Muppet Style Puppets

Built by Former Henson's People. Replicated by Us. Improved in the Process.

Commission: Away Resorts | Scratch & Lucy | Muppet Style Puppet Replication & Development

The Brief

Away Resorts' beloved puppet characters Scratch and Lucy were originally created by former employees of the Jim Henson Creature Shop — the most celebrated puppet workshop in the world, responsible for the Muppets, the Sesame Street characters, and some of the most enduring puppet work in television history.

When Away Resorts needed multiple copies of Scratch and Lucy to serve their growing estate, they came to Creature Encounters. The brief was precise and demanding in equal measure: replicate the characters exactly — same aesthetics, same performer fit, same feel — but make multiple copies, and make them to the same standard as the originals.

The Challenge

Replicating another maker's work is a particular kind of challenge. The brief is not to interpret or improve — it is to understand, deeply and exactly, what the original maker did and why, and then to do it again. That requires a forensic deconstruction of the original character: the materials, the mechanisms, the proportions, the decisions made and those avoided.

With characters originally built by Henson's Creature Shop alumni, that deconstruction was a genuinely fascinating process — an opportunity to absorb a significant body of institutional knowledge, embedded in the physical construction of the puppets themselves. Every joint, every foam density, every mechanism told a story about how those makers thought about performance.

We listened carefully.

The Build

Working from the original characters as reference, we deconstructed their construction in order to replicate it — absorbing the institutional knowledge embedded in the originals while making our own refinements where appropriate. The most significant technical development was our first use of 3D design and printing to exactly replicate the characters' eyes — a precision tool that allowed us to match the originals at a level of accuracy that would have been extremely difficult to achieve through traditional fabrication alone.

The result was a set of Muppet-style puppet characters that matched the originals aesthetically, offered performers continuity of fit and feel, and incorporated refinements that — in the client's own words — made them better.

The Specifications

Characters matched to existing aesthetic. Performer continuity of fit. Multiple copies. 3D printed eyes for exact replication.

Build time: Three months.

The Result

"I think these are better than the original characters."

-Max Barraclough, Creative Director, Away Resorts

That is, in the context of characters originally built by former Henson's Creature Shop employees, a sentence worth sitting with for a moment.

A Note on Replication

Replication work is frequently underestimated as a brief. The absence of a design phase does not make it simpler — it makes it more demanding in different ways. There is no interpretive latitude. There is no room for a maker's instinct to substitute for fidelity to the original. The standard is set by someone else's best work, and the task is to meet it.

We have come to regard replication commissions as some of the most valuable work we do — not because they are commercially straightforward, but because they force a rigorous, analytical engagement with another maker's thinking that sharpens everything we do subsequently. The 3D printing capability we developed for Scratch and Lucy's eyes has since become part of our standard toolkit.

Thinking About Something Similar?

If you have existing puppet or character assets that need replicating, restoring, rebuilding or maintaining — whether they were built by us or by someone else — we would love to talk.

We work with visitor attractions, holiday parks, theatre companies and live events organisations to manage and develop character asset portfolios over time. We understand that the characters your audiences already love are among your most valuable assets, and we treat them accordingly.

We also offer new builds in the Muppet style and soft puppet tradition — from single characters to full casts, for theatre, television, live events and broadcast.

To arrange an informal, no-obligation Discovery Call with Jamie and Michael, please use the Enquire button below.

Creature Encounters are designers, makers and performers of extraordinary puppet experiences, based in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. We have delivered bespoke puppet characters for theatre, television, live events and visitor attractions across the UK and internationally, for clients including Away Resorts, Mark Thompson Productions, Atomic London / Greater Anglia Trains, Blackgang Chine, Robin Hill Country Park, Big Brum Theatre in Education, Lakeside Arts Nottingham, and the Remal International Festival in Kuwait.