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Derek Thompson
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Feb 13, 2014
- Messages
- 80
- Reaction score
- 76
Hi, all
I am new to being a member here but I have read many of your valuable info on making puppets. I finally have a puppet to show and It is all thanks to this amazing site. I cant thank you enough for all the guidance just through the past posts. I think I got so much closer to what I wanted because of learning from everyones experiences.
I decided I wanted to make a puppet and so I chose to make an Elmo replica for my 2 yr old Daughter. She love Elmo and that was my motivation to start. I also figured that Fur, in a way, would be more forgiving than starting out with Fleece. I wanted to get comfortable with sewing by hand and assembling a pattern.
I know all the warnings of making a replica and the copyright laws thanks to this site. I have no intention of selling him. he is purely for the joy on my daughters face and the real joy for me of building him from scratch. For me the process and what i learn on the path to completion is so fullfilling. Boiling the fur to get just the right texture. I did all kinds of swatch experiments until i found the right combo for the Fur I had bought. The funny thing is I went to a foam store and I bought reticulated foam for Elmo but I didnt want to cut it up on my first attempt. So i went to the local fabric store and bought green foam sheet and made it out of that. I was so happy with the initial tests I just kept going and finished the puppet.
The reason I chose to do a replica was because I needed a mark to hit to judge if I was understanding these new principles. If it looks remotely like Elmo at the end then I did okay. I really enjoyed gluing all the foam and making posable hands and then cutting and sewing the fur together. Like so many of you have posted before the challenge was to find the right eyes for him. I thought I had a good solution for it with antennae balls but the were 40 mm. just alittle shy of 2 inches. I ended up ordering 55 mm ping pong balls and they worked great. I blew up the pattern about 15% but looking at it now that was alittle to much. 5% would have done me perfect. Consequently my Elmo looks good but hes alittle bit of a big boy. I think my daughter is going to flip.
I have several plans for my own unique puppets and I will post my progress on those as I go. Thank you again for everything. It has always been a dream to build my own muppet. Now I have. What to start next? Derek
I am new to being a member here but I have read many of your valuable info on making puppets. I finally have a puppet to show and It is all thanks to this amazing site. I cant thank you enough for all the guidance just through the past posts. I think I got so much closer to what I wanted because of learning from everyones experiences.
I decided I wanted to make a puppet and so I chose to make an Elmo replica for my 2 yr old Daughter. She love Elmo and that was my motivation to start. I also figured that Fur, in a way, would be more forgiving than starting out with Fleece. I wanted to get comfortable with sewing by hand and assembling a pattern.
I know all the warnings of making a replica and the copyright laws thanks to this site. I have no intention of selling him. he is purely for the joy on my daughters face and the real joy for me of building him from scratch. For me the process and what i learn on the path to completion is so fullfilling. Boiling the fur to get just the right texture. I did all kinds of swatch experiments until i found the right combo for the Fur I had bought. The funny thing is I went to a foam store and I bought reticulated foam for Elmo but I didnt want to cut it up on my first attempt. So i went to the local fabric store and bought green foam sheet and made it out of that. I was so happy with the initial tests I just kept going and finished the puppet.
The reason I chose to do a replica was because I needed a mark to hit to judge if I was understanding these new principles. If it looks remotely like Elmo at the end then I did okay. I really enjoyed gluing all the foam and making posable hands and then cutting and sewing the fur together. Like so many of you have posted before the challenge was to find the right eyes for him. I thought I had a good solution for it with antennae balls but the were 40 mm. just alittle shy of 2 inches. I ended up ordering 55 mm ping pong balls and they worked great. I blew up the pattern about 15% but looking at it now that was alittle to much. 5% would have done me perfect. Consequently my Elmo looks good but hes alittle bit of a big boy. I think my daughter is going to flip.
I have several plans for my own unique puppets and I will post my progress on those as I go. Thank you again for everything. It has always been a dream to build my own muppet. Now I have. What to start next? Derek
