More Misc. Marionettes - Juggles the Clown

Juggles began his life with the Silver Ball that I came across and kept in my "Goodies" box for some future use. I always knew it would be the ball that some puppet incarnation would "juggle" as it was so perfect for the job. Over a decade passed before I needed to create a juggling puppet for BOB ABDOU ( MR. PUPPET ) of Austin, Texas.

The result was one of the loosest and goofiest marionettes I have ever constructed. His moves come so naturally that he practically does the act himself. When a puppet responds like that it is a real treasure. Bob has been using Juggles in his variety act for many years now.

The concept is simple. The ball has a hole drilled in it's top and bottom. A short length of plastic tubing is epoxied inside for the strings to channel through. Then, wherever you want the ball to balance; hands, toe, nose, etc. a string must be attached and a separate control rod used to jerk the strings in just the right order to make the ball move naturally from place to place. It takes a good deal of skill to perform this number, which  MR PUPPET  possesses in abundance, but Juggles is so loosly jointed that he responds perfectly every time with that goofy yet very proud expression on his face.

My original controller was simple, but a bit clumsy. Bob created a newer and I must admit better control which allowed each separate move to be independantly made for smoother manipulation. The kids at the performance in the last photo seem enrapt, so it must work. Bob has some videos on YouTube...just type in "Mr. Puppet" to see several examples of his expert work with all types of puppets.