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Fellowship of Christian Magicians
(United Kingdom) |
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Fellowship of Christian Magicians
(United Kingdom) |
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The original idea for this
puppet stage was taken from another Christian web site but several
innovations have been made to the original.
The puppet stage is constructed from 32mm plastic plumbing pipe and push fit connectors, to make it easy to assemble and also to take apart. To make it easier for you to see the construction we have used copper coloured connectors. |
| The simple stage shown, is constructed of a front panel plus two side panels. All the panels are the same size but the two side panels differ slightly from the front panel, in the way that the connectors are fitted. There is also a back panel which fits on top of the rear of each side panel. |
 Front Panel |
 Side Panel |
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The front panel uses four T connectors, fitted together as shown. The side panel is the same, apart from the top left hand connector. This is fitted so that the backdrop can be fitted after assembly and covering. You will also see in this picture, at the top right, how a 45 degree connector is fitted to connect to the front panel. Two of these 45 degree connectors are used for each side, one at the top and one at the bottom. 6 - upright lengths of pipe are required, each 46 3/4 inches long 6 - cross pieces of pipe are required, each 31 1/2 inches long 10 - short stubs of pipe, each 3 inches long are required to connect panels 4 - long backdrop pieces of pipe are required approx. 45 inches long 2 - short uprights pieces of pipe are required for the backdrop 14 - T connectors are required 4 - 45 degree connectors are required 2 - straight through connectors are required for backdrop cross pieces 2 - 90 degree connectors are required for top of backdrop To cover the front and side frames, we have used single size continental quilt covers. The stitches at the open end of each cover have to be unpicked so that you have the full width as an opening to slide the frames into. One of the top corners at the opposite end of each quilt cover, has to be upicked for about three inches. This is to enable you to push the upright of the T connector through it to attach the backdrop when the front and side panels have been assembled. You can stitch round the edges of these holes to make sure that they do not fray. |
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This picture shows how two 3 inch stubs, are fitted to the 45 degree connectors. If a wider theatre was required, with an extra front panel and sides square to the front, then 90 degree connectors would be used instead. An extra side panel would also be required each side to make the structure more stable. This would also give you the ability to have two backdrops of different heights and also extra space for more puppeteers. |
| A 45 degree connector is shown to the right, joining two of the panels. |  |
| The front panel is shown, connected to the two side panels by the 45 degree connectors. If extra stability is required then short stubs of pipe could be inserted into the vacant hole on the lower rear side panel T connectors and weights or sandbags could be placed across them. If you wished to do this then two extr holes would need to be made in the quilts,to accommodate these extra tubes |  |
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This picture shows how the joined frames are slid into the quilt covers. The stubs for the backdrop panel are clearly seen sticking up on each side panel. If this small stage is being built then the two quilts will overlap on the front panel. This makes the front even more opaque as there will then be 4 layers of the material to hide thepupeteers. |
| 2 x 90 degree connectors are used on the top corners of the backdrop |  |
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A straight through connector, is used to join the two sections of each backdrop crosspiece. The backdrop panel helps to give the puppet stage it's rigidity. A board can be fixed to the two cross pieces, using pipe saddles. |
| An alternative is to drape a blanket or sheet over them and pin pictures or scenery on as in the picture on the right. |  |
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As you can see, the puppet stage will easily take two or three adult puppeteers. We used coloured quilt covers, as we got them at a special sale price but it would probably be better to use dark blue covers, so that the covers did not clash with or detract from the puppets and the scenery. |
| The panels on our puppet theatre when assembled are 52
inches high as the connectors add height to the uprights. We used
push fit connectors to build our stage but you could use glued joints for
some of the connectors if it didn't need to be broken down so far or if
the theatre was going to be a permanent fixture. You could also
make some of the connectors, such as the straight through connectors on
the backdrop more secure by drilling a hole at each end through pipe and
connector and fitting a bolt with a wing nut.
This puppet stage or puppet theatre is very easy to build and is ultra light weight. Even with the backdrop and covers fitted you can easily lift it with one hand. |
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Revised: July 29, 2007.
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