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The top hair is in place and wild!
Back into working on our furry little monster!! Time to work on the "hair". I created the hair from a feather boa that I sewed 4 layers of about 5" each together. I then sewed each end of the boa onto either side of fabric behind the eyes of the puppet.
Next, I take an ostrich feather and snip off a few pieces and glue the ends and insert it down into the boa. I do this several times until I get the look I desire. I keep my original illustration in front of me at this point, so I can match it as closely as possible.
Tomorrow, we'll talk arm joints! :)
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Attaching the boa layers to the long haired fur fabric with upholstery thread.
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Cutting off ostrich feather pieces to glue to head
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A few feather pieces transplanted as monster hair!
 
To build a puppet, I first have to get the character in my head down onto the paper. Sometimes this comes easily, other times there's kicking and screaming. Draw, draw, draw. Lots of paper might end up in the recycle bin, but better than fur and feathers.
I like to use Prismacolor markers and a Sharpie pen on plain printer paper. Once I get a black and white sketch that I am happy with, I scan it, then print it out. That way, if I mess up in the coloring process- I just print out another page and color again.