2008 Augusta Class Description


Week 4
Craft & Folklore
Hand Puppet Construction
Margaret Nelson


BIG HAND, LITTLE HAND PUPPET MAKING CLASS
Maximum class size, 12 students
Ages 8-adult
Materials and tools provided $10 materials fee, payable to teacher at beginning of class.

Participants in this class will make two kinds of hand puppets: 9" felt "ZOOMORPHS" (simple felt puppets with interchangeable animal costumes), and 18" Punch-style hand puppets with papier mache heads and cloth bodies.  Any character students can imagine,they can make. Former students have made clowns, kings, kids, witches, birds, angels, emperors, animals, aliens, and story characters from around the world.  Whether goofy or gorgeous, the finished puppets are durable and repairable, ready for creative play in the real world. Augusta 2007 puppet students went home with two ZOOMORPHS, two hand puppets, and the patterns and skills needed to make more puppets.

If time and student enthusiasm permit, students and teacher will write short puppet skits around the puppet characters made by the students, and perform the skits for each other.