FATHER CHRISTMAS
My good friend in France DAMIEN WIES made himself a stunning Santa puppet and I knew right away I wanted one for my December shows.
I shamelessly used his carved puppet as a reference point for making mine.
Also a bauble from my Christmas tree, and the rather splendid beard my mate Ian had grown.
Inspiration comes from odd sources sometimes.
Paper pulp allows for many layers and alterations to the sculpt.
In fact it's much the best way to work.
Sculpting too thickly too soon would only mean the inside of the pulp may not dry out thoroughly.
As with any of my Punch & Judy figures, a good strong inner glove is the very foundation of a good puppet.
I'm sure I spend about as much time on the inner body as most other makers do on the actual costume.
This part of the process is very important to making a working puppet survive many years of use.
With such a lot of padding needed to give him his proper Santa shape, it's important it is added in jointed layers to still allow body movement.
