Milk Bottle Puppets

Over the past few years I have made a number of puppets masks and sculptures using plastic milk bottles. The combination of interesting shapes, along with the flexibility and durability of the plastic makes them perfect for making simple puppets.

Recently I have been working towards making a selection of Bunraku style puppets based around plastic packaging, here are a couple of experiments:

To begin a new puppet I first make a set of paper templates, pinning them to a piece of wood to test the motion of joints.

Then I was able to pin the templates to milk bottles using the holes made from this testing process. Once the pieces are cut out these holes serve as a guide for drilling holes for bolts.

This is a Knight puppet I made as a Christmas present. Its not really a fully functional puppet, and is intended more as an ornament. It was useful for refining my technique, and as usual I was able to find some fun ways of combining the natural elements of the bottles!

I was particularly pleased with how the feet turned out. Each is made up of 4 separate plastic elements, spaced with nuts and washers along the bolt to give them a layered armor plating effect.

I have been collecting a number of different plastic bottles and tubs whenever its recycling day, so it wont be long before there are some new characters.