![]() For some feminine characters that must be able to dance, two other sticks jut out perpendicularly from each extremity of the principal stick, supporting the hand and arm strings with, for some controls, a small crossbar at the end, enabling the puppeteer to position the puppet’s hands. In Sri Lanka, the control is reduced to a horizontal stick about 40 centimetres long, with suspension strings running from the edges of the stick down to the puppet’s head and other strings attached to other points along the control. With this configuration, modifying the string simply requires untwining the top strings to undo the knot. Another trick for repairing or modifying the length of a string involves using two strings entwined at the control, with a small, tight loop, 10 or 15 centimetres further down, through which another string connecting to the puppet can be knotted. Other strings can be attached to the front of the control, if the mouth or the eyes are mobile, or at the back if the character is supposed to lean, assisted by strings attached to the area of the lower back. The manipulator chooses one string out of the five possible, takes it in his hand and moves it in the direction of the movement he desires to enact. All the other strings are placed directly onto the control: they are looped from one elbow to the other, one hand to the other, one knee to the other, one heel to the other. The suspension strings attached to the puppet’s back are fixed to the extremities of the bottom of the H, whilst the strings attached to various points in the head are attached to the extremities of the top of the H. The Burmese, for instance, have found a way to control a puppet with a horizontal piece of wood in the shape of an H (or a T) that is a mere 10 centimetres long. However, if we follow this principle to the letter, controls would become somewhat gigantic. The control is made up of levers of all sizes that move around their axis: the longer the arm of the lever, the larger the effect on the string, and thus, the greater the movement of the animated element. Without disregarding various traditional puppet control shapes, the task of creating a control involves addressing problems of applied physics, taking into account the force exerted vertically by gravity proportional to the mass of the puppet to be manipulated (hence the ballasting of certain parts with lead) as well as the amplitude of the movement it is to be given. After this, there is the fabrication of the puppet, and then of the control, whose constitutive elements can be modified during the process of ensecrètement, a French term referring to the operation involved in the placing of the strings, named thus for the epoch when puppeteers, desiring to keep their knowledge to themselves or within their profession, made a vow of secrecy to keep this part of their work secret (see Secrecy). ![]() The latter technical decision determines the length of the strings. The construction of a string puppet starts with its aesthetic conception, the deciding of its capabilities and the choice of scenography, such as the height of the stage or puppet booth’s play-stage, or in the absence of this, of the height from which the visible manipulation takes place. The simplest of string puppets – like the Rajasthani kathputli of India – do not possess controls: in this case, a looped string is attached to the lower back and the head of the puppet, and is held directly by the puppeteer. In this case, it is attached to the manipulation handle or mounted onto a pivot, and situated on the upper end of the rod. It is commonly regarded as being essentially used for string puppets, but it can also be used to operate certain rod marionettes. The control is also referred to as a “cross brace”. ![]() These pieces, which serve to control the puppet, can be made of wood, metal or a plastic material and can contain bits of leather, rubber or springs. The sum of fixed or mobile pieces used to attach the strings of a puppet, to suspend it, and to manipulate its different parts.
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