His actual name is William Walther, but many know him as “The Puppet Man”, “The Toy Man”, and even Santa Claus.

During the week of Jan. 8-11, Walther was at Hines Middle School (HMS) teaching students the art of making hand puppets as part of the artist-in-residence program funded by a Studio to School grant through the Oregon Community Foundation.

Using Styrofoam balls and trays, colored butcher paper, and wheat paste, Walther showed the students how to create fairy-tale characters as puppets.

While she worked, sixth-grader Maddy Childress explained the puppet-making process.

She said you start with the Styrofoam ball, adding bits of the Styrofoam tray to get the shape of the head, ears, and other features for the character’s head.

“Then, you crinkle the paper a bunch of times to make it smooth, tear it into small pieces, dip the pieces into the paste, and stick them on the ball,” Childress said. “Then you smear more

paste over the top of the paper, and just keep doing that until it’s the color you want.”

From there, students began placing the eyes, earrings, smiles, and other unique features to their characters.

Each puppet head has a finger hole drilled into the bottom to control movements once the puppet is finished.

The puppet skins are being sewn by the HMS home economics class this year, and they will be colored with markers to complete the puppets.

Walther, who’s taught at each of the schools in Burns and Hines throughout the years, said he’s always enjoyed working with the students.

Now 72, Walther said he started down a creative path when he was in the fourth or fifth grade. He explained that he was asked to decorate the school bulletin board and realized that he was good at it.

In the early 1970s, Walther was working as the manager of Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in Salem when employees

gave him a hand puppet for a present. Using the gift as inspiration, Walther began making his own puppets.

For his first outing, Walther took a sample of his wares to the Portland Saturday Market where he didn’t sell a single one.

Unfazed, Walther figured people wanted more choices, so he made more puppets of different colors, shapes, and sizes. He sold a few of his wares during his next outing.

Eventually, Walther set up a puppet shop in Cannon Beach. While he was there, a teacher asked whether he’d be interested in teaching the craft to students. Knowing he couldn’t bring 30 or so sewing machines into the school to teach students how to make fur puppets, Walther developed the Styrofoam method.

“I needed something the kids could do in the classroom,” Walther said. “Using the Styrofoam and paper, kids from kindergarten to college can create their own puppets.”

Along with puppets of all shapes and sizes, Walther makes marshmallow shooters, bows and arrows for children,

wooden swords and shields, and other items. He starts working on the creations soon after the new year arrives.

Each year, he attends a number of art festivals, shows, and markets to sell his wares. He also plans to have a booth at Obsidian Days at Hines City Park this summer.

Toy and puppet making isn’t the only way that Walther brings smiles to children’s faces. He’s also played Santa in the Bend area for nearly 30 years, and he’s working on his seventh children’s book.

Walther and his wife, Emma, moved to Burns from La Pine a couple weeks ago. They’re busy settling into their home, where Walther’s castle is highlighted in the picture window. The castle took about 300 hours to

make, with attention paid to every detail.

Much like Saint Nicholas, Walther’s eyes twinkle when he talks about his work, and a smile is never far behind.

“At my age, you’ve got to keep a sense of humor,” he said. “I’ve been blessed. Spending my time making toys and puppets, being around kids, and writing books, I’ve been truly blessed.”

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