Puppet Suppliers

NZ Puppet Suppliers

NZ Puppets Karen Bennett lives in Whakatane, New Zealand, and runs www.nzpuppets.co.nz from home. She imports Sunny Puppets from the manufacturers in the US and sells them on her website and on www.TradeMe.co.nz. (Check TradeMe for cheaper prices!) Her range of attractive, friendly-looking puppet characters is currently limited to full-body puppets, which I am comfortable with for Ventriloquism but not for use in a puppet theatre. (This is a matter of preference, of course.) You will want to check that the puppet you purchase meets Convention Guidelines regarding dress standards.
Karen has experience in puppet ministry in churches and Bible in Schools programs. She takes workshops for Bible in Schools teachers showing them how to communicate the Scriptures through puppets and drama.
Contact her through her website or by emailing Karen@nzpuppets.co.nz

The Kiwi Puppet Company sells adorable animal hand puppets with beak, wings, and feathers or ears, fur, and tail. Approximately 30cm in size, they look like cuddly soft-toys and are full of character. Average price of NZ$ 30 per puppet. They specialize in New Zealand native birds and possums, but the range includes Lamb, Pig, Crocodile/Alligator, Spider, Ladybird, Fluffy Duck, Cat, Hen, and Hedgehog. See www.KiwiPuppet.co.nz

iQ TOYS sells charming marionettes Quintus the Dragon and Marius the Knight, and also the Kiwi and the Possum from The Kiwi Puppet Company. www.iqtoys.co.nz

www.TradeMe.co.nz and international auction sites such as www.eBay.com are good places to find second-hand puppets. Setting up an account is free and once you have that, you can set up a search which will send you automatic emails detailing puppets for sale. After running a search for about 3 weeks on TradeMe, I located and purchased a darling blue parrot in excellent condition for only NZ$7.50. No doubt I'll be creating a script for him soon and adding his picture to the album on this site. ; )

Note: If you need to do a quick currency conversion, www.x-rates.com/calculator.html allows you to choose the currency locale and then does the calculation for you using up-to-date exchange rates.


International Puppet Suppliers

One Way Street is a US supplier with a huge variety of attractive people puppets, animals, special characters, and ventriloquism puppets in a range of prices. They also sell theatres, scripts, music, and training materials. Have a browse at www.onewaystreet.com/category/puppetry

Puppetorium has a great range of attractive puppets -- full body, half body, marionnettes, and hand puppets. Buy a Poly Puppet for 25% less and dress it yourself. Check out the full body puppet that can do sign language. Amazing costumes, varied characters, and special puppet props - check out the spectacles, and the wheelchair and crutches! Several theatres to choose from. Free scripts for practice -- I didn't see any that would be suitable for Convention. Remember to check the sales page. Have a browse at www.puppetorium.com.

The online store operates in US$, but they also have outlet stores in Canada and the UK. Puppetorium would love to have a store in Australia or New Zealand to carry their products. They appreciate any referrals.

www.PuppetPartners.com is associated with Puppetorium. You can view a large range of attractive puppets here, or you can order your own custom-made puppets.

PuppetsForMinistry at www.puppetsforministry.com offers Sewing Patterns so you can make your own puppets.
The largest design, called a talking puppet, is 28" with a moving mouth and full body. Only 8 pattern pieces and the original design has no gluing, no cardboard and just one small piece of 1/2" foam in the mouth. You operate the movable mouth through an opening in the back of the puppet in the shoulder area . Head and body are stuffed with fiberfill. Includes clothing patterns for 8 piece wardrobe. PuppetsForMinistry also offers patterns for large hand puppets, and some free patterns which you can download and print at home. This company is located in the USA.

If you know of any full or half-body talking puppets being made or sold from stores in the South Pacific, please email kyriellepublishing(at)xtra.co.nz !