How to Make a Homemade Fairy Puppet
Children hear fairy tales from parents, grandparents, teachers, caregivers and media from the time they are little. Fairy tales are classic stories of derring-do with good overcoming evil. These tales often include fairy creatures. Children hear about, read or watch stories that include fairies from Sleeping Beauty and Peter Pan to the Tooth Fairy. Fairies are seemingly fragile, ethereal spirits that help others in time of need. Make a fairy dance and fly by creating a homemade fairy marionette puppet .
Things You'll Need
- Fairy illustrations
- Card stock
- Scissors
- Hole punch
- Brads
- Glitter
- Gauze
- Paint
- Beads
- Yard or cord
- 12-inch dowel rod or ruler
Instructions
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1
Select a clear picture of a fairy facing forward. In order to create a fairy puppet marionette, you need to start with the full body illustration of a fairy. Look for illustrations in which the arms are out from the body, not crossed in front. Depending upon the size of the marionette you wish to create, you may need to enlarge the illustration.
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Copy a full front picture of a fairy onto card stock and cut out the picture. Carefully cut arms from the body. Also cut the head from the body. Separating the pieces will give the fairy the ability to move at your direction once put back into place.
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3
Restructure the fairy puppet. Glue a 3-inch-long, 1-inch-wide strip to the back of both arms and the head. The strips should protrude from the arms and head. Once the glue dries, set the arms and head in place with the strips behind the body.
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4
Punch holes through both the body and the strips in the appropriate places. Attach with brads. You now have a fairy with movable head and arms.
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Color the fairy puppet marionette. If you copied an outline of a fairy, this is the time to use paint, glitter (especially on the wings) and shiny beads to turn the fairy into an eye-catching puppet figure. You can also add a thin gauze fabric to the gown and wings.
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Pick how long you want the marionette strings to be, or how high above the fairy you can be and still control your puppet. Measure this distance and cut yarn or thin cord this distance plus 6 inches. Punch holes through the ends of the arms and the top of the puppet's head. Thread the yarn or cord through the holes, knotting them in the back where they won’t be seen by the audience.
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7
Cut a 12-inch length from a dowel rod or use a foot-long ruler for the marionette control bar. Run the strings to the rod and tie in place. Tie the arm strings on either end of the rod. Tie the string that controls the head in the center.
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Practice working the rod bar of the homemade fairy puppet marionette until it moves and dances at your direction. Put on a show for your family.
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References
- Photo Credit Zedcor Wholly Owned/PhotoObjects.net/Getty Images
