At home with the Sieveys
- Dec 1, 2025
- 5 min read
Updated: Dec 2, 2025
I see a little silhouette of a puppet…
The Sieveys revisit a family tradition as they embark on the ambitious project of reproducing a limited run of replica puppet bodies. We sat down with Chris’s eldest son, Stirling Sievey, for a brief chat.
Growing up, what was your involvement with the creation of Frank’s original puppets?
Stirling Well, there were always times when, obviously, things were up against the clock. Gigs were coming up, and if there was a spare pair of hands that could paint something or apply a layer of paper mache on a puppet head, then yeah.
DA Was that all of the family? You and Asher or did your mum get involved too?
Stirling Anybody that could do anything. Don't think my mum was too keen to get her hands dirty but I know me and Asher were always helping out.
DA Your mum definitely played her role in other ways in the early 11:37 enterprises. You know, I’ve seen her modelling shirts for ads and she would always be on the door and running the merch stall, doing all that stuff... but I know what you mean.
Where was the work actually carried out?
Stirling It would usually be in the kitchen, at the dinner table or on the coffee table in the living room. Wherever there was enough required space, really.
DA So it was generally indoors, yeah?
Stirling Yeah, I'd have to confess that as much as Frank went on about operating out of his garden shed, we didn't really have one until the later years.
Production of 50 puppets has turned out to be very labour intensive (who knew?). Was puppet-making originally approached as a production line? If so, how did Chris speed things up?
Stirling I don't remember really very much production happening in bulk. It would generally be just one puppet at a time.
DA During my involvement with your dad in the 2000’s, I would suggest that if you're going to bother making one body, why don't you make a few while you're at it? Is it not just as easy to make three at once? Chris was very definitely just, ‘No’. I think he thrived on the challenge, knowing he didn't really have sufficient time to do it.
Stirling Yeah, I remember that at one point he got fed up with constantly making little frank heads, and he actually made a fibreglass one because he used to trash the paper mache ones and throw them out into the crowd. He got to the point where he’d made this fibreglass one, but then that inevitably got stolen and he had to go back to doing the paper mache ones.
DA Well, that was the same with the ‘little denise’ puppet. He put all the effort into little denise's head with the braided hair in the pigtails, and then that got stolen. It was like he really couldn't be bothered making another one. That’s how the whole concept that she doesn't have a head came into play.
We are striving to recreate as exacting replicas as possible, adopting a mix of DIY methods and modern digital technology. Can you explain the process?
Stirling Yes, well the initial outlines have been scanned, traced and screen-printed from the original donor body. The painting, the main blocks of colour and highlighting are all going on by hand. A final screen-print to create all the fine details, pulling it all together, covering the paint lines to give it an authentic and accurate look.It's important to mention that with them being hand-painted, each one will be slightly different and individual from the next. Just in the way the varying brushstrokes go down. We are striving to get some intentional, playful imperfection into them, to give some nice texture. It would be quite easy to just do them really flat with perfect solid colours but they just wouldn't look authentic.
The originals were usually a rush job, so they were never perfect and, unless you're doing them by hand, you're never gonna get those quirky imperfections that make each one so special. My dad must've made like hundreds... and no two of them could've been exactly the same.
I don't know how many are out there but a lot of those original puppet bodies just ended up deteriorating from mistreatment over the years. Unsuspecting students on a random night out would often have won them at gigs. Those bodies would not have always meant very much to the people that they were awarded to and they will have eventually been thrown away. Realistically, there cannot be that many original examples that have survived because at the end of the day, it is only cardboard. It easily gets wet, creased or torn.
DA I believe the fact that we're recreating these puppet bodies will add interest and desirability to the originals, not necessarily monetary value but then again, where can you buy these originals from? Even if you've got money in your back pocket, where are you gonna buy one from because nobody wants to let them go.
Stirling The people that have them, still hold onto them for a sentimental reason and they’re not gonna part with them.
It’s very important to mention that there is some genuine ‘Sievey’ DNA imbued into this process, first generation with yourself, and then second generation with your kids (Chris’s grandkids)... what do your kids, Sadie, aged 14, and Martha, aged 11, think about their legacy and the unique connection to their granddad?
Stirling When the documentary first came out, they were probably a bit too young to watch it and fully take it all in, really. However, that’s definitely changed since the FRANK-CON event this past summer. To see people in awe of their granddad and gathering to celebrate his life has been quite eye-opening for them.
Plus the fact that there's a statue. When Martha was still in primary school, one of the teachers mentioned the statue and she's was like, “That’s my grandad!” There’s not many people who get to say that their grandad’s got a statue just down the road.
Okay, and one final question It's probably a little bit early to say but I'm certain these are gonna turn out amazing. Do you think this project could possibly become a short ‘collectable’ series?
Stirling I'd like to think so, yeah, because we have a few original puppet bodies in our collected possession. I mean, even if you just did a second one with the grey suit and pink tie. There’s ‘little denise’ too? So there are a couple of possibilities. They are little works of art, but the demand has to be there though, even though they might seem like an expensive item, they’re really not. When you analyse the level of work that's going into them, they should be a lot more than what we're charging for them. You know, that's something I learned from my dad, just because something isn't cost-effective, that isn’t a reason NOT to do it. When we first re-launched 11:37, it was top of the list, wouldn't it be great if we could recreate the puppet bodies?
DA I think that's it, for now. I can't wait to see the finished results!
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