🎙72-Steven Barkley


👉Puppeteer behind Diabolo Puppets who designs and manufactures quality hand puppets and available in multiple stores around Canada and online on Etsy.

ABOUT HIM
Diabolo Puppets is a small company based in Laval, Quebec. It was founded in 1992 by designer/owner Steven Barkley, who has been making puppets since childhood.

At the age of 10, inspired by his admiration for Jim Henson and the Muppets, Steven Barkley started making puppets to entertain himself and his friends:

“I used whatever materials I could find around the house, including mop heads and scrap fabrics from my mother’s sewing room. My grandmother used to get various fabrics for me. She’d collect all the fake fur pieces, wigs, old tuxedos and ballroom dresses she could find from the donations made by wealthy people living at McGregor Place in Montreal. Now, I work mostly with acrylic fun fur, blanket fleece and foam, which I cut from original patterns that I have designed. I assemble my puppets using a sewing machine, and then add details by hand. In 1992, I started Diabolo Puppets, my own small craft company dedicated to designing and manufacturing quality hand puppets. In 2013 Diabolo Puppets is still going strong in my basement studio in Laval, Quebec. I sell mainly at craft shows (including the One of a Kind Show in Toronto, the Salon des Métiers d’art in Montreal, Circle Craft in Vancouver), online and to select independent toy stores across Canada.”
— Steven Barkley.

Materials: Our puppets are made with colourful, acrylic plush fur and acrylic fleece. The plastic eyeballs are securely fastened with metal washers and meet child-safety requirements. Knotted acrylic yarn antennae and arms on the bugs are stitched into reinforced seams so they cannot be pulled off.

Care: Our puppets are washable. Use a gentle wash cycle, turn them inside out to protect the eyeballs from scratches, squeeze the squeaker to expel any water and line-dry them. (Very high heat from a dryer could melt the plastic squeaker and eyeballs). When they are dry, lightly brush the fur to fluff it up again. Do not brush the fleece.

Learn more about him at :
WEBSITE: https://diabolopuppets.ca/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/DiaboloPuppets
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/diabolopuppets/
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCErPnJhiH1YXwonMRaPh2rg
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/diabolo_puppets


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