Getting some more work done on the foxy lady puppet. Poured resin eyes, then painted them from the back. Made a pattern for the head pieces, then cut out and sewn. Made the nose out of sculpey clay, baked and painted. Still need to trim up some of the fur. I'll write more details later. -K
 
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Positioning the grip onto the mouthplate
Tonight, I have been working on building the mouthgrip onto the mouthplate. I sew a panel of fleece around a sheet of rubber that goes together for the fingers of the hand to slide into. I also place a piece of latex makeup sponge material under where the middle of the hand goes to form a more natural position. (Otherwise, the puppeteer would be working with their fingers in a very uncomfortable position, basically flat out the whole time)
The panels of fleece are sewn together at the edges and cemented down to the mouthplate over the sponge. The whole thing is cemented to the black fleece inside the mouth.
Then, I turn the whole thing right side out to check my work again. Yay! Tomorrow we will be moving on to adding more facial features.

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Mouthplate with grip, before adding top part to hold fingers in snugly.
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Funny, furry featureless head!
 
This step is pretty simple. I like to cut out my mouth plate from fleece, although many people prefer using felt. This whole step is done with the fabrics inside out. After pinning the fleece to the fur- I sew it together (once again!) with the whip stitch. Then, I turn it right side out, just to see how cool it looks- and if I need to fix anything. :) Tomorrow, I will be working on the rest of the mouthplate parts.

(Technical note- Been having a bit of trouble with the blog stats and comments today, so if you sent something don't worry- I'm sure it will be on tomorrow when weebly works the bugs out. Another option is to send me a note on my Joy Filled Puppets page on face book.)
 
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There are many different things that you can use to build a puppet. A sock, a spoon, fleece, a box- the list goes on and on.
My monstery puppet will be built using a skeleton I construct from foam. The poly foam is 1" thick, and sold in rolls at craft stores for use in cushions and such things.  I just picked up a new roll today- I try to watch for 40% off coupons for my local craft stores. The glue I use is called Weldwood contact cement. 
I have built many different types of eyes. You can make them from styrofoam balls, ping pong balls, plastic spoons, ping pong balls and many other things.  The eyes I will be using for this puppet, I order from a supply store. *We'll talk more about the eyes when I am on that step :)
I end up hand sewing quite a bit of the puppet. I am pretty rough on thread, and found that a spool of upholstery thread works the best for me. It makes things sturdier, and if I need to use a lighter weight thread in some areas I can always do that.



 
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After the character sketch has been approved, it's time to choose the proper fabric. In the case of this monstery hand puppet, the furrier the better. After going to a few of my favorite online* fabric stores, I narrow it down to a couple different long pile furs.
Although the top choice is a nice long pile purple fur, I like the bottom fur better for it's wild "hairy" texture.

(*If you live in a large city- head to the fabric district! I am in the middle of Nowheresville, an hour from anywhere of significance.)