Muppet Style Puppet Tutorial

[grammardog]

Awesome job!  Thank you for posting... I will be bookmarking this for the future!

[bedalton]

Fantastic! Great work. There really isn't enough puppet building tutorials on the web! I would know, I searched high and low. I'm finishing up my first puppet.  

I can't wait to see what yours looks like. How far along are you?

Update: I started the body yesterday, but it turned out I did my measurements wrong, and the body was far too small. I should have checked it before doing all the hand stitching. I think I'm going to modify it for machine stitching. I did a test, and I was able to hide the stitch well. I think it may have hidden better than my hand stitching. I'll have to see how it looks on the body.

[Green Elevator]

thank you thank you thank you for posting this! amazing job

[Microfibermilitia]

Awesome job. I've assembled a couple using patterns I've cobbled together online (it's really hard to find them for free!). You use all the same methods I did as well. I may have to go back to my Derek puppet and make version 3.0

[bedalton]

@Microfibermilitia: Three's a charm as they say. This is the 3rd version of the head pattern I made. Do you have pictures of Derek 1 and 2?

[Microfibermilitia]

Derek 1.0 with thrift store fleece and hot glue instead of sewing (foam everything though)

Not the best pic of him but



Version 2.1. Done with high end fleece, the special puppet stitch, etc. I redid the head once. I can't get the shape right. The first head was better overall shape but some imperfections in the mouth area (mostly inside where I put in a foam strap to hold my hand closer to the mouth plate). This head is better up front but the profile and overall look has a lot to be desired. Hence the interest in your head pattern.

2.1 got roughed up since the main places I brought him to was a gay bar in Chicago and one guy decided to try to break my hand while it was inside the puppet. Yeah. He also has his own Facebook page and has had long discussions with people on a city bus.

[kookycrafts]

  Wow this is amazing!

[Microfibermilitia]

Regarding the body, since my guy was shirtless, I did the Henson stitch along the sides (fluffing up the fleece really does make a difference... Also, I think I used the same you tube video tutorial for that!)

I DID do machine stitching for the arms it went back to fluff the fleece so it'd blend better.

SO excited to see the body!

[bedalton]

Derek is awesome! I'd be afraid of recreating a puppet. I feel like there would be some kind of jealousy or maybe evil twins syndrome. But then again, I talk to my puppets, and give them way more personality than is probably healthy.

I'm glad to hear he's such an extrovert, engaging people on the bus. Me and my puppets keep to ourselves. I'm still trying to drudge up the courage to make a small video to share with my friends, but so far I've come up short.

You've also giving me some food for thought. I've just made a mental note to be on the look out for grabby men in a gay bar. A mental note I already had, but now it's been expanded to cover puppets and puppet hands.

[Microfibermilitia]

Re: courage w/ puppets,

I thought of it a bit like puppet therapy. Bringing a puppet to my friend's "Circus"-themed b-day party also helped. Also, going to fetish nights. I figured that all these guys are in various bondage and leather contraptions around me so me having a puppet on my hand is really on par.

It came from talking to my puppets as well. Derek is kinda my inner-gay boy coming out (so to speak). All my puppets had a lot more chutzpah than I did that I just embraced it.

Also had the line that went something like (coming out of Derek's mouth), "I'm strange? You're the one having a conversation with a puppet."

I also live in a big city.