Elmo Puppet Replica by Derek Thompson

Derek Thompson

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Hi, all
I am new to being a member here but I have read many of your valuable info on making puppets. I finally have a puppet to show and It is all thanks to this amazing site. I cant thank you enough for all the guidance just through the past posts. I think I got so much closer to what I wanted because of learning from everyones experiences.
I decided I wanted to make a puppet and so I chose to make an Elmo replica for my 2 yr old Daughter. She love Elmo and that was my motivation to start. I also figured that Fur, in a way, would be more forgiving than starting out with Fleece. I wanted to get comfortable with sewing by hand and assembling a pattern.
I know all the warnings of making a replica and the copyright laws thanks to this site. I have no intention of selling him. he is purely for the joy on my daughters face and the real joy for me of building him from scratch. For me the process and what i learn on the path to completion is so fullfilling. Boiling the fur to get just the right texture. I did all kinds of swatch experiments until i found the right combo for the Fur I had bought. The funny thing is I went to a foam store and I bought reticulated foam for Elmo but I didnt want to cut it up on my first attempt. So i went to the local fabric store and bought green foam sheet and made it out of that. I was so happy with the initial tests I just kept going and finished the puppet.
The reason I chose to do a replica was because I needed a mark to hit to judge if I was understanding these new principles. If it looks remotely like Elmo at the end then I did okay. I really enjoyed gluing all the foam and making posable hands and then cutting and sewing the fur together. Like so many of you have posted before the challenge was to find the right eyes for him. I thought I had a good solution for it with antennae balls but the were 40 mm. just alittle shy of 2 inches. I ended up ordering 55 mm ping pong balls and they worked great. I blew up the pattern about 15% but looking at it now that was alittle to much. 5% would have done me perfect. Consequently my Elmo looks good but hes alittle bit of a big boy. I think my daughter is going to flip.
I have several plans for my own unique puppets and I will post my progress on those as I go. Thank you again for everything. It has always been a dream to build my own muppet. Now I have. What to start next? Derek
 

stephen murrell

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Id love to see your Elmo replica but for some reason the pics wont show up for me anyone else not seeing them?

Im sure he looks fab!:laugh:

Kind regards
Steve:smile:
 

Derek Thompson

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Thanks for the reply. I will try to repost the pics. My avatar is My replica Elmo wearing his Pirate hat. His head is tipped back slightly. his nose is a sculpted piece of foam that matches the real puppet front and profile. let me see what I can do to get some pics up.
 

stephen murrell

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from your avatar pic he looks realy good. I want to make an Elmo too at some point along the line. :laugh:

Kind regards
Steve:smile:
 

Derek Thompson

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stephen murrell

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He looks great would like to see all your process pics too.:laugh:

kind regards
steve:smile:
 

Derek Thompson

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Here is another attempt to insert a picture for you all to see. I have noticed alot of people putting images into their posts and I want to do this as well but it seems to be eluding me. I need to figure this out in order to show progress pics. If this works great its figured out if not....Please help a nub. DT
 

Derek Thompson

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See, I dont know what Im doing wrong. I copied the URL into the box for photos and it just brings up that little pic icon and i cant click on it. I even got a photo bucket acout just so i could post these. Help please.
 
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