“We spend a lot of time in op shops and dollar stores and we grab things like toilet brushes and feather boas – we don’t really care what the colour of anything is, we just care about the outline and the texture,” performer Jeff Achtem tells InDaily.

After successfully touring Australia with Sticks Stones Broken Bones and Swamp Juice, Bunk Puppets are returning to Adelaide next month to present their new show, Tink Tank.

“I don’t want to give too much away, but it’s about a farm and a flood,” Achtem reveals.

When presented in front of a screen, the oddly assembled puppets bring stories to life, with 3D effects and visual humour adding to the Bunk Puppets experience.

“Often, when you say shadow puppets, people have preconceived ideas about what the show must be about – [usually] Indonesian and Thai shadow puppetry,” Achtem says.

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“I think in the past couple of years we’ve really tried to show people a different approach.”

Constructing the puppets is an experimental process, requiring a good imagination and a sharp eye. Achtem says the right-shaped teddy bear can be turned into a perfect-looking dog, while a couple of brooms might be used to form a woman.

“We spend a lot of time creating characters and then see what we can do with them, and that’s how the story of Tink Tank has come about. There’s a cow, a rooster, a farmer and a farmer’s daughter all at the farm.”

Once the puppets are constructed, Bunk performers devise a plot that can be easily understood through visual communication.

“We spend a lot of time with just a blank page.

“It’s really playful and fun – that’s the way to make a show but what’s terrifying is that it’s not until quite late in the process that we start to string together a story and a plot.

“You get quite distracted hanging upside-down with a milk crate on either foot. Because that’s so distracting, we found we like to keep the stories quite simple; there’s so much going on on-stage.”

Tink Tank is suitable for both adults and children and will be presented at The Factory in the Garden of Unearthly Delights from February 12 to March 13 during the Adelaide Fringe.