Puppet in Progress

[Giar Fraggle]

http://superrobotfan.livejournal.com/tag/puppet+in+progress

It's an ongoinging photojournal of the construction of my first puppet. If anyone has any tips, please let me know.

Here's something that's been bugging me for a while: I'm going to cover my puppet with fleece, and the fleece covering instructions say that you can just make the hands out of fleece and stuffing instead of foam. However, I'd like to make hands with poseable fingers and arm rod tubes, which leads me to the conundrum of how to construct them. If I make them out of foam, I'd either have to dye the foam to match the fleece or somehow cover the hands with fleece, but if I make them out of the fleece, the wires and tubes will probably shift around in the stuffing.

I know there are plenty of master puppetbuilders around here who can help with this...

 

[gfarkwort]

ummm.....if you want the hands to be possable...you Should make the hands out of foam and cover them with fleece....it's not hard...it's just more fleece

if you put wires in just fleece, I would bet they would poke a hole in the fleece

 

[Giar Fraggle]

Yeah, you're right. I'm sure making a fleece hand pattern or something won't be that hard.

Thanks for the advice!

I have another question now: What's foam core? The supply checklist says I need some, but, not being very well-grounded in the world of crafts, I have no idea what it is.

 

[Phantom]

Here's Buck's tutorial on hands. It works well.

http://www.bear-town.com/backstage/tumbles_pg2.htm

Foam core is that "thicker-than-posterboard-with-the-white-stuff-in-the-middle" stuff they sell right next to the posterboard. Wal Mart, Office Depot or craft stores will have it.

 

[Giar Fraggle]

Oh-ho! I know that stuff. Always wondered what it was for.

And thanks for the tutorial!

(It's so nice to get help on this sort of thing that I have never attempted before. Thanks for everything, fellow puppetmen.)

 

[Phantom]

Good, I was afraid I would confuse you with all of my techinical mumbo-jumbo.

 

[Giar Fraggle]

Oh yes, "thicker-than-posterboard-with-that-white-stuff-in-the-middle" is so technical.

 

[KermieBaby47]

LOL, made perfect sense to me. We must all be on the same Muppety wavelength.

 

[Giar Fraggle]

It's been a while, but I finally updated! I've got a few new questions, too.

a) One of the upcoming steps in the instructions says to stuff the head with...uh...stuffing. What exactly does this do, how do I keep the stuffing from falling out, and how much of it do I need to pack in there?

b) As the time grows nearer to start assembling the portions of the puppet that will establish his character, I need to know--is there a way to permanently dye doll hair? (And before you say hair dye, he's going to have bright orange hair.)

c) No, he's not a frog. Not a question, but it needed to be said.

 

[thedoogles]

Kewl stuff

Love the puppet... isn't great to have family pitch in to help. I remember, my mum helped me build my first puppet back in the early 90s.. still have him to this day.. although he is looking a little worn