Planning, designing, construction

construction of a marionette

 

 

The center of gravity

“Every movement, he said, had a center of gravity; it would be sufficient to position this within the body of the figure; the limbs which were nothing but pendulums, followed mechanically by their own accord, without the puppet-master having to do anything else.“

Heinrich von Kleist, About the Marionette Show

 



In many regards, a marionette is like a good violin. Its quality only reveals itself when it is played. Its construction calls for skill, care and knowledge.

  • Not only the technical but also the artistic aspects are to be observed.
  • The Pendel workshop
  • Technical design illustrates proportions, the size of the limbs, and articulations. The artistic draft sketches styling and colouring.
  • Marlene Gmelin
  • All parts are cut and fitted together again and again
  • A well-designed hand brings the play to life
  • To save weight, the head is often made of multiple layers of extremly, lightweight woodbased material.
  • Visible joints, however, are a challenge for the marionette maker.
  • In every movement and every posture which the marionette is able to adopt, the two segments that meet at the joint should form a smooth match, both physically and visually.
  • Connecting the strings often involves a time-consuming search for the correct fixing points.
  • Provided the marionette maker observes the points outlined above, the marionette’s movements will appear completely natural, and all possibility of grotesque, unnatural movements will be ruled out.