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Have you ever done a behind-the-scenes show about your set? I'd love to see things like how it's constructed (low or high tech), the way the puppeteers maneuver below-the-scenes and the general layout of the "studio." I've been working on my own set and I've never seen this aspect discussed...

One thing I always do before I permanently position the pupils is to use the puppet in a mirror. I learned this trick in cartooning a long time ago. For some reason, when viewed through a mirror, any lack of symmetry becomes painfully obvious. It doesn't really fix things in this case, but it...

If you have the Henson release of "Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas", there's a documentary on the challenges the builders faced in converting rod and glove style puppets to marionettes. One of the things I remember was that traditional Henson-style puppets are as light as possible and the...

Usually, it's tube that's attached to the head that goes through the body and then is safety-pinned or vecroed to the inside of the body. This is to make it easier to turn the head. I like to attach the heads to bodies on most of my puppets because I usually only use mine for meet and greets...

I've entertained the thought of selling a few of my puppets, but I don't really know how much of a market for my designs there'd be.

Look for the ladder stitch.

Does anyone have tips for a way to make a prop piece of corn on the cob? The kernels don't actually have to come off, but it should be as light as possible. Suggestions or links for a place to buy would be greatly appreciated!

Unfortuanately, I have a feeling a lot of us that would buy such things haven't got any money, either. When is this economy going to turn around, anyway? I'm tired of it. ;)

It can be used -- I don't usually use it since it's kind of hard to judge how much to use. It has to be applied to both pieces of fabric, so if you put too much on the mouthplate, the excess glue will be visible when you put the skin on top. I know that some puppet builders put Contact cement...

I use contact cement to attach the mouthplate to the foam skull and then hot glue the fleece skin to the mouth palette. The best way to use hot glue on something like this is to do it a little at a time and have a small cup of water handy to keep your fingers wet (to avoid burning them). I...

My wife and I checked out the show Friday night. Very funny stuff. We will definitely be back if it's a regular gig!

Just out of curiosity, is it legal to sell -- say -- a replica Star Trek phaser (not a master replica or official version, but a scratch-built fan replica)? And, if so, how is it any different than selling Muppet replicas? Is it the difference between a copyrighted prop vs. a copyrighted...

When I was interning at the puppet place a couple of years ago, one of the builders (who was an ex-Sesame builder) told me that Grover's arms were tubes with wooden beads strung inside of them to give them some weight and movement. I can only imagine that Gonzo was constructed in a similar...

One of the ways I'm attempting to take my puppetry to the next level is to scale down my puppets and investing in a wide-angle lens. This should (in theory) greatly increase the scope of my little productions without needing any more real estate to house sets in my rather cramped apartment...

I'm becoming a big fan of using plastic "For Sale" signs for the upper mouth palette and gasket rubber for the lower. The stiffer upper keeps the frown from happening, yet allows a lot of expression out of the lower.

This is a great replica (as all of your relipas are)! Did you find a hat for him, or did you make that from scratch as well? I'm thinking about custom-making a Gilligan hat for a small puppet I'm making.

I'm not sure how they did the Fraggle fur, but I do know of a technique that they used at the puppet workshop that I interned with a year or two ago that might work. You take the lighter fur and a darker color Sharpie (in this case, light blue fur and a dark blue Sharpie). Using the Sharpie...

I just alerted some of my friends in the webcomics community about this as well. A lot of our bread and butter is made up from plushies, figurines and t-shirts -- not to mention the large cross-section of printed comics made in China. I would think we share a lot of ground as far as this is...

Due to feeling the pinch of the economic recession and the fact that my step son is OBSESSED with getting a Nintendo DS, I decided on the 19th to build him a puppet for Christmas. He's 9 and loves trying to fool around with my puppets, but his hands are little small for the full-sized puppets...

That's a tough call. I'd say that Gonzo was not in the Great Santa Claus Switch -- even though the puppet was in the cigar box. I'd say that Gonzo didn't truly become a character until Dave Goelz put the puppet on and started operating him regularly. That said, I'd say that Piggy was Piggy...