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Brian Kendig
Member
- Joined
- Aug 20, 2009
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- 19
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I'm an amateur puppeteer. I perform for Give Kids The World (Kissimmee, Florida) as well as a few other events. I want to expand my repertoire but I'm tired of trying to make do with mass-produced puppets that never look quite right, so I am looking for recommendations of someone who can build a few well-made puppets for me.
Here are some of the things I'm looking for:
- Muppet-style puppets, because this is what the kids I perform for seem to react best to. What makes them Muppety is, primarily, the eyes, white with black pupils which should be slightly cross-eyed so it looks like the puppet is focusing on something. (Too many store-bought puppets have a dead stare straight ahead.)
- A well-made head with an easy-to-work, durable mouthboard. (ThePuppetStore.com's puppets are a solid block of foam with the mouthboard on the bottom, which results in terrible flip-top head. The Muppet Whatnots have a bent piece of plastic as the mouthboard, which eventually stresses and breaks.) The mouth needs to be comfortable for an adult male hand. (For examine, ThePuppetStore puts too much padding in its heads and then makes the mouth sleeve out of a silky fabric which makes the mouth very difficult to grasp properly.)
- I like the Muppet Whatnot style of the body being a separate barrel of foam, with the neck and head being a sock that comes up through the body. That's not a necessity for me, but I want some padding in the body so that it's not just a sock puppet. The puppet should be able to wear toddler 2T clothing.
- I usually work with full-body puppets because I carry them around as I'm performing, but I am also interested in half-body puppets for video work.
- I've only worked with hand-rod puppets but I'm also interested in live-hand puppets. I would also like movable eyelids or eyebrows.
Overall, I want puppets that make good characters. They should have a friendly appearance, not weird or off-putting (no different-sized pupils, for example). I'm open to people, monsters, or animals; anything general-purpose that I feel I could make a good performance with.
If you can make puppets like this, or if you know of someone who can, please contact me and let's discuss it. Thank you very much!
Here are some of the things I'm looking for:
- Muppet-style puppets, because this is what the kids I perform for seem to react best to. What makes them Muppety is, primarily, the eyes, white with black pupils which should be slightly cross-eyed so it looks like the puppet is focusing on something. (Too many store-bought puppets have a dead stare straight ahead.)
- A well-made head with an easy-to-work, durable mouthboard. (ThePuppetStore.com's puppets are a solid block of foam with the mouthboard on the bottom, which results in terrible flip-top head. The Muppet Whatnots have a bent piece of plastic as the mouthboard, which eventually stresses and breaks.) The mouth needs to be comfortable for an adult male hand. (For examine, ThePuppetStore puts too much padding in its heads and then makes the mouth sleeve out of a silky fabric which makes the mouth very difficult to grasp properly.)
- I like the Muppet Whatnot style of the body being a separate barrel of foam, with the neck and head being a sock that comes up through the body. That's not a necessity for me, but I want some padding in the body so that it's not just a sock puppet. The puppet should be able to wear toddler 2T clothing.
- I usually work with full-body puppets because I carry them around as I'm performing, but I am also interested in half-body puppets for video work.
- I've only worked with hand-rod puppets but I'm also interested in live-hand puppets. I would also like movable eyelids or eyebrows.
Overall, I want puppets that make good characters. They should have a friendly appearance, not weird or off-putting (no different-sized pupils, for example). I'm open to people, monsters, or animals; anything general-purpose that I feel I could make a good performance with.
If you can make puppets like this, or if you know of someone who can, please contact me and let's discuss it. Thank you very much!
