Recent content by Dagger Claws

It also depends on how many and how big of a puppet your talking about. If you're making something that's large or needs multiple light weight horns and teeth, you could sculpt one horn and or tooth, make a mold, and then make as many duplicates as you want. You could make a mold out of flexible...

I remember a good friend of mine, who had been a puppeteer and member of the Puppeteers of America for decades, telling me a story about Jim Henson and his views on Muppet knock offs. This was back in the hey day of the Muppets, so I'm thinking late 70s early 80s. At the time, alot of...

OK, lemme narrow things down a bit. As an add on to my last post about kid's puppets for sale, here's what I'm interested in specificly: -Material and fabric that withstand hard play and abuse and possible washing (be that in a machine, or with a damp cloth). -Sewing or ways of...

Hey there folks, I'm in between projects right now and I'm thinking about building a series of simple puppets for children and selling them to some local toy stores in my area. I have never built anything that needs to be "kid proof" and "kid safe" before (actor proof, yes) so I wanted to...

If it's for an animatronic puppet, yes, making a mask is what you want. For film, a head is sculpted in clay and then a mold is made of the sculpture. To create a realistic, flexible skin, foam rubber or silicoln is often used to fill the mold and create the flexible face for all of the puppet's...

Well that depends . . . What kind of puppet are you looking to build?

Hi there folks, I had the opportunity this week to work on the touring production of "The Magic Treehouse, the musical." The Magic Treehouse is a series of children's books written by Mary Pope Osborne, and the new musical production based on her work is now touring the U.S. I was hired...

Absolutely agree Thank you all for your postings. I agree with you that the arts are not an easy field to make a living at, and if you want to its going to require alot of work and thought out planning. If I want to make a real go at making a living in the arts, complaining and acting like a...

Chicago-Not a puppet town That's the funny thing about Chicago, it IS a puppet town but it depends on what kind of puppetry you're talking about. Some of the most well produced, professional, polished puppetry in the city won't be seen by the average theatre goer. This is because the bulk of...

NOTE: If you're not up to reading something negative that might bum or put a damper on your otherwise cheery day, press the back button and go onto another thread. You probably won't want to read the following. Alright, I'm sure this little soap box I'm going to be getting on isn't a new...

P.s. One of the best pieces of advice I ever got on building moving mouth hand puppets was from Nick Barone in California. He taught me to think of the features and bits and pieces you're adding to your head as if you were building with LEGOs. You're just adding and combining all these...

Hey there I've worked on two productions of "Seussical." If only Project Puppet was around then! I agree with Kevin; using one of the foam patterns from Project Puppet would give you a nice shape to jump off from. Plus, the Punto and Rotundo have fleece covering patterns that you can buy as...

Hey there Bible Betty, I purchased both DVDs as well and for me they were a wealth of information. Yes, I can understand that the first DVD feels like there isn't as much information being given than the second. However, the first DVD in the series is solely about taking the character...

Hey there Puppetainer! You've got alot going for you already with you and your wife's combined business and professional backgrounds. Back when I was still in art school an issue that would come up again and again with students was, "How are you going to make a living at this in the real...

Boy this topic takes me back to something that I was told by a fellow puppeteer, which is similiar to alot of sage advice that has been shared with folks previously posted: "There are no millionaire puppeteers." What he was getting at is that no one who gets into puppetry, at least in...