Kermit 2.0

[downunderbatman]

Hi all,

I've being working on my version 2.0 of Kermit and have completed his body, arms and legs so far. Ignore the pics with the head as I've since scrapped the head as I wasn't happy with the overall look. This is being done for my friend's son who is a huge muppets fan. I'll be making a version 3.0 after this one (perhaps some time after) and will hopefully be able to learn from the mistakes made on this one to improve my next 3.0 version which will be for my son.

The legs on 2.0 were taken off my version 1.0 puppet (seen in the first pic). I didn't want to remake them as they are difficult to hand sew. I'll re-sew new ones for my final version.

A few questions. When I get to the head I have blank half dome eyes with long stalks I purchased on line from out of the box puppets (I have both the large and small versions, I'm going to use the large version). has anyone had success trimming the stalks. They really get in the way in terms of manipulating the head shape inside the puppet with my hand. I don't want to use ping pong balls as it's kids playing with them I want it to be a little more solidly built.

Also anyone who has made a kermit, the best head (my first one) had red felt for the mouth, then cardboard glued to 1/4" thick foam inside the mouth. It gave a lovely shape, but not flexible enough to give the desired expressions.

My second version was flexible rubber inside two sheets of felt stitched together but the red inside the mouth stood out too much when the mouth was closed. Any help anyone can offer with a nice flexible way of doing the mouth would be greatly appreciated. I liked the fuller look with the foam inside.

I've had a difficult time getting the arms and legs symmetrically attached to the body. Any pointers on how you guys achieve a symmetrical look for attaching?

Also struggle with attaching the limbs. I don't know whether to attach it in the full open shape of the tubes of flatter so that it hangs betters. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I think I need to chalk the attachments on the body to get them even.

I'm not happy with the thumb and pinky finger placements so I'm going to re-design the palm shape that they all attach to for my next version.

The body is based on the alternate project puppet patter, but I created my own inside pattern with arm sleeve attached, sewed it together and stuff the body with polyfill stuffed animal filling. I need to work on perfecting this to get a more even shape to the final body, but it's super comfortable to wear, particularly compared to the solid foam body I used previously. I wanted to keep it more plush feel so that the kids I'm making it for can cuddle it.

Anyway, here are the pics, advice, comments more than welcome.

regards,

Greg

First pic is my kermit 1.0 for reference.



Kermit 1.0

Kermit 2.0

 

[downunderbatman]

Hi all,

finally got around to finishing Kermit 2.0. I gave it to my friend's son the other week and he absolutely loved it. He's been playing with it non stop and I believe it goes everywhere with him. He even took it to school one day.

I'm pretty happy with the way this one turned out. Still a few things I need to work on for the head, want to work out how to get more flexibility out of the mouth for ease of use and expression but overall I'm much happier with this one than the last one.

I went through 5 heads to get this one, but I've learned a lot and will make more tweaks when I do my final version, which I'll also do arm rods for to complete the puppet. I'm really happy how close I got to getting him right this time, and I have a few ideas to improve the next version again. I'm definitely getting better as I go. I used a standard anti pill fleece (too difficult to get Antron and dye it) which had the approximate color green. I was trying to get the earlier Kermit look.

Love to hear some feedback on him if anyone has any tips/tricks or critiques to help make the next one better I'm all ears.

regards,

Greg

 

[Rymoore21]

Nice Job! I am working on my own and could use some pointers on the arms, fingers, legs, and feet. Here he is:




:

 

[Twisted Tails]

Hi all,

finally got around to finishing Kermit 2.0. I gave it to my friend's son the other week and he absolutely loved it. He's been playing with it non stop and I believe it goes everywhere with him. He even took it to school one day.

I'm pretty happy with the way this one turned out. Still a few things I need to work on for the head, want to work out how to get more flexibility out of the mouth for ease of use and expression but overall I'm much happier with this one than the last one.

I went through 5 heads to get this one, but I've learned a lot and will make more tweaks when I do my final version, which I'll also do arm rods for to complete the puppet. I'm really happy how close I got to getting him right this time, and I have a few ideas to improve the next version again. I'm definitely getting better as I go. I used a standard anti pill fleece (too difficult to get Antron and dye it) which had the approximate color green. I was trying to get the earlier Kermit look.

Love to hear some feedback on him if anyone has any tips/tricks or critiques to help make the next one better I'm all ears.

regards,

Greg

Holy cow! Jim would of loved this. The way you did Kermit is so Jim's Kermit. I hope you watched the TMS and the first three movies. But my gosh, I am sure Jim is smiling down there for you. Love this! So, as Kermit would say,

That's wonderful! Wow!

 

[downunderbatman]

Wow thanks for the praise guys. The arms I found on this message board by searching. It was the master replicas photo puppet that someone pulled apart and patterned. Same with the feet and legs. The finger were trial and error. I found a garden wire that was covered in green rubber on the inside of his fingers, the cut a rectangular shape in material to fit over.

The hardest part was hand sewing the whole thing, very tedious indeed.

I was really going for the Jim Kermit, it's the Kermit I grew up on. I think the color is pretty close, so I was happy.

Greg