Why We Try

Sometimes I make notes for myself and later I wonder what I meant.

This is my note: “Henson stitch dilemma”.

The context, I know, is puppet making.

This is one of those things you learn when you start figuring out how to make puppets: people are picky about whether or not they can see stitches on your obviously fake sewn together puppet head.

I had no idea there was such a thing, but apparently Jim Henson caused a ruckus in the puppet world with his now-famous stitching method that hides the threads on fuzzy puppet (Muppet!) heads.

Now I’m looking at this phrase in my notes and asking myself: dilemma?

I mean, it sounds good. Maybe that’s all it is. A phrase that catches the ear. Or maybe there’s more to the story.

Oh, you want to see a puppet?

Here’s the dilemma: do you spend your time making’ invisible stitches’, or learning to make your puppet move and talk so that nobody will ever be looking at the seams?

Because puppetry is all about imagination. We want to be involved in the story, not outside looking at the construction. There is magic in puppets.

It’s okay to have button eyes and yarn hair. And no nose. Those glasses have nothing to rest on. Does anybody care? No.

You can do the Henson stitch, or not. Just make your magic puppet.