The Golden Fish – A Handmade Puppet Show with a Pop-Up Book Stage

A Stage Hidden Inside a Book

The Golden Fish is a puppet play adapted from a classic fable. It tells the story of a poor fisherman and his wife who catch a magical golden fish that offers to grant their wishes. Their desires grow from a small house to a grand estate, then a palace—and finally, they wish to rule the world. In the end, the fish takes back everything, returning them to their humble beginnings.

I wanted to capture the story’s charm and meaning using a pop-up book stage and marionette puppets.

📖 Stage Design: A Book That Becomes a Stage

The entire stage is built inside a large, foldable pop-up book. Each turn of a page shifts the scene as the story progresses:

• Page 1: The Fisherman’s Village
  A peaceful coastal scene with a small wooden hut under coconut trees. Strips of fish are hung to dry on lines. It’s a modest but content life.
• Page 2: A New House
  A neat brick house with a wooden fence. The couple’s first wish has come true.
• Page 3: The Estate
  A sprawling estate with high walls and a garden—more space, more wealth.
• Page 4: The Palace
  A golden royal palace with tall towers and arches, symbolizing power and endless ambition.

https://youtube.com/shorts/A_8W7EV1NZ0?si=doSZFQ_dSaGIjTQ1

The pop-up book format makes it easy to change the stage instantly, giving a strong visual rhythm to the rising greed in the story.

🧵 Puppet Design: Wool Faces, Clay Bodies

The puppets are string-controlled marionettes made from a mix of materials.

• Bodies are sculpted from lightweight clay over wire frames, allowing stable movement and a handmade feel.
• Heads were originally made of clay, but I faced some challenges:
  
• Expressions looked stiff.
• Clay was fragile and easily damaged.
• The heads were too heavy, affecting the puppet’s balance.
  

I decided to switch to needle-felted wool for the heads. This material allowed me to:

• Shape soft and detailed expressions,
• Keep the weight light for better control,
• Improve durability during performance.

This combination—clay body + wool head—gave me both structure and emotion.

🐟 The Golden Fish: Light and Magical

The golden fish needed to feel otherworldly. I crafted her from air-dry clay, with separate body sections connected by wire joints to allow a natural swaying motion.

To enhance her magical look, I used colored cellophane for the fins, catching and reflecting light in subtle ways on stage.

I didn’t use golden wool or sequins—instead, I let the fish’s movement and materials do the storytelling.

🎭 Creating with Limits: A Learning Process

Designing The Golden Fish was about making the most of small spaces and simple materials. The project taught me how to:

• Build a flexible stage inside a book,
• Match materials with character and movement,
• Let simplicity support a deeper story.

Sometimes, the most important creative decisions come from limitations. Like changing the puppet heads from clay to wool—it wasn’t just practical, it brought the characters to life.

 

✨ This show is now complete and has been shared in small performances. I hope to bring it to more audiences in the future.

If you’re interested in puppet theatre, handmade stage design, or pop-up storytelling, I’d love to connect and exchange ideas.