Making New Puppet!

[BartyBlue]

Hey guys! I've recently gotten into puppetry, ventriloquism, and puppet making, and have found it difficult to find people that share in those interests, so I thought I'd join up here!

I started work on a new puppet a few hours ago, and just wanted some feedback and suggestions. I'm pretty much improvising at this point, so I'm open to anything, really. And if you have a name that you think fits (or if you just want to mess around with a non-fitting one) feel free to throw it out there!

For my first puppet I pretty much sewed it together, and I wanted to try something different with this one (and easier), so I cut the neck off of a styrofoam head, then separated the head into mouth and upper head pieces. Next, I carved out the finger holes on both pieces. Then, I made the mouth out of cardboard, covering it with black fabric, gluing it down. Next, I carved the head a bit, removing the nose and the lips, deepening the eyes, following up by gluing the yellow fabric on. Then, I glued on a half an Easter egg for each eye, and glued on the mustache and tongue. I think that's about it. I'm still trying to figure out how I'm going to attach a body, and what type of hair and eyebrows it should have. Like I said, suggestions are more than welcome!

 

[BartyBlue]

I got some poly foam today, for the body. I'm low on yellow fabric though, I'll have to compensate somehow. Couldn't find the same color and texture at the craft store. On the bright side, I got him a trilby! xD

 

[SandPunk]

I like his concept, and the Easter eggs for eyes work well (I found some that split longitudinally that I plan to use similarly). His jaw may be hinged a little too far for my personal taste. I'd probably recommend a complimentary color, or even the same color as the mustache, for his eyelids. All in all he strikes me as an alien trying to blend in.

 

[BartyBlue]

Thanks for the feedback man! That's actually a pretty good idea! It reminds me of the G'daliens from 'Herbert's Wormhole'... As for the eyebrows, do you mean like this?

 

[BartyBlue]

Oh, and do you have any ideas for attaching a body?

 

[VentSenpai]

Wow that is a cool looking puppet head, keep posting the progress i'm curious

 

[muppetperson]

Oh, and do you have any ideas for attaching a body?

You would have to sleeve in the back of the head, and then make a hollow body that you can put the sleeve into. I would put some black pupils on his eyes and give him a round red nose? How is "Wilbur" for a name?

 

[SandPunk]

You could give him a vampire collar perhaps to cover the back. I'd suggest including the hand/arm sleeve in future designs. Maybe a "Groucho" nose? I'm still digging the idea of an incognito alien visitor.

 

[BartyBlue]

Wow that is a cool looking puppet head, keep posting the progress i'm curious

Will do! I haven't done much else on him so far.

You would have to sleeve in the back of the head, and then make a hollow body that you can put the sleeve into. I would put some black pupils on his eyes and give him a round red nose? How is "Wilbur" for a name?

Any ideas on how to implement such a sleeve? I haven't come up with anything on that so far... As for the name... I dunno, it doesn't seem to fit... I've been calling him "Dan" for awhile, after the band called Steely Dan.

You could give him a vampire collar perhaps to cover the back. I'd suggest including the hand/arm sleeve in future designs. Maybe a "Groucho" nose? I'm still digging the idea of an incognito alien visitor.

I agree, he's definitely an alien. One of my friends thinks he should also be obsessed with Jazz music, along with trying to go for the Brooklyn accent. I like the idea of a vampire collar too... I'm not sure where the nose would go though, his mustache is immediately under his eyes...

 

[muppetperson]

Will do! I haven't done much else on him so far.

Any ideas on how to implement such a sleeve? I haven't come up with anything on that so far... I'm not sure where the nose would go though, his mustache is immediately under his eyes...

I would go for a rectangular piece of fabric and sew it around the edges of the back of the head, till you have gone around and meet up to form the sleeve. As for the nose, you would have to narrow the mustache, or cut it away in the middle so the mustache is growing around the nose.