Old farmer turns scrap into hundreds of electric puppets

(Baonghean.vn) - From discarded items at scrap yards, for nearly 20 years, old farmer Ho Van Than in block 7, Quynh Xuan commune (Hoang Mai town) has successfully created more than 200 puppets of all kinds. More specifically, they are electric puppets that he "programmed" according to the scenes, just "turn on the switch" and hundreds of puppets taking on different roles will operate.

For many years, people in block 7, Quynh Xuan ward often come to Mr. Ho Van Than's house during their free time to watch special electric puppet shows.

Without any formal training, all the puppets were invented and invented by himself. To have the electric puppets work on the puppetry, Mr. Than had to spend months painstakingly researching each character to "program" the movements they had to perform.

Next, he bought raw materials such as fabric, paint, wood, aluminum... and mechanical parts such as gear shafts... to make automatic puppets. Each puppet is a sophisticated product, meticulously shaped. Through his skillful hands, things that were once waste suddenly transformed into unique characters.

The most difficult step is to combine individual puppets into scenes, making sure the movements of the puppets match each other and are lively.

All characters on the puppetry use one main motor, but each character must have a separate sub-motor for its own use.

Using broken electric fan motors and homemade gears, he created the “engine” that powers the puppets and each electric puppet. In the photo, Mr. Than and his son are adjusting the motors and gears in a scene of rowing a boat across the river.

Mr. Than also attached small music tapes that automatically played when the puppets moved. In more complex plays that required large amounts of sound, he played music through a pre-installed speaker system.

Lighting systems, flashing lights... are also installed to increase the appeal and appeal of the plays.

In addition to creating the appearance and gestures of each puppet, he also has to research to make musical instruments or accessories.

He said he took the effort to invent the electric puppetry with the hope that his children and grandchildren would have more space for entertainment, creativity and to better understand this traditional folk art form.

Thanh Quynh