Sally Preisig founded Mimics Productions in 1988 after leaving Middlesex University with a 2:1 in Performance Arts. Previous to Middlesex she had spent a year at The Royal School of Needlework doing her 'City & Guilds Embroidery Part One' and going to as many needlework and sewing classes as she could.

Whilst at Midddlesex, Sally learnt immediately that on a performance Arts course there is always a shortage of backstage crew…so there was the gap in the market, which Sally has turned into a career! As part of the course, Sally had to act and sing on stage, which she loved, but always hated being seen. So put off by that fact, she shrunk behind the scenes whenever she could!...She dabbled in puppetry but had not yet thought that one could be a puppet maker and puppeteer as a career!

She decided to continue her love of all things back stage and started her career by joining Trestle Theatre Company, spending 3 years as their Company Stage manager, prop & costume maker and doing the odd bit of set design.

In 1991 she left Trestle and replied to an advert in the Guardian as a props person for a Television programme - 'The Wild Bunch' for Channel 4 and French TV station TF1. Although she was the prop maker on the programme she ended up assisting the three puppeteers on set in Paris and doing bits of puppeteering on location back in the UK. She loved her time so much with the puppets that after the filming had finished she found out who had made the puppets for that programme. It was John Thirtle of 'Playboard Puppets'. Sally joined John’s workshop as a workshop assistant and was also taken on by his partner Ian Allen as a member of the new cast for their next tour of 'Fun and Games on Button Moon'. When work in the workshop hotted up she was taken from the tour to assist, on all sorts of different productions and on mammoth projects – two commercials for 'Robinsons Fruit Drink' and three TV series for Carlton of 'The Spooks of Bottle Bay'. Through all those busy times she was unselfishly taught nearly everything she knows about puppets!

Since, she hasn't stopped making puppets and soon diversified to larger mascots and character costumes and to do plenty more puppeteering and voicing on TV.

Sally managed to bump into her husband Rob in 1992 on a quick holiday to Greece!

In 1994 Sally got her first big break for BBC's 'Playdays' performing the puppet and voice of Peggy Patch. Her three and a half years with Playdays was great fun and it was a mixture of sadness when the programme wasn't recommissioned in 1997, but happiness as it meant that Sally would at last have time to produce one of her best works - her daughter Sam in October 1997!

It was during the years as Peggy Patch that Sally started working with her Playdays colleagues Iain Lauchlan and Will Brenton on their 'Fun Song Factory' videos, produced by their company Tell-tale Productions. Sally was the puppeteer for many of the Fun Song Factory characters and she voiced and puppeteered 'Sally The Cat'. She was also their prop, puppet designer and maker and made the character costumes of 'Ozzy Octave' and 'Bump'.

Her years with Tell-tale lead her to her happiest time, being in the team that devised the 'Tweenies' for the BBC. She made the original prototype dolls and all the original Tweenie television costumes and was given the job of voicing and animating 'Bella'.

Since Tweenies, Sally has worked on GMTV’s - 'MacDonalds Farm' and BBC’s 'Cbeebies' - 'The Shiny Show' – Sally built the three puppets and was the original ‘Dogsby’ and she was the original ‘Bits’ on 'Bits and Bobs'. Sally also built the puppet – ‘Superbaby’ for Story Makers.

She has voiced two sets of singing and story cassettes for Marks and Spencer, has voiced and sung on 21 different Parragon children’s rhyme and story books, has recorded characters for Legoland and was the voice of Miki the cat on the new Sooty touring stage show.

She has also, somehow in between all this, found time to produce a brother for Samantha, called Eddie, born October 2001.

Sally did her first production management job making a video for Hamleys and their Bear Factory franchises. Also enjoying the opportunity to design the two sets, make the costumes and voice the two female characters!

Over the years Sally has made, puppeteered and voiced many puppet characters for children’s TV and made some weird and wonderful props and costumes for TV and theatre and many as private commissions. She absolutely loves her work as it is so varied….and she would have done none of the above without the huge support from her husband and family!

She has been a full British Actors Equity member since 1988. Sally is a member of The British Puppet & Model Theatre Guild and is included in the Directory of Professional Puppeteers published by The Puppet Centre Trust.

Sally also runs a second company from her workshop unit - Crafty Kids Ltd. With her business partner Sarah Gunn, they make craft and puppet making kits for kids over 6, and they also hold regular workshops and parties at their unit.

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View Sally and Mimics CV & credits

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