The Puppets
The “stage” is now complete, and it remains but to make the grotesque little puppets that perform upon it.
Pride of place must be given, of course, to the redoubtable Punch himself.
The most difficult part of this puppet to construct is the head. There are very few boys skillful enough to carve out the correct features from an ordinary block of wood; therefore they must find some other foundation upon which to work. A Dutch doll, to be purchased at any toyshop for a few cents, serves splendidly. Whilst the reader is in the toyshop buying the one doll, he may as well extend his order to about a dozen more; not only are they useful for making Punch, but their stony countenances can be transformed into those of Judy or any of the other characters.
The dolls should all be decapitated, and have their hands and feet removed as well. One of the heads must then be selected, and the little snub nose taken off with a sharp knife. A semicircular line should next be penciled right across the lower part of the face, and all the wood below this line cut away to the depth of 1⁄8 inch or so ([Fig. 8]). A “false” chin is to go here, whilst a “false” nose must adorn the spot whence the original member was removed.
Fig. 8.—Preparing Punch’s face.
Fig. 9.—Punch’s nose and chin.
Both nose and chin can be whittled from separate pieces of wood—the doll’s discarded body will do. [Fig. 9] shows the shape they should assume. When both have been carved to the reader’s satisfaction, they must be glued firmly in their respective positions, and the joints hidden by a few judicious touches of the paint-brush.
Fig. 10.—Pattern for Punch’s coat.
Fig. 11.—Mr. Punch.
In the case of the nose, a small tag of wood must be left, as in [Fig. 9], and a hole bored in the head to receive it. This will make the joint more secure than if it were simply glued, and as Punch’s nose receives more than its fair share of knocks, the precaution of having it firmly fixed is not altogether an unwarrantable one.
The adjusting of the “false” nose and chin is by no means a simple task, requiring, as it does, considerable ingenuity. But on the whole it will be found much easier than having to carve the entire face.
The clothing of Punch is best left in the hands of the reader’s mother or sister. Although it is astonishing what a boy can do with needle and thread when necessity puts him to the trial, making the tiny suit of scarlet calls for an amount of patience and a carefulness over detail that only a lady can be relied upon to exercise.
[Fig. 10] shows the pattern for Punch’s coat. The cloth selected for the garment must be folded double, cut to the pattern given, then hemmed round the edges as indicated by the dotted lines. The sleeves are made separately, being afterwards sewn into position on the jacket.
When the reader’s mother or sister has finished the little scarlet coat, Punch’s head must be glued by its neck into the collar, a lace frill being afterwards attached to finish off the joint neatly. The hands from the Dutch doll should next be glued into the sleeves, and smaller frills similarly attached.
Before the head is stuck in position, however, a hole must be bored in the base of the neck just large enough to admit the tip of the forefinger.
For Punch’s nether garments two cylinders of cloth only are necessary. The feet from the Dutch doll must be glued into one end of each cylinder, whilst the other ends should be sewn individually inside the front of the coat.
A conical hat must next be made, and either glued or tacked to the head. After the hump has been well stuffed with wadding, Punch should have assumed an appearance similar to that of the gentleman depicted in [Fig. 11].