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How to Assemble a Marionette

A marionette is a puppet, controlled from above, through the use of wires or strings. Turning a puppet into a marionette can be rewarding as a personal hobby or something to entertain your children. Many puppeteers sculpt or carve out their own marionettes and can add as many as 12 strings to help animate the desired puppet movement. Traditional marionettes are controlled with only four strings, to imitate movement in the legs and arms. These are the easiest marionettes to string and to learn to operate when first starting out with this particular hobby. Assembling a four-point traditional marionette can be done with little difficulty.

Things You'll Need

Measuring tape
Controller
Marionette pieces
Linen string
Small eye-screws
Scissors

Instructions

- 1
  Hang your marionette controller on a sturdy support hook to keep it level and in place. The controller should be hung at the same distance to the floor that you would be using when operating the puppet.
- 2
  Measure the exact distance from the securing points of the puppet's relaxed appendages to the controller. This will be the length of your strings. Cut them a few inches longer to allow for tying knots but ensure that both arm strings are of equal length and that both leg strings match up as well.
- 3
  Tie arm strings around the thumbs or use small eye-screws and fasten them to the puppet hands. You can place them at any position to allow for your desired movement. Try placing them at different points to see which movement you would like to use. Tie the other end of the strings to the corresponding side of the controller, i.e., the left arm is tied to the left-side cross of the controller.
- 4
  Tie leg strings to the knees by placing eye-screws on the top of the knee, where it meets the thigh. This point will make your puppet's knees come up and down in a running motion. You can position your strings at different points along the legs just as with the arms to pick your favorite movement. Tie the other end of the string at different points on the controller to see which movement you like best. Arm movements should only be tied at the left and right cross but leg movements can be tied arbitrarily.

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