Dinosaur Puppet Help Needed

[Mooniteman]

Hey Guys!

I'm new here - Have loved the Muppets since I was barely older then a sperm and now I need to make one.

Here's my dilemma - I want to make a Dinosaur puppet - Which as you guys might imagine is a bit of an odd task for a first puppet.

I'm no stranger to prop replication and sewing, but what I am at a loss for is a really decent Pattern. I do however have the Pinhead Pattern from Project Puppet - but that's not cutting it.

In essence - the puppet I want to make would look something like this:

http://www.hamovhotov.com/icon/download/fasticon/dinosaurs-toys/brontosaurus-256x256.png

But I do need him to have a moving mouth and look very "Muppet-Like"

Any tips ?

Cheers!

A.J.

 

[Frogpuppeteer]

a few of us have dino saur puppets here is mine if i can find my pattern ill send it your way
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-TlmB5Q-lE&feature=channel_page

 

[Mooniteman]

Any patterns or anything would be greatly appreciated - this is a wee bit of a struggle for me.

Cheers!

Moony

 

[ravagefrackle]

How are you perfroming this puppet?is it video or Live action, will it be seen Full Body? i dont think u will find a Pattern that covers your exact design needs, you can experiment, but you will have a lot of logistical things to think about .

 

[ravagefrackle]

Any patterns or anything would be greatly appreciated - this is a wee bit of a struggle for me.

Cheers!

Moony

I dont think you are going to Find a Pre Made Pattern , what you have is very specific in terms of design .what sort of Back grund in puppet building do you have?is this for a job? or a personal project , what is the Urgencey of it all? perhaps your best option would be to buy a Plush Dionosaur

http://store.dinosaurcorporation.com/apatosaurus1.html

You could then Take it apart and make a pattern , or Alter the toy to suit your needs but it is going to take time and it sounds like that is something you dont have.

 

[yetiman]

Hey, Mooniteman. My first puppet, too was a dinosaur (they don't have any annoying fur). Here are some picture of him: http://animuppetry.blogspot.com/2008/12/meet-schubert.html

I am one of those bad puppet makers that makes patterns on the fly and then doesn't save them (which I know will one day come back to bite me), but for him, I made a sphere for the head using the wedge method and then molded a top and bottom of his mouth out of blocks of foam. I just used cheap fleece from JoAnn's fabrics for him, since for my first puppet, I wasn't willing to drop the dough for antron fleece.

I'd say for a puppet that uses simple lines like the picture you showed, you won't need to do much more than build a sphere with the wedge method and then cut a half-circle for the snout and the jaw. A lot of it is just playing to see what works.

Were you thinking of having your hand enter the back of his head, or of having your arm go up through his neck? Long necks can be tough to get right.

Good luck!