thrillist

Very few artsy high school extra-curriculars lead to careers, unless you count using improv to craft a convincing story for why your dad needs to give you more money. For teenage artiness that's led to something more stable, check out Don Becker Puppets.

A DC born n' bred marionette-maker who got his start puppeteering in high school, Don's since toured the world building/working his creations, traveling from Israel to Japan string-performing with a symphonic orchestra, and even fulfilling Steven Tyler's request for a personalized doll, presumably to stand in for his other puppet: Brad Whitford. Burned! Molds of the bodies/heads start as polymer clay, and are painstakingly beefed up over a Kevlar wire-frame before being given taxidermist glass eyes and various animal parts (from bones to bird's nests), after which the whole thing's fired in a basic toaster oven, painted, clothed, and strung up to "double airplane controls" -- though if the airplane's American, that might not be enough. His newest masterpieces include a gangly mutant with goldfish bug-eyes and a body wrapped in white sheep's wool; a yellow/greenish zombie-frog standing upright on a lily pad; and an evil mythical warrior decked out with a full black/gold suit of armor, short-sword, a rat skull for a head, and a rattlesnake vertebra for a tail -- ugly, though still not as bad as a rat-tail.

Since you're basically as important as Steven Tyler, Becker'll also work with you to create a custom puppet of yourself, though getting one means you'll need all your stagecraft to convince dad why groceries were hundreds of dollars this week.

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Don is in the process of updating his website, but checkout all his other pieces on his current gallery at dbpuppet.com/gallery.htm