How to Make a Puppet Display Rack

If you or your child has a collection of hand puppets, you know that they make great decorations as well as fun toys. Puppets can be displayed on individual stands or over drinking glasses of the right height, but you can also build a custom rack to display your puppets all in one place. You can customize the rack in appearance with wood stain, paint and other decorative touches. If all of your puppets are classic fairy tale characters, the rack might be decorated with images of woods or castles. Puppets designed as Shakespearean characters might rest on a rack decorated to look like a stage.

Things You'll Need

• Wood base, 4 inches thick by 6 inches wide, in the length you desire for the rack
• Drill
• Dowels, 2 inches in diameter
• Saw
• Sandpaper
• Wood glue
• Paint, stain, etc. (optional)

Instructions

1. Buy a piece of wood that is 4 inches thick by 6 inches wide and cut it to the length you want the rack to be. Depending on the size of the puppets, allow up to six inches for each puppet. Sand the wood so that the ends and surfaces are smooth.

2. Drill holes into the wood that are 2 inches deep and 2 inches in diameter. Sand out the holes so that they are smooth and free of shavings and dust. Depending on the size of each puppet, drill the holes up to six inches apart. For smaller puppets, the holes can be closer together. You want to be able to display each puppet without it overlapping too much with the puppets on either side of it.

3. Cut the dowels into lengths as tall as the puppets are high. The puppets will rest on the dowels. Sand the dowels to make them smooth and even on the surface and ends.

4. Apply wood glue to the holes in the wood base and insert the dowels into the holes. Allow the glue to dry.

5. Sand the rack and clean it with a damp cloth. When the rack is dry, stain, paint or varnish it however you like. When the paint is dry, place the puppets on the dowels to display them.