The materials listed below are merely suggestions, as you can really do these puppets in many different ways and with lots of different materials, depending on your needs or your group’s skill level or project time.

Materials:

• Styrofoam Ball (usually 3″ or larger)
• 1 – 1″ diameter Dowel rods cut into 12″ lengths
• 2 – 1/2″ diameter Dowel rods cut into 12″ lengths
• White glue
• A large cotton sock or stocking (or similar material) in any color desired (white is preferable if painting)
• Needles and thread
• A few rubber bands
• Felt, yarn, google eyes, etc.
• Fiber fill stuffing
• A square of fabric approximately 30″ x 30″ or slightly larger
• Craft paint in various colors (optional)

Begin by measuring and marking the 1″ dowel rod at 1″ and again at 1 1/2″ from the end with a marker or pencil. Carefully push the rod into the styrofoam ball up to your first marking, being cautious to push the rod into the styrofoam as straight as possible without overly enlarging the hole. Remove the rod. Pour a small amount of white glue into the hole in the styrofoam. Push the dowel back into the same hole in the styrofoam, pushing past your first marking and stopping at the second, again ensuring you don’t overly enlarge the hole. Allow the glue to dry.

While the glue is drying, prepare your puppet’s hands. Dab a small amount of glue into a small amount of the fiber fill, and place that on the end of each of the 1/2″ rods. Cut a small square approximately 2″ x 2″ out of your cotton material. If you are using a large sock, cut your squares out of the top part. Wrap the cloth around the fiber-fill-glued end of each rod and secure in place with a small rubber band. Allow the glue to dry.

Once your styrofoam head has dried, wrap a large square of cloth or pull one of the large socks down over the ball. Pull the “skin” taut around the styrofoam. Use fiber fill in small tufts to create features like cheeks, chins, eyebrows, etc. by stuffing it up under the cloth. Once your head is smooth and shaped the way you want it, sew the skin in place with a running stitch around the cloth at the base of the styrofoam ball, gathering it as you sew. Cut off any excess cloth at about 1/4″ past where you’ve secured it.

Now that your puppet head is formed, you can decorate it as you wish. Use paint to add features, or glue on felt or plastic eyes, etc. Sew or glue ears, hair, or whatever your character requires onto the cloth covering the head.

Find the center of your square of cloth by folding it in half, then in half again (quartering it). Cut a very small hole in the center of the cloth. Unfold the cloth. Fold it in half and sew up each side (sew on the wrong side then turn the cloth rightside-out) leaving about 1″ unsewn at the fold on each side. You should now have a rectangle “pocket” with a hole in the middle of the top. Slide the head rod into the hole in the center of the cloth. Center the head so it is facing forward correctly, then sew around the “neck” catching a bit of the sock material in your seam as you whip stitch around the neck.

Slide your hand rods into the holes on either side of the cloth so they hang down inside the pocket. Remove the rubber band and sew around each hand, securing the cloth to the hand “skin” with a gathering whip stitch, just as you did with the head. Repeat for the second hand.

You can decorate your puppet’s costume with buttons, or add decals or accessories like scarves, jewelery, or neckties as you please.

Of course, you can alter the puppet pattern however you see fit. Don’t need hands? Let the fabric “fall” around the center rod without sewing up the sides. Only need one arm? Only sew up one side of the costume, or position the puppet’s head at one end and the arm at the other instead of cutting a center hole. Use a white or flesh colored sock or cloth for the head/hands and sew features on, or paint the entire head with craft paint for a different look. The possibilities are endless.

As far as timing goes, the biggest challenge is waiting for glue (or paint) to dry. If you are very limited on time, you might wish to pre-glue the heads onto the rods and pre-form the hands. If you are making puppets over time in a multi-day workshop, you can use the first session to design characters, then end with the gluing of the heads and hands. The second session becomes assembly and decorating, and any final sessions an opportunity to perform with the puppets after they’ve dried completely. In the design phase, I use a worksheet with a rough puppet shape and allow my students to draw on the features. A notes section on the page encourages them to write up a brief characterization for their puppet (Is he funny? sad? Is she old or young? etc.). We put the pages up around the room as reference while we build our puppets.

The resulting puppets in this simple project are not only attractive, but reasonably sturdy as well. You can get quite a bit of expression even without moving parts. The cost of producing a simple puppet like this is minimal as well, so it works well for tight budgets.

*I owe you pictures to demonstrate what I’m writing about, but all of my puppets are currently in storage so I’ll have to take some time to recreate the process. Hang in there – I’ll post them as I take them!

~Diane

I was going to say “no excuses” but then I realized I was just about to follow up with a bunch of excuses, so “some excuses!” ‘Tis rent week, so money is not exceptionally abundant. I decided to hold off doing my build until next weekend, when I have more cash for supplies. I’ve gotten into the middle of a build before and run out of something or needed something in an emergency. I decided it was safer to wait until I could purchase a few things I knew I would need, and have some cash on hand to buy the things I wasn’t planning for, before I jumped into the point of no return and began gluing.

Add to that some family things (my 18-year-old dog passed away last week, and although I think we’ve moved on from the active mourning stage, my younger remaining dog is now decidedly moving into the “happy-to-have-your-undivided-attention” phase!) and sheer lack of will-power, and I didn’t exactly get as much done as I intended.

Building begins in earnest (poor Ernest!) next weekend. Wish me luck. Really!

My plan is to use the Project Puppet Punto pattern for my puppet’s elongated head. I’m going to use non-pill fleece for this puppet’s “skin” since antron (Muppet) fleece is a bit expensive and harder to come by. I’m on a budget and mainly doing this puppet for practice. His hair and goatee/moustache will be fake fur in a dark color, and his turtleneck a fun courderoy fabric I found. For his vest, I’m going to use a tapestry-type fabric I found at my local fabric store.

My initial plan is to paint his eyes onto the back of the glasses so they show through as slits. I may try a few tests to see how this works. If I don’t like the effect, I can always make typical ping-pong ball eyes and put the glasses on over them.

I also want him to have a bongo (as he should) so I plan to either purchase a small toy drum, or make one out of a plastic container. It depends on availability of materials.

He’ll have removeable arm rods, so I’ll be able to have him hold the drum, or have his arms free to move, whichever I choose.

This weekend is build time! Wish me luck!