Heather had met Darryll, who had been a horseshoer, in the early 1980s. “It has this sort of … purity of the artistic expression,” Heather commented. The do-it-yourself nature of the medium had drawn Heather in. Heather calls this traditional puppetry, noting that each performer would create their own stage, lights, sound, puppets and more. And every one was different, each one was unique. “They would begin to open them up and set up this amazing puppet theatre. So these people would come in from England, say, and they would have a few boxes with them, some suitcases, and they’d set them on the middle of the stage,” Heather explained.
“They brought in international puppeteers. These festivals would invite puppeteers from all across Canada to celebrate the unique art form. Then, as a teenager, she would attend puppetry festivals that were held in Wolfville. Brendyn Creamerįrom there, at the age of 10, Heather began to make her own string puppets. I saw all kinds of puppetry, but I loved the string puppets.”ĭarryll and Heather Taylor showing off their marionettes inside of their puppet wagon. “ The Sound of Music had just come out, and in the (film) there’s marionettes, the Lonely Goatherd,” Heather explained. Heather recalled she first discovered puppetry as a child when she saw a then-recent film that utilized the art in one of its scenes - The Sound of Music. The wagon is a recent addition to their show, having been built in 2019 however, Darryll and Heather’s marionette journey started long before that. Nowadays, they have taken to bringing their show on the road all across Atlantic Canada using their custom-built puppet wagon. The Truro-based puppeteering duo has operated their own puppet theatre company, Maritime Marionettes, since 1986. They’ve toured Canada, the United States, and have even taken their show to parts of Europe and Asia. Darryll and Heather Taylor have taken their marionette show all across the world. Those are the types of strings I and many others use for marionettes.TRURO, N.S. So it’s really just up to you as the puppeteer to decide what kind of string is best for your puppet. I’ve also heard of puppeteers using beading thread or upholstery thread. I’ve had success using heavy-duty sewing thread. So it helps hold it, but it is not totally a permanent situation. The great thing about Duco cement is when you glue the knot, you can also, if you need to take, a needle and undo the knot. So when you glue the knots, they will hold. Sometimes by design, it’s kind of slippery. In addition, I always put glue on my knots with deep-sea fishing line. I don’t find a difference much between how many strands are in there. The deep sea fishing line comes in multiple strands, sometimes four strands or eight strands. So you don’t want it to catch or fray over time and break.Įven though all strings are prone to get broken, this deep-sea fishing line tends to last a lot longer against fraying. At times, you’ll want a string that can slide through the screw eyes like on your running hamstring. And I’ve seen puppeteers use the bright-colored fishing line if there’s an internal mechanism string so that when you work on the puppet, it’s easier to see.Īnd then likewise, if you want the strings to disappear, the idea is to use black string. I always buy black, but you can buy neon or bright colors. So sometimes it draws more attention than just the plain black does not only is deep sea fishing line used for string puppets, but you can also use it for rod puppets.īraided fishing line comes in multiple colors. Puppeteers do use clear fishing wire, although it does reflect light. If it’s a heavy puppet, of course, you want heavy, thick strings to be able to hold it up.Ī school of thought is that the strings are supposed to disappear as much as possible. If it’s a lightweight puppet, you want thin small strings. I’m a big believer of whatever string is right for the puppet should be the string you should use. I found best results of buying different spools and finding which one you like the best. The string brands are different levels of strength, depending on what pound they say they are. I use this for internal joint strings in the Dacron brand. You wouldn’t necessarily use this for stringing.
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