How to start making puppets?

[Diego Fiorucci]

As has been said, yes it is possible. There are a number of minor characters who follow a similar pattern - which Jim once called a glorified sock puppet, which was then picked up by Project Puppet for one of their patterns.

In essence, anything that doesn't have a foam skull is technically a sock puppet with added extras. I remember ventriloquist Ron Lucas doing a part of his act when I was a kid where he took a sock and turned his "naked" hand into a turtle with nothing more than a sock, a rubber band, and a cardboard cutout of a turtle body which he then stuck his hand through. To me as a 8-9 year old that was as close to genius as you could get. And I think it pointed out that you can work with absolutely any material to make a workable puppet.

I remember a similar situation when I was a child, here in Argentina. There was a character quite forgotten today, called Zoquete (it's also "Sock" and "Silly"). It was very elementary, but in a program they explained how they almost improvised it all the time with a sock, a ping pong ball and a pair of eyes. I always wanted to build a more complex puppet, but those ideas remembers you how important is giving life to any puppet, the puppetry art itself.

 

[CBPuppets]

It's not different from a typical muppet puppet. You need to cut the shapes on foam using a pattern, then you glue all the pieces and cover all the figure using antipill fleece or Antron fleece, and some furry fabric. All the fabrics are sewed using the ladder stitch, or Henson stitch. After that, you can be creative making the eyes, noses and any other detail. Well, that's the whole idea. The real problem is to know how to design the patterns, the sizes, and how to divide the fleece pieces. For that, you can look for a tutorial in YouTube and many sites about making puppets, even the Stan Winston School (https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/). They also have a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/user/StanWinstonSchool) with short videos as previews.
Look at these videos, the last one uses another technique for modeling with foam:

the How they do that really help but didn't really explained how to sew the Fleece to the foam or what Patterns I could have used

 

[Diego Fiorucci]

the How they do that really help but didn't really explained how to sew the Fleece to the foam or what Patterns I could have used

In my short experience you never sew the fleece to the foam, maybe sometimes you need to glue a special section, but the skin must not be totally fixed, just enough tighten to not move. That allows it more flexibility. There are videos about how to sew and how to hide the seams. Look for ladder stitch for puppets or Henson stitch for puppets. It's a process that takes time, but gives good results.

 

[ashkent]

People do use the expression about sewing the fleece on the foam but in general they mean pinning the fleece against the foam so it fits right and then sewing the fleece together. It is usually done if you don't have a fleece pattern or if you just want to have the fleece as tight to the skull as possible.

The only time i have needed to attach the fleece to the foam is sometimes a small amount of glue around areas such as cheeks or chins than are under the main fleece.

 

[Diego Fiorucci]

People do use the expression about sewing the fleece on the foam but in general they mean pinning the fleece against the foam so it fits right and then sewing the fleece together. It is usually done if you don't have a fleece pattern or if you just want to have the fleece as tight to the skull as possible.

The only time i have needed to attach the fleece to the foam is sometimes a small amount of glue around areas such as cheeks or chins than are under the main fleece.

Sure, that's the idea I had. Only when you need to define a volume, like a bump on a flat surface. A bulging forehead, nose windows, bulging cheeks, cheekbones, protruding lips, inner ears. I guess they used this for characters like Statler and Waldorf, or Link Hogthrob. Although I'm not sure if any of them is upholstered or flocked.

 

[CBPuppets]

People do use the expression about sewing the fleece on the foam but in general they mean pinning the fleece against the foam so it fits right and then sewing the fleece together. It is usually done if you don't have a fleece pattern or if you just want to have the fleece as tight to the skull as possible.

The only time i have needed to attach the fleece to the foam is sometimes a small amount of glue around areas such as cheeks or chins than are under the main fleece.

I never thought of it like that

 

[CBPuppets]

as far as the whole Foam and Fleece/Fur covering goes, I bet that would apply for the Puppet Likeness of the Star Fox Characters from the Nintendo E3 2015 video

 

[Jared Nielsen]

I created a free puppet design crash course. You can sign-up here: http://eepurl.com/bOlKjb

We're developing a more in-depth, hands-on course and would appreciate any feedback, especially from beginners.
Thanks!

 

[CBPuppets]

There was one other question, considering on how they made Muppet Likeness of the Star Fox Characters, How can I do that?

 

[Abnormtoons]

Hey guys, Im out of my element, I am a cartoonist, and for fun I wanted to make a puppet of my character NORM, The problem is head is shaped differently then what I would use to make a puppet. (Never made one before) but How can I make a pattern? or make his head have the shape the way I created him. And the cartoon for my avatar is Norm. Please help me guys. I don't want to spend my money( as little as I have) and waste it cause I try to do something new.
Thanks guys
Kevinn
aka
abnormtoons