i feel like ive been doing something wrong

[punkNpuppets]

i might be putting the felt over the foam the wrong way. what i do is i build the head with the foam, then i take felt and i glue it on. i feel like my method is wrong because the puppet always end up looking reaaaaally crappy. when looking at other puppets, it looks like theres no seems in the felt. i just need to know exactly how i should put the felt over the foam in order for it to look professional.

there was this one method that i actually thought of today that MIGHT work, but i need to be for sure if its a good idea before i actually do it. i could cut out pieces of felt to be the shape and size of each foam wedge (well with about 1 inch of slack). then i'd sew the felt together the same way the foam wedges are glued together, then i'd put the felt over the foam like a mask. if this is a bad idea, then what is the best way to put the felt over the foam?

thanks.

 

[D'Snowth]

I glued fleece on the foam of my puppet, and it turned out fine.

 

[Jinx]

First of all, you will probably want to consider using something other than felt. Felt is actually rather lousy for "skin" on a puppet. Of course, Antron Fleece is the preferred fabric, but the garden-variety polar fleece you can get virtually anywhere works quite well. The puppet in my avatar is covered in polar fleece.

I did very much what you mentioned. I used the same pattern for the foam pieces to make fleece pieces. (Most polar fleece has stretch in one direction, and you wnat to make sure that the direction of the stretch goes across, that is to say left to right, your puppet's face.) Then I sewed them in the same manner that the darts were glued in the foam. Then I trimmed the seam allowances as close as I possibly could, to avoid bulk. Then I slipped this "skin" over the foam, and did not even use any glue to hold it in place. This way I can give it little tugs here and there to make it lie flattest where most visible, and any wrinkles can be moved under a hairline, or other places where it would not likely be noticed.

Incidentally, I do all this before installing the mouthplate. I fold the excess fabric at the mouth to the inside and I do use a bead of hot glue to secure the fabric on the inside. Then I carefully glue in the mouthplate; this tends to give me a better finished appearance.

It sounds like you're on the right track, so don't be afraid to experiment with less-expensive materials to get the hang of things before building your "star" puppets. Good luck!