Your BIGGEST Mistake in Building Puppets

[D'Snowth]

Let's face it, someone is bound to make a mistake while building puppets, but some mistakes are just too big to handle. I don't know about you guys, but here are some of my biggest mistakes.

* Attaching the foam head to the foam body. (talk about your stiff necks.)
* Using cardboard for the mouth plates (they're starting wear out already.)

 

[Uncle deadly]

well im not smart enough to make puppets!

 

[ScrapsFlippy]

How about:

- finishing up a head and then trying to put in an eye mech
- putting on a neck that was only slightly shorter than the torso
- dabbing at hot glue with your bare fingers. Ouch!

And my favorite, because I'm gonig through this right now:

- forgetting to create a pattern so that you can duplicate the puppet without having to rip out all the seams

-- Scraps

 

[robinthecrow]

Ooooh mistakes! I make enough of those so here goes:

> Hot glueing fur to a head rather than sewing and covering. Its starting to come off now! :-(

> Again, covering hand in hot glue!!!

> Rushing puppet building (curse these deadlines!) rather than taking my time!

> Putting dye and antron fleece in a wash machine!!! IT JUST DOESN'T WORK!

> Cutting fur with scissors then realising you've cut the fur and its gone every where. And then suck breathing it in and out the next two weeks!

David.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

My biggest mistake was chatting with someone in a workshop while waiting for some hot glue (the industrial stuff, not the low-temp) to set and thoughtlessly putting my hand on the workbench without looking...right in to the middle of the hot glue.

That was a second degree burn (you could smell some of the skin burn). I'm amazed I don't have a scar from it.

 

[punkNpuppets]

oh where to begin...
-making my puppets humungus accidentally
-using cardboard for mouths
-making the back of the head all round and making the front flat (mistake i did when making my rabbi puppet)
-when i put the head together and then try to glue the felt on, it always ends up looking like crap. it looks better when i put the felt on the foam and then cut it and glue it into a head.

 

[D'Snowth]

- dabbing at hot glue with your bare fingers. Ouch!

Same here HA HA!

Hot glueing fur to a head rather than sewing and covering. It's starting to come of now! :-(

I did that, and I'm doing fine.

 

[scarylarrywolf]

OK, fortunately I'm a bit more careful making puppets these days. Most of the problems I have today are far too huge annoying wrinkles at the corners of the mouths because I couldn't figure out how wide to make the fabric mouth opening. Mistakes that haunt me include...

*using posterboard for mouth plates (3 times worse than cardboard!)

*stapling instead of sewing or even gluing

*attaching rods by poking the end out the top of the hand and smothering it with hot glue to keep it there

*putting contact cement on foam where it didn't need to go

*not paying attention to the direction of the fur weave

*sewing head directly to body without leaving space for my hand to fit through the neck

*attaching lower mouth fabric to upper head mouth plate (<2 days ago)

Those are some of the most embarassing. Great thread idea!

 

[Puppetplanet]

A few weeks ago I was preoccupied in conversation while hot gluing the tongue on a puppet and dropped the tongue on my leg. Since my puppet tongues are basically upside down hearts, my blister is a heart.... although I wasn't feeling much love when it burned me.


Oh, and I once had a customer hounding me for their order because the project date was moved up. I was so concerned about pleasing them and in such a rush that I shipped the order of three puppets over night delivery before I realized that they hadn't paid me the balance yet. Never heard from them again.

 

[Jivepuppet]

Biggest mistake?

Not starting sooner!