The Story of the Socktopus

A few years ago, whilst running school Art clubs I was trying to think of ways to combine recycling with puppet making. Frustrated, I stuffed a bag into the toe of a holey and slightly smelly sock and ‘Lo!’ with a glance at the Octopus display on the reception class wall beside me the first ‘Socktopus’ head was born! My very own YEUREKA! moment in all it’s classroom glory.

After a few more sessions I found that there was a somewhat surprising demand for recycled Socktopus puppets. People of all ages, size and shape it seemed couldn’t get enough of them. So, ‘Socktopus Workshops’ were born.

The first workshop I ran away from schools was for The Synergy Project, now called Luminopolis at the SE1 club in London. We ran out of socks within an hour! The creations were fantastic with the arrival of Socktodogs, Siamese Socktopi and more. After some serious scavenging under washing machines, in charity shops and begging from lost properties, I returned, armed with hundreds of lost socks, to run workshops regularly with The Synergy Project and as summer approached at one day community fairs.