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.