Search results

You should check out the From Sketch To Show: Patterning A Puppet video from Playsoup. I think it would answer most of your questions.

I was curious to know if anyone here in the forum is going to the 2013 Puppeteers of America National Festival that is happening next week near Philadelphia? Even if you're not able to register for the full festival, if you live in or near Philadelphia, there are some amazing shows, workshops...

You can also try sculpting a clay body, then patterning that. :)

A couple of things to remember...the "Antron Fleece" you find today is not the same material it was 10, 20 years ago. Also, I believe Kermit wasn't made with Antron Fleece anyways, at least not in the late `70s and `80s. A couple of different fabrics seem to have been used and supposedly Fisher...

Sorry, I don't want to sound rude, but I have to debunk this. There are pros and cons to contact cement and hot glue, but contact cement (assuming it's fresh and properly applied) absolutely will not turn brittle and lose its seal. I have been building puppets for almost 20 years and I have...

I don't build Muppet replicas so I don't know if this will work for a Kermit, but I do think this is one of the best methods for making removable arm rods... I like to use two different sized square brass tubes. I've often used a 5/32" tube and one that was the next size down. The second tube...

Here is another resource for you - http://puppetsmitharts.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/puppet-patterns.html (scroll down to see how they make a puppet body)

Have a look at this thread over at PuppetsandStuff. If you spend some time searching the galleries on that site, I think they have pictures of foam bodies that might provide some inspiration.

I meant to add last night that when looking for old threads, it's a good idea to search the forum using a site specific search on Google. For some reason, the Forum's search is not always comprehensive any more. I think that why in the last year or two members have been complaining that they...

So I think I can help, but my price is a short rant... All that really stands between what you envision and what you're getting is time and experience. This is never the answer anyone wants to hear, but - as frustrating as it is - the trial and error is good for you. The odd time when I'm...

This is not technically a Henson Co. production (moderators feel free to move this somewhere more appropriate if you like), but it is a Henson/Froud production so I thought I would post it here. Heather Henson's Ibex Puppetry has just announced that the next film in The Handmade Puppet Dreams...

I have absolutely zero inside knowledge about this, but I would be patient. Millions of dollars have to be raised to finance the new wing and I'm sure it's a huge undertaking in the midst of a still-recovering economy. It's good to know they are just rotating puppets. Incidentally, that is...

I can't help because I'm in Canada, but be sure to reach out to all of the UK puppetry organizations and places (British UNIMA, The Puppet Centre, Central School of Speech and Drama, London School of Puppetry). There is a thriving British puppetry scene right now! Good luck with your project!

There is a good video that explains how to do this called "From Sketch To Show: Patterning A Puppet Part One" that is available from Playsoup - http://www.playsoup.com

Sorry for not replying sooner Joe! I don't log in to the forum as often as I used to. The web site that had those articles is offline and quite old (it was for a Project I did back in 2003). They were licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial licenses, so you're more than...

I've worked with FlexFoam-iT before (Google it), but there may be better products on the market. It is relatively easy to use and produces decent results if you're looking for a cold cast expanding foam.

I have some excellent step-by-step notes on this that one day soon I hope to put up on the web (I know, I know, that's not terribly helpful right now). For basic foam shapes, one approach is what's known as "the wedge method". If you do some searches here on the forum you should find old...

I have never heard of anyone freezing foam before sculpting it. I am not saying it won't work, but I don't understand what the benefit of that would be. Foam is a relatively inert synthetic material, it shouldn't expand when frozen. Carving foam is like carving wood. The basic techniques are...

Yoda is a much, much more complicated puppet to build. Yoda's skin was cast in foam latex, although if he was made today he would probably be cast in silicone, which is a more life-like material to cast skin with. His "skull" underneath is cast in fibreglass I believe, which is very common with...

I prefer using a Dremel and air brush because they offer more control and a smoother finish, but you can absolutely sand the eyes/floats with a fine sand paper and then paint them with spray paint. Best to use a spray paint that is intended for plastics, but sanding the eyes will make it much...