No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on March 21, 2021

Today is World Puppetry Day where we celebrate all things puppet.

This is the 2021 poster done by UNIMA to promote the day.

(For the VI: This is a poster with various shades of brown. At the top is “Together we create the MOVEMENT. World Puppetry Day 21/03/21” The middle of the poster is a very stylistic marionette loosely based on the Vitruvian Man. It shows the movement in the left arm and right leg with right hand holding the head then several heads leading to the main head)

The Jim Henson organization has posted www.jimhensonsfamilyhub.com/home-1/2021/3/12/celebrate-world-puppetry-day Build Your Own Clod based on the characters from Earth to Ned on Disney+.

I am proud to be a puppeteer. It is what I say when asked what do you do?

I love building puppets and sharing how I build puppets.

Puppetry has led to some lifelong friendships for me.

I met Neil at DragonCon when I showed him a Sandman puppet I made. He loved it so much, I made him one. It was the beginning of a treasured friendship. That is also the first time I met Esther Friesner as well who has become a great friend.

(For the VI:On the left is Neil Gaiman with black hair, sunglasses, and a leather jacket. In the middle is a Neil Gaiman puppet with black hair, sunglasses, and a leather jacket. On the right is me wearing a blue sweatshirt and holding the rods of the puppet)

I gave Clive Barker a Pelequin puppet from the film Nightbreed. Little known fact, he is also a puppeteer. This is one of my first puppets that I had to learn a lot of new skills for.

(for the VI: This is a pink puppet with dreadlocks and glittery symbols painted all over his body wearing a white shirt. The sharp teeth in his mouth are foam and compress when you close the mouth.)

Since then, I have given a number of people puppets as a Thank You for all the entertainment they have given me. I also have my set of ‘all fans are not áššhølëš’ apology puppets to actors who got lambasted by a vocal set of fans.

Puppetry has given me opportunities I would not have had otherwise.

Puppetry introduced me to my husband. Peter bought one of my puppets at a convention and it came with a half hour lesson. I taught Shana and him the basics so they could operate the puppet he bought which was Ralph the Klingon. Without that puppet, I would not be here typing this, nor would my daughter be sleeping upstairs.

Thanks to the puppetry track at DragonCon, I have made many more puppet friends and I appreciate each and every one. Each DragonCon I return with renewed creative energy and new ideas of what is possible.

It is both an exclusive and inviting club to belong to.

I am grateful for all my puppet experiences.

Category: Uncategorized
Tags: