Question about making puppets

[PiggyLover13]

hey i'm new here and i had no clue about puppets exept i have a miss piggy fisher price one. now i really want like a quality miss piggy just like a hand puppet. but i have no clue how to make them and i am totally confused when you are talking about making them and i need help! lol well if i cant do it i will ask someone to make it for me! lol well do you guys/girls know anyone that is good at making puppets? and what would the price be 4 a miss piggy hand puppet?

thanks PiggyLover

 

[Super Scooter]

My first suggestion, don't try making Miss Piggy on the first try. More often than not, it won't turn out the way you want it, and you'll end up dissapointed.

Try building an original character first, something simple in design and construction. You can find all types of good information online about puppet building, but, like I said, start out simple, and work your way to building Miss Piggy. There are numerous things involved in building the famous pig, several highly complex. The foam her head is made out of can be quite difficult to carve out so that it'll look just right.

I'm sure someone else can give you more tips on actually building the puppet. All I can offer is the above suggestion. I'm sorta in a middle stage of puppet building.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

hey i'm new here and i had no clue about puppets exept i have a miss piggy fisher price one. now i really want like a quality miss piggy just like a hand puppet. but i have no clue how to make them and i am totally confused when you are talking about making them and i need help! lol well if i cant do it i will ask someone to make it for me! lol well do you guys/girls know anyone that is good at making puppets? and what would the price be 4 a miss piggy hand puppet?

I would first suggest not paying someone to make the puppet for you, because that is breaking the law. Piggy is a trademarked character and if someone is making a copy for you, you are running the risk of getting them in to legal trouble.

If you'd like to start making puppets yourself there is lots of wonderful information already here in the Puppetry Forum...just scroll through the threads here or search under "puppet building".

Some links that might be helpful if you are starting out:

Nick Barone's Puppet Builder.com - A few basic puppet designs and lots of good info on books and materials.
The Puppetry Homepage - Lots of great links can be found in the Puppet Building section.
The Tumbles P. Bear Project - My current ongoing puppet building project.
Snapdragon Puppets - Offer a guide to a more advanced method of puppet construction. This is (sort of) the method used to construct Piggys.
Bookworm Puppet - An overview of how my old company built a bookworm puppet a few years ago.
Blue Boy - Is a pattern for a simple Muppet-style puppet for beginners.

I hope this helps!

 

[PiggyLover13]

thanks guys your a big help, sorry i didn't know that i couldn't have a piggy made for me, thanks for telling!

 

[KNOCK A LOT]

thanks for the patten for blue boy I have made some puppets but did not have patten

 

[Iokitek]

Today I found the first puppet I ever made while rearranging my workspace. And I used the Blue Boy Pattern to make the foam base. I won't go into all the mistakes I made out of inexperience But it might give you an idea about what you can do with it.

 

[wes]

Thats a good start keep going and your puppets will progressively get better!

 

[Iokitek]

Thanks

I tried my hand at a few other puppets in the mean time. But I guess I'm trying too much too fast. What I wanted was to move away from the Muppet look. But by doing that I made it too hard on myself I guess. In the past 2 years or so I picked up alot of info on building puppets (and threw alot of failed experiments away). So if I keep it simple I shouldn't have too much problems in avoiding all these typical mistakes.

Maybe I'll finish this one sometime by giving him some Grover type arms. But it doesn't really matter right now because the mouth is too heavy to puppeteer anyway.

 

[Kar Ma]

Buck-Beaver,

Thanks for the links. I visited Nick Barone's site. I then purchased three of the books, including the one on playwriting for puppetry. I am a playwright and learning puppeteer. What a find!

I found that some of the books were less expensive at www.abebooks.com. And the site includes book condition descriptions. I don't always see that with Amazon. Thanks again!

 

[Bobble991]

Hi everyone,
Just been messing about with the kermit pattern and have discovered it is far too small for me. I assume its all ok to alter everything to fit my hand? Also is he made from fleece or felt, the fleece doesnt seem to look quite right to me but then Im more accustomed to sculpting my puppets in clay and then moulding etc. Is kermits body a thin foam covered with fabric? Im trying to get a feel for soft puppets and any help would be most appreciated. Anyone else here from the uk? If so could you point me towards uk suppliers please.

Thanks
Bob