OOAKs (One-of-a-kind)

I spent years developing a range of six-string characters based on archetypes and ideas traditional to the roots of story and contemporary fiction. For each design I would create an edition of 6 to 12 marionettes, each puppet finding its own unique individuality from the variation of colour and materials I used distinct from its predecessor. In this way, a red-haired Faun with bright purple legs would be quite a different character to a more natural Faun with green hair and brown legs. When it came to creating very individual one-off characters, the extra hours given to customisation and specificity was exclusively applied to my larger and more expensive works.

As the years passed and I received more and more orders for bespoke marionettes tailor-made to other people’s ideas, I realised the smaller six-string design was just as effective as my larger puppets in representing them. Because I didn’t have to go to the trouble of creating an articulated ‘skeleton’ for each one, I saved a lot of time and the end results were much more affordable to my customers. The more this occurred, the more I discovered and delighted in the fact that I could make truly beautiful and unique marionettes on a smaller scale without sacrificing any of the details which made them truly one-of-a-kind. Indeed, in many ways, the results were more satisfying artistically than many larger works I would labour over for a much greater amount of time!

And so, after more than twenty years making marionettes, we at the Tribe can offer a truly unique collection of individual OOAKs which better keep pace with the creative tsunami of thoughts and ideas and breakthroughs inherent in our imaginations. The prices may appear a little higher than those we handcraft as part of an edition, but the unique qualities and specificity applied to them as a distinct art form is well worth the extra pennies.

Doll-form approx 15cm tall or
as Marionettes 60cm hanging.

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100% handcrafted puppets, marionettes and interactive effigies by Australia based artists, Sol and Sara.

Our marionettes are very easy to use, have excellent movement and can be used by absolutely anybody from the age of 3 up! Dance them to your music, tell stories from inside you, display them as art or just freak out your friends… Life is a little less vibrant without an interactive effigy to share it!

The hundreds of marionettes we make are individually created so no two are ever the same. If you’d like a specific colour/theme in the ranges we offer, feel free to ask – we will customise it for you! Otherwise, if there is a design you want that we haven’t made yet, contact us with some ideas and support material and we will create one specifically for you.

For more of an idea about us and what we do (and where we’ll be!), make sure to find us on Facebook… “The Squeaking Tribe Workshop” page, or come check out our photo journals on Instagram. 😁

Thanks for dropping by!

Sol & Sara