Is it too Expensive to Make Your Own Puppet?

[MarieIsabella]

Hi Everyone!

I would really love to make my own puppet. I am a huge Henson Fan and I have made many creatures of my own out of clay, but now I want to try to make one out of material

I was wondering how exspensive is it to make your own puppet? I know that you can subsitute materials and find things cheaper, but I am asking specifically about the fur-like Material.

Stores by me, like Joann Fabrics, Michael's and A.C. Moore are really pricy. Does anyone know a website or store that is reasonable?

I have been looking on ebay lately and the prices are outrageous for buying a puppet. I understand a lot of work goes into making one, but I can't afford to buy one for $450! But I wanted to buy one as a prototype to making my own, it is always easier to have one to work off of.

I would love to hear your feedback on this!

Thanks

 

[dkmontgomery]

Project Puppet

You need to check this site out!

http://www.projectpuppet.com/index.htm

 

[D'Snowth]

Hi Everyone!

I would really love to make my own puppet. I am a huge Henson Fan and I have made many creatures of my own out of clay, but now I want to try to make one out of material

I was wondering how exspensive is it to make your own puppet? I know that you can subsitute materials and find things cheaper, but I am asking specifically about the fur-like Material.

Stores by me, like Joann Fabrics, Michael's and A.C. Moore are really pricy. Does anyone know a website or store that is reasonable?

I have been looking on ebay lately and the prices are outrageous for buying a puppet. I understand a lot of work goes into making one, but I can't afford to buy one for $450! But I wanted to buy one as a prototype to making my own, it is always easier to have one to work off of.

I would love to hear your feedback on this!

Thanks

Building your own puppet can be inexpensive, or expensive depending on how much you spend on materials alone: first of all do NOT just limit yourself you just fabric stores because I happen to known what everyone says about Jo-Ann's is NOT true (they really DON'T have EVERYTHING you need)... Wal-Mart has a craft department in their stores, so maybe you might want to try there. Buying puppets as prototypes to building your own is a good idea, I won't lie, when I think about it, I think I would've want to have done something like that!

But like I said, how expensive building your own puppet is is really based on how much you spend on material: all of the materials I used to build my monster (in total) rounded up to about forty-five dollars!

 

[Phantom]

Better hurry. Rumor has it that Wal Mart is getting out of the craft business.

 

[MGov]

I guess it comes down to the level of quality you want for the puppets you build. Better materials will yield a better puppet (not to mention your own building ability).

Are you doing it as a hobby or as a potential career?

And I don't think you are going to find any place with basic supplies that are going to be markedly cheaper than Joann's or Michael's.

 

[muppetperson]

Check out www.puppetrevelation.com
You can buy great arm and rod puppets for around $16!
They have Sesame puppet toys too.

 

[Pork]

I've just recently made my first puppet. I didn't want to use expensive materials because I didn't want to muck it up and waste it all. So I just used stuff we already had at home. I found some foam from some packages we had and I found a reasonably sized piece of material for the fur. But I only am building for a hobby. So it's not perfect. If I was to build another one I think I would probably buy a few things so it could be better quality.

 

[Blink]

I wrote about the idea of materials (costs) when building a puppet a while back. You can read about what I had to say...

HERE

Oh, and by the way the puppet I built in the pictures cost me $0.00 for materials.

Also, there are people who give away scraps of fur for free. I believe that Axtell Puppets was or is giving some away. I know someone who got some years ago. He actually gave me some that I still have. You can read this thread here for more info.

Hope that helps.

 

[spcglider]

One really good place to find materials cheaply is at your local thrift store. They sell LOTS of material... in the form of clothing... for really cheap!

A fleece bathrobe can supply you with enough material for two or more puppets!

-Gordon

 

[Kevin the Frog]

Check out www.puppetrevelation.com
You can buy great arm and rod puppets for around $16!
They have Sesame puppet toys too.

I think The Count would like the cool Count mug.
It is black with a large picture of The Count, and has different color words of numbers (one, two, three, ha ha ha!) in the background. It is signed on the bottom by the Count and has his birthdate: October 9th

http://www.puppetrevelation.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1424

Why not October 31st?

http://www.puppetrevelation.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=1424