The Maker’s Lab 2023-2025 Phase #1 – Shawne Kho Yzelman

by fingerplayers

This journal is an entry in The Maker’s Lab series. Click here to read the previous entries.

Hello everyone! In this article, I will be sharing my experiences and reflections from the first phase of The Maker’s Lab (2023-2025). From showing off what we made to baring my deepest insecurities, here is what went down in Phase 1!

What I did

First of all, it was my first time making an industry standard puppet, a TFP-style rod puppet (with a swappable dog head).

Puppetua – ‘a grumpy me’
Like the name Perpetua, but ‘Puppet’-tua

Because she’s in a perpetual state of malaise – I have chronic disorders which sometimes gets overwhelming and feels disabling, and like I’m in an endless state of being sick (and hence, grumpy).

Her Design
  • Hollowed-out eyes, sullen eyes to emphasize her tired-ness
  • Stained tear marks around her eyes
  • Hoodie, shorts, comfy socks and bunny slippers because she needs to be at maximum comfort
  • Messy hair to mimic bedhead and general chaos/disarray
Stages of Making Puppetua’s Head
Marking out center lines and facial features on the styrofoam ball head base to not lose the center of where I’m working from
Rough, work-in-progress first layer of clay over styrofoam ball head base
Second layer of papier mache using gummed tape and a mixture of white glue and water
Second layer of papier mache using gummed tape and a mixture of white glue and water
After last layer of papier mache, dried, before sanding
After sanding and painting the base skin colour, highlights, contours, eyebrows and ‘tear stains’
Making Puppetua’s Body
Following the dimensions and proportions of a typical TFP rod puppet, we made the frames of ours out of Jelutong wood, a locally/regionally sourced wood that Daniel has found to be good for making puppets with.
Following the dimensions and proportions of a typical TFP rod puppet, we made the frames of ours out of Jelutong wood, a locally/regionally sourced wood that Daniel has found to be good for making puppets with.
I loved working with different materials to make the frame. For example, using metal wire to make the neck connector, adhering polyester straps to make knee and ankle joints, etc.
While trying out the rod puppet, we used one of the existing puppet frames together with Jun’s head (from Jun and The Octopus). I was inspired by its shape and posture – a lanky fellow with a round tummy.
Making her costume
Her costume was a hoodie with sweater paws, socks and bunny slippers, etc.
With Silei’s garment-making knowledge and experience, we made Puppetua’s hoodie from scratch so that the hood would be proportionate to her body and that it would be an oversized, but comfy fit on her.
Her bunny slippers had to be reworked from ready-made children’s size bedroom slippers as they were originally too heavy and were of the wrong weight distribution to manipulate the puppet efficiently.

Basset Hound /
‘Hush Puppies’ Dog Head that attaches to Puppetua

The first dog breed that came to mind after workshopping Puppetua’s cosmetic design, was the iconic Hush Puppies dog mascot, mostly because of the ‘droopy’ eyes that the Basset Hound typically have which looks similar to the hollowed-out eye sockets on Puppetua.

Sketches of my Basset Hound head

Unfortunately, I think it turned out quite evident that I didn’t manage to capture the ‘droopy’ eyes, which was the main inspiration for choosing this dog breed, since we ended up using pre-made plastic doll-making eyes due to time constraints and other considerations such as having to work with fur around my initial design.

The Make

We started from blocks of styrofoam to carve out a mould of the head shape we wanted, before making the actual dog head out of foam.

Photos of me transferring my dog drawing onto styrofoam

Patterning/Masking Tape Template
We used masking tape mache to create our pattern pieces
We used masking tape mache to create our pattern pieces
We used masking tape mache to create our pattern pieces
We used masking tape mache to create our pattern pieces
and then joined the pieces together with contact glue to form the complete, hollow head

Mechanism:

The reason why our dog heads had to be hollow is because we were making them with a mechanism that would enable the mouth of the dog to open and close.
We built a counter-weighted mechanism connected to a gun-like grip and control to achieve the manipulable mouth.

I learnt from key experienced and respected industry makers.

Chan Silei, Loo An Ni, Myra Loke and Daniel Sim taught us various aspects of puppet designing and making, and puppeteering.

With Chan Si Lei
With Loo An Ni
With Myra Loke
With Daniel Sim

It was my first time being able to professionally utilise machinery in a workshop outside of school (polytechnic) where we didn’t have many opportunities to use much of the one there either.

In my previous work, I had only gone as far as a handsaw and mini-jacks attached to a folding table that I had dragged into the corridor outside my home.

Learning how and being able to use all the tools in the workshop has personally really made so much more room for creativity in designing and making as I’m now aware and have a whole new world of knowledge, skills and equipment to achieve what needs to be made.

How I felt

I looked forward to coming back everyday to continue working on our puppets as I was excited to learn how to, and be able to work with the new materials and tools.

