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I believe the actual eyes were made from a toy called "Wacky Stacks." The company went out of business in the 60s or 70s and all their stock was purchased by.... the Jim Henson company.

I would think you could -- you just have to find a glue that stays flexible and will stick to polyfoam. i think a lot of this is just one of us trying it and seeing if it works. I think if someone wanted to forego the electrostatic machine, they could do experiments for about $20. Maybe someone...

Or... for $6 you can just buy it. The thing I like about the one that they have there is that it actually blows the flocking out. I think that's the key to it. If you just dumped it on like you would from a salt shaker, I think it would just lie flat. The only thing I'm worried about is finding...

A little more research yielded this: http://www.craftflocking.com/ You know, for a little over a hundred dollars, you could set yourself up with an electo-static machine and do it just like Henson does!

Check out this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJFjorzlI3k Does it give anyone any ideas? It seems to me that the same technique (even the same tools and flocking) could be used on a puppet, provided that the glue remained flexible after drying and it didn't react with the foam.

I knew a puppeteer who was able to get a similar effect using the flocking material and a soda straw. What he would do is paint a small portion of the puppet with the glue, then blow the flocking material at the puppet. It took forever, but the look was very close to Miss Piggy's. He could then...

Check to make sure the stretch of the fabric is going the right way. Usually, I find that if the stretch goes along the upper mouth plate, I get the best results. I think you also need to add about 1/8 of a inch to the lower lip pattern (so 1/4 inch of fabric more when the pattern is doubled)...

Don't they coat the foam with glue (one that stays flexible after drying), then run a static charge through the entire head and then shoot the tiny feathers at it? That makes the feathers stand up in the glue as it sets to give the flocked look.

I've been using the plastic from those Garage Sale/Rent signs they sell at Home Depot (not the Gator Board -- the white plastic) for the upper palette and gasket rubber for the lower. It seems to have the flexibility for the bottom jaw and keep the upper jaw from being too floppy. I also leave...

As much as I hate to see him go, I'm going to have to sell my Master Replicas Kermit Photo Puppet to make money for Christmas. I'm hoping that since he's #86 out of the 2500 produced, he might fetch a decent price. He's never been displayed and only posed 2 or so times. He has no marks or...

As much as I hate to see him go, I'm going to have to sell my Master Replicas Kermit Photo Puppet to make money for Christmas. I'm hoping that since he's #86 out of the 2500 produced, he might fetch a decent price. He's never been displayed and only posed 2 or so times. He has no marks or...

I hadn't seen this one before today, but it goes into some pretty good detail as to how they used digital effects to augment what the puppeteers could do in the new movie, rather than replacing them with CGI characters...

I don't think the rods were ever particularly noticeable in the first 2 or 3 Muppet Movies. I remember as a 7 year old seeing the rods on Sesame Street and Muppet Show, but I never remember seeing them in the movies. I think clever framing and performance goes a long way. Multiple takes helps...

I'll have to forward this on to Dave. He's my neighbor. ;)

I asked my wife about how she found it and she said she was reading through a bunch of quotes while looking for something else and found a link to it. She sends me all kinds of great puppet finds, but she doesn't know where it originally came from. I think that using the same materials is fine...

Watch the Muppet Movie again (the original 1979 one). I have never seen a rod in that -- and that was made decades before it was easy to paint it out. I'd say that with the right puppeteers, a happy medium is the best option. There were two things I didn't like about the current Muppet film...

It's probably Grimm from Mother Goose and Grimm. Or maybe Odie? I know Odie originally had black ears, but during the week he looked a little too much like Snoopy so Jim Davis was forced by the syndicate to change them to brown (or white in the dailies). Thanks for the comments on my designs...

I try ot make the eyes and body proportions different from the Muppets when I design -- but even then, people tell me that one of my characters looks like Beaker. So much, that it became a running gag in my comics. For the record, here's the puppet in question: vs.

I have no idea. I'll ask!

My wife found this today. Interesting read for people such as ourselves...