String puppet

Create this fun clown string puppet using some offcuts of wood and a few Resene testpots.

Resene Toys and Games with Mark Rayner - Project 20

Difficulty level: Challenging

You will need: Offcuts of wood and wooden mouldings, Paintbrushes (including artists’ brush), Pencil, Pliers, PVA glue, Resene Quick Dry, Resene testpots of Resene Alabaster, Resene All Black, Resene Fountain Blue and Resene Rocket, Ruler, Sandpaper, Saw, Scissors, Small eye hooks, Thin string or strong cotton

To get the look: Mark painted the background wall with Resene SpaceCote Flat tinted to Resene Cosmos.

Other ideas: Create a tiger puppet using Resene Black and Resene Orang-atan for the body and Resene Alabaster and Resene Kermit for the eyes.

Step one
Measure, mark and cut the various parts of the puppet, as shown. Our puppet is approx 400mm high but this can be variable. Cut two pieces of 30mm moulding (or similar), approximately 200mm long for the string support. Sand any rough edges.

Step two
Fix the feet to the legs and the head and neck to body using PVA glue, as shown. Fix the two pieces of moulding with PVA glue to form an ‘X’. Allow glue to dry.

Step three
Prime the puppet pieces and the wooden ‘X’ with one coat of Resene Quick Dry. Allow two hours to dry.

Step four
Paint the puppet pieces and the wooden ‘X’ with two coats of Resene Alabaster, allowing two hours for each coat to dry.

Step five
Paint clown features and clothing, as shown, using two coats of Resene Fountain Blue and Resene Rocket. Allow each coat two hours to dry.

Step six
Paint boots and face details with two coats of Resene All Black, allowing two hours for each coat to dry.

Step seven
Screw eye hooks to the puppet and wooden ‘X’ in the positions shown. Connect legs and arms to the body of the puppet, carefully opening and closing eye hooks with a pair of pliers.

Step eight
Attach a piece of string from the hook in the centre of the ‘X’ to the hook in the top of the clown’s head. Run a piece of string from one foot to the other (through two hooks in the ‘X’) and from one hand to the other (through the other two hooks in the ‘X’). Ensure all strings are the correct length before tying off and trimming.