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Christopher van Der Craats This is a very traditional puppet. It makes its appearance in the famous Puccini performance and is included in many old European puppet collections. It is simple to make or you can quite easily adapt a puppet to do this act. The puppet is a normal glove puppet except that it has a dowel rod in the hole where the index finger goes. A tube of fine cloth is sewn to the costume and attached to the neck of the puppet. The cloth is fine so that it bunches up neatly when the head is down. The puppet is operated by using the thumb and index finger for the arms and gripping the dowel with the other fingers. To extend the neck you can either use the other hand to lift the head or you can work it so the end of the dowel rests on the play board and by lowering the puppet the head is pushed upwards - this technique requires a shorter dowel. In the illustration I have shown the ghost but typically other, usually exotic looking characters are used. The neck can be extended and lowered to great comic effect. If you do have a hand free you can use one of those whistles that have a sliding stopper for sound effect. I use mine as an introductory puppet. I have it say "Can you see at the back there?" and I stretch its neck suddenly.   To Return To Choices |