Each puppet doll was intricately designed by craftsmen by hand. The characters have unique outfits modeled after sketches that were then attached to the models by pins. Work on the female puppets as well as the young protagonists was the most difficult to construct. Each puppet required fastidious, pinpoint accuracy. For example, Hoffman is designed with a waistcoat and a frill all stained with coffee and wine. A group of artists in a workshop would have different replacements of each puppet that is made of an amalgam of plastic and steel. Additional materials they worked with included wood, cardboard, plywood, carpentry tools, paper, gouache, and brushes. The puppets were drawn according to the motifs of the stories that required a grotesque form with unrealistically long noses. The drawing style only added to the expressiveness of the characters.