Hobey Ford

Puppeteer/builder Hobey Ford with a rod puppet bird from Hobey Ford’s Golden Rod Puppets.

I’ve been doing a lot of puppetry-related research this summer and I’ve become very interested in the work of Hobey Ford, a puppeteer from North Carolina probably best known for inventing Peepers, but who also builds and performs the most amazing rod puppets you’ll ever see. They are just absolutely incredible. Video from his show Hobey’s Golden Rod Puppets is available online and if you can track down a copy, you can see how he designs and builds a show in Turtle Island Tales: The Puppetry Art of Hobey Ford (I think the PofA has it available in their A/V library).

And if you’re interesting in learning how to build rod puppets similar to Hobey’s, Sean Johnson is starting up a rod puppet tutorial at Puppet 101 (coincidentally, Sean mentioned Hobey yesterday and has apparently been taught by him).