Making alongside Jia Le, an experienced artist who is also familiar with power and hand tools, I was self-conscious about the speed and quality of my work compared to his since I did not have a background in fine arts, nor do I have much experience working in workshops. However, I was able to work through this insecurity thanks to his and our instructors’ patience, encouragement and affirmations.

It got quite intense really quickly since it was everyone’s first time (running and participating) in this iteration of the revamped version of The Maker’s Lab, but even though it was a physically taxing time, it was still a very fulfilling and productive experience that I’m thankful to have been a part of.

On our way home from the last day of Phase 1, even though the both of us had just finished making our puppets and were exhausted from doing so, we both already wanted to get started on new puppets, get more practice, and start experimenting.

What I discovered about myself

Likes

All things making
  • Getting to interact with many different materials, using my hands to physically create something.
  • I thoroughly enjoyed the process and going through the motions of each part of making our puppets.

Dislikes

Technical drawings… (I’m sorry)
  • I’ve made technical drawings before in school as well as for theatre on CAD, for less intricate items such as large set pieces, but not for puppets or props where a milli-meter can make a visual difference to the item.
  • The part I currently dislike about them would be that I found it difficult to use 2-D technical drawings as a reference because of the measurement errors when visualising a 3-D image into a 2D drawing.
  • I would like to see if starting from a 3-D CAD drawing instead would help me with this process.
The finicky-ness of Sewing Machines

I have very little patience with sewing machines, probably because I don’t understand the machines well enough to troubleshoot, maintain and be able to use them to their full capabilities.

Qualities

Having ‘backstage’ experience definitely helped me with anticipating and understanding the considerations to take while designing and making for theatre.
  • e.g. Puppets may need to be repaired in-between rehearsals, during bump-in and in-between shows so it’s important that we build the puppets so that sites that we foresee may need to be repaired are in accessible spots and make sure to be able to finish repairs within tight time limits by using the appropriate materials. For example, instead of using E6000 which has a long curing time, use a glue gun first for a quick fix.
  • Since theatre spaces typically have black or dark walls and masking, we should ensure that the colour of our puppets stand out by having a contrast to the dark architecture/structure/design of the space.

What I learnt

1

Not just HOW to build a puppet but also about the materials and tools used in puppet-making.

2

The technical differences between each puppet due to their uses in the show and/or the show’s nature.

Read more

Not just marionette vs table-top puppets, even between different rod puppets there may be a need for an alternate design. E.g. The head needs to be swapped quickly during a scene change, so instead of using a velcro neck, buckles are used for simpler and quicker release of the existing head and attachment of the new one.

3

That a lot of factors contribute to the ‘balance’ of the puppet.

Read more
  • Puppetua was still difficult to manipulate even though we tuned and adjusted her many times, because the placement of the weight in her bunny slippers changed the motion in which her legs moved.
  • I was prepared for the need to test and adjust puppets while making them, but didn’t realise just how much the make of the puppet can affect the puppeteer’s experience and ease of use while handling and manipulating them.

4

A lot of useful basic skills and information.

Penknife wielding

I didn’t realise how upset people can get over others using penknives incorrectly LOL

About ‘craft’ materials
  • Different types of glues and epoxies are only effective on (and are made for) specific materials
  • Harsher glues like contact and super glue will disintegrate/eat up styrofoam, but works perfectly on other types of foam like PU/EVA foam

5

Where and how to source for materials.

Read more

Some materials are sold in specific measurements. E.g. Construction timber is sold in sizes of 1×1, 2×1, 2×2, 4×2 and 1×3 inches. Aluminum bars are sold in standard maximum lengths of 6 meters.

6

Considerations for working with materials, for making for theatre, for the end product being manipulatable, and the combination of all these factors.

What difficulties I faced

1

Symmetry of faces

I struggled to maintain the symmetry of faces while following technical drawings, whether it be by the addition or subtraction method of working with foam as a base for puppet heads.

2

Puppetua’s Head
Despite Puppetua’s head being relatively easier to make than the Dog Head, I still had difficulties ensuring that both the left and right sides of the face were symmetrical. As I kept focusing on and ‘bua-ing’ the smaller details (such as smoothing out the clay) I kept forgetting to look at the bigger picture and make sure that the features on her face were symmetrical in the first place.

3

Dog Head
I found it much more difficult to work with hollowed-out foam as a base rather than styrofoam with added clay.
Working with templates for thicker materials – I needed to do a perfect job with my templates to ensure that when I combine all of the separate template parts, the whole head comes together not only seamlessly but takes the correct shape of how I intended it to look in my drawings.

4

Managing the ‘quality of work’ vs the limited amount of time we have to work within
  • Phase 1 allowed me to figure out the appropriate amount of time to be spent on each step.
  • Figured out which steps within the process that can be rushed (cut corners) without it affecting the final product.

What of the future?

I’m excited for what Phase 2 entails and being able to proceed with the information and experience that I have now after Phase 1.

E.g. Have confidence to participate in and assist with the puppet-making process in a real production because we had formal training/guidance to make puppets for theatre.