Living life on the lines

He's a local version of Jim Henson, entertaining young and old with a large, non-human cast of characters.

In a 3,300-sq ft warehouse space in the MacPherson Industrial Complex, he lovingly moulds, sands and sews puppets.

Mr Frankie Yeo, 50, is one of the few puppet makers here and Henson - the man behind The Muppets and Sesame Street - is one of Mr Yeo's heroes.

In the past 18 years, he has made more than 1,000 puppets - from tiny marionettes (those held by string) to hand puppets to giants up to 4m tall.

He creates them out of latex, wood, resin and paper. Their strings are made from fishing line and their hair from synthetic fur.

Hundreds of puppets are displayed on the racks and shelves in his showroom.

In his workshop, the smell of glue fills the air as box upon box of rivets, rubber stoppers, various tapes and dyes vie for space. Tables are filled with puppet "body parts", which Mr Yeo calls his "unborn babies".

Machines, such as a drill press, sander, electric saw and airbrush, are quiet for the moment.

Says Mr Yeo: "A lot of people think puppets are only for children, but creating them actually takes energy and imagination. You have to be both a designer and a craftsman."

"The problem with that is that the puppets can be costly, and they may not be what you want."

Mr Yeo, who is married and lives with his wife in Woodlands, doesn't have children.

Puppet-making, he says, draws heavily from the fine arts, requiring a knowledge of sculpting, fashion, theatrics and scripting.

It's strange that Mr Yeo, who used to be an aircraft mechanic, ended up in this business.

"The only connection I had with the arts was that I worked with paint and chemicals," he says.

He picked up puppet-making only in 1995 by teaching himself and experimenting with various materials and designs.

Two years later, he performed with his puppets at a friend's birthday party. One of the guests invited him to perform at another event and from there, he just kept getting gigs.

In 2003, he started the company Mascots And Puppets Specialist and went into puppet and mascot-making full-time.

The company has three other full-time staff members - two to make and repair the puppets, and one to handle the sales and marketing.

This year alone, he has done 70 performances at schools, libraries, birthday parties and company events.

Theatre companies also commission him to make puppets for their productions.

His prices range from $400 for a simple hand puppet to $1,800 for a marionette to $3,000 for a giant puppet.

Among his most memorable creations is a 4m-tall, 30kg plant puppet - the man-eating Audrey II in the 2006 production of Little Shop of Horrors.

He says: "It was my first giant puppet for a theatre show and the first puppet I created specifically for a mature audience. "I was also manipulating the puppet during the show. It was an unforgettable experience."

Four years ago, Mr Yeo made a 5m-tall puppet of Sang Nila Utama for the National Day Parade. Made of wood and fabric, it took four people to operate.

Mr Yeo also created 2m-tall puppets for the Youth Olympic Games in 2010.

After the shows, big puppets like these are often left with Mr Yeo, who is happy to keep them in the warehouse. "They are my babies," he says. "How can I throw them away?"

One of his dreams is to open a permanent puppet theatre-cum-museum to showcase the history of Singapore's puppets.

Ideally, he says, visitors should be able to watch a puppet show, participate in a workshop and bring home their own puppet.

But such a venue, he estimates, would cost around $2 million to set up and run for five years.

"Currently, there's no place for students to come and learn about puppets," he says.

"For now, I will just have to go to them."

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