as a fraud despite evidence of one’s ongoing success

-Merriam-Webster dictionary

That in a nutshell is how I use to feel about my abilities as a puppeteer and a builder all the time.

Now it is some of the time because I am much more confident in what I do.

Part of that is the longer I do this, the more confident I become in what I can do.

I know I can make things now that I could not ten years ago. My ability to create patterns and work out the geometry of what I want to do is getting better and better the more I do.

I have challenged myself to step out of my comfort zone and try to create new puppets and dolls.

But I can fall back on what I know if I need to make something to prove to myself that I can do this and do it well.

I have also stopped comparing what I do to others. That was a big step in the right direction.

I came to the conclusion one day is that I do what I do, and I do it well and they do what they do and do it well.

That was a big weight off my shoulders.

Some artists find their style and then sit back and rest on their laurels never going forward from that point. Some can afford to do that, but others find themselves out of work when their style is not the popular style anymore.

I cannot do that. I have to push and try to improve each puppet as I make them/

I think my best examples of this are all the Doctor Who puppets I have made over the years. The first ones are very good. I learned a ton while making them. The redoes are even better and there is more detail and more accurate renditions of the Doctors. The ones that I felt were OK but not great have moved to the great category.

Because of those puppets, I had the basics on puppet clothing down. But it was simple, and the patterning was hard to create. Over the years I have gone from a limited ability to pattern draft to the point where I can draft patterns for human sized people, which is easier for many, but I am used to working in puppet size.

The confidence from that has translated to an overall confidence in what I can do.

I think that imposter syndrome is why it took me so bloody long to put together a website to sell puppets on.

 I am grateful that I can make puppets.

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