The first program
The first mascot costume I made was in high school, because I wanted to help the class win the singing competition. The classmates raised money to buy materials, which gave me a chance to make a complete mascot costume. The final result was amazing. The audience cheered for the two mascots when they appeared, and we won the Best Modeling Award. Because my initial experience of making mascot gained a great response, I started to make mascots for many schools and companies. That was the key to the beginning of my puppet making journey.
Where does Master come from?
At the age of sixteen, in order to learn to make Taiwanese puppets, I often ran to the puppet shop to observe the details of the puppets. Sometimes I took few hours to ask questions and back home try to make a production. Finally the puppetry owner keeps me as an apprentice and I learned techniques that how to make the Taiwanese puppets. I think if you are willing to invest time and effort, you will get recognition and help.
Actually, it's quite difficult to find a puppet master to teach you, and sometimes you must rely on your own exploration. However, puppet making technique must cover a wide range of fields, such as painting, sculpture, costume technology, chemical industry, and mold casting. Materials are changing with each passing day. Only by expanding your heart and mind you can keep moving forward. During the eighteen years that I have been involved with puppets making, as long as I meet seniors or experts, I will try my best to learn from them and actively participate in study courses.
From Individual to Team
My studio was known only by word of mouth, and more and more chances were being given to me to make puppets. I often sleep for only a few hours every night. I go to school to study art and costume related technologies in the morning, and make customs and puppets at night. On weekend, I work in the theater to have the opportunity to see how other people make props, costumes, and puppets. After such a busy life for several years, I finally realized that I need a team to help me to go further.So some people came to ask me about the production of my puppets or to show their interest in puppets, I simply pulled them into my team.
Future prospects
In the sixteen years that I have researched in the field of puppets, I have been contacted with many different countries puppet builders, puppeteer and strange puppets, including professional and non-professionals. Everyone enjoying the happy time with puppet together, I feel very fortunate to meet these noble people whom willing to give me guidance, so I also hope to share my experience with those who are interested in puppet making.
Now, in addition to the teaching of the workshop, my puppet making process is also recorded as a reference book. Sometimes participate sharing lecture and communicate with the same interested parties, hope more and more people can join this interesting work.