This course is designed for experienced students who want to learn how to make a wooden marionette with excellent technology. It teaches how to make the joints for the puppet - at the end, you will have puppet pieces ready for carving.

Following live presentations on Zoom over the course of two months, students will meet once a week and get detailed instructions on the process of building a marionette on strings and a marionette on a wire.

Students will first turn their basic sketch of their puppet into a technical drawing, understanding proportions and learning to meaasure and draw all joints.

Then they will learn all of the steps towards preparing the puppet for carving: cutting blocks of wood based on the dimensions on the drawing, cutting all joints, drilling holes for metal hooks and leather connections, making the wire for a wire marionette, transfering the shape of the design onto the wooden blocks, and finally cutting them on a bandsaw or with a handsaw.

We will also teach how to make controllers for a marionette on a wire or on strings.

At the end of the workshop, students will have a puppet that is ready to carve and a complete understanding of the construction of a marionette.

There will be small group and individual consultations before and after classes.

​We recommend this course for students with experience with building a wooden marionette or extensive building experience. Students must be comfortable working on their own.

It is good if students have access to a drill press and bandsaw but not essential.