Workshops

See final pieces from our 2025-26 Automata Workshops - work from students in our two online courses which have been running from September to April: AUTOMATA FUNDAMENTALS and AUTOMATA ADVANCED.

Find out the secrets of how to design and construct moving eyes for all types of marionettes. After the workshop, make your own prototype with our "recipe" including instructions on how to make a simple version.

I was so excited to make the Frog Marionette Recipe. Mirek provided detailed diagrams with proportions and dimensions. In the video he guides you through the making. This recipe offers three different controller designs which I particularly like as it gives you options as a maker to learn different styles and choose what best suits the needs of your puppet. My frog is a little smaller than Mirek's due to the sizes of wood I had to hand.

See the first session of our Simple Mechanisms Workshop, the opening of our 2025-26 Automata Fundamentals Online Workshop, which took place on September, 2025. Learn to make several simple automata that you can easily make at home with scrap wood, clothespins, and other materials that are easily sourced. Our Automata Fundamentals Course will run from September 2025 to April 2026. It will be taught by Mirek Trejtnar, expert woodcarver, toymaker and automata builder. You can j

Make your own at our next 2-hour online Puppet Recipe. November 9, 7-9 p.m. CET / 1-3 pm EST What do you need to consider when making a controller for your marionette? We will start with the basic Czech-style controllers for a human marionette, including the differences between a puppet on a wire vs. a puppet on strings. Then how to adjust your controller for special movements of hands and feet, moveable jaw, special controllers for trick variety puppets, how to design a cont

Learn the techniques for making this intriguing mechanism at our upcoming Waves Workshop. It is part of our full-year Automata Fundamentals Onlike Workshop, but you can sign up for an individual module. Mechanism by Chesley Cannon, made in our 2024-25 Automata workshop WHEN: November 23 + December 24, 7-9 p.m. Central European Time / 1-3 p.m. EST WHERE: Zoom platform Find out more here!