New, Monster Character Suit

Greetings again!  I am starting on a new character suit.  No, I didn't finish the dragon.  The head of the dragon was great, but I couldn't get the body to cooperate.  So instead of starting it's body over, I'm just going to tackle one that will have more potential use any how.  So...

Instead of basicaly making a big puppet head as the two previous attempts, this time I went to Walmart and in their hunting section I got a medium weight camo mask.  this is very light, breathable and draws the moisture away from you, unlike a standard ski mask which is made for warmth - the last thing you need inside a foam suit!

I then sewed in some 1" wide elastic, stretched to a snug fit as shown.  I sort of made a chin strap where the two pieces cross.

Then I started adding foam until I got a shape I was happy with.

Note, If you want an articulated mouth. when attaching the lower jaw, only attach it to the mask.  Do not attach it to the rest of the foam.

To help this more, I also took some 14gague wire and ran it around the lower lip to keep its shape, then down so it fits over my jaw. 

These two steps make it so when I move my jaw, the character's jaw moves. Not great, but well enough.  Had I made bigger gaps, or used a smaller, more couture jaw, the movement would have been even more pronounced.


I found some yarn that was curly and easily frayed.  I cut a board about 10" wide and wrapped it around and around the board.  Then I cut one end and sewed a line down the middle to keep it together. 

I covered the foam with fur for a better background and covered the fur with spray glue.  then I just layed the yarn strips on it.

The foam that is still exposed is going to be covered in latex.  Then I am going to add the eyes and vents over the nostrils that I can see through.  And he will get some horns as well.  Then comes the body!  But I have 2-3 more rod-arm puppets that need my attention too.  So, more later!

Etsy page and an update

Not much to add.  But we finally started an Etsy page. So our puppets can now be found for sale at http://www.etsy.com/shop/PuppetSmithArts.  Remember, we also do custom orders!

Speaking of custom orders, PuppetSmith Arts was hired to build three puppets for Smartieland Learning Centre - Elf Help Books in Hong Kong.  We are extatic to hear they like the puppets and the kids are enjoying learning from them.  Here are a couple pictures:

PVC Puppet Stage / Theater

Okay, the puppet team I have been thinking I am joining, keeps leaving me out of the loop.  So I am thinking they are not wanting a new member right now.  That's fine, but I have a couple ideas on my mind that I want to attempt to film.  I even have one script!  So, I need a stage.  hmmmm....

Tada!  Here's my plans

This can either be assembled 5' wide or about 10 1/2' wide depending on the need.

Here is what it looks like at 10 1/2':

And at 5' wide:

Here is a little closer detail of some of the joints, especially looking at whee I had to use 2 connected by a 2" long piece of pipe between them:

And it packs up nicely.  One bag for the 5' setup.  A second if I need the full 10 1/2'.

Enjoy!
Arthur Smith
www.PuppetSmithArts.com

Puppet Patterns

This is just a bunch of patterns that I have made.  I re-took pictures of them with grids on top of them to make it easier to reproduce.  Enjoy!

 
 claw and horn

Hand and Glove puppets

I don't do too many of these because I like the rod arm style the best.  But occasionally I do want to make this style.  With any luck, I will have need of one of these in the future for an interactive, puppet booth.  So, here we go...

First, we need a pattern.  I made mine by tracing my arm as shown.  Notice, the inside part of the arm angles in quite a bit.  This allows for a more comfortable movement.

Here is the pattern itself with a 1" x 1" grid on top of it if you just want to recreate it.

Cut out 2 of these (side a), flip the pattern over and cut out two more (side b).  Put one cut-out piece of side a and side b, together with the fur covered sides together.  Sew them together without much of a seam allowance (meaning sew close to the edge).  NOTE: You can either sew all the way around, or stop where the slant of the arm meets the body.  Going all the way is easier to explain, stopping makes attaching the body easier.

Now turn each arm inside out.

And now for the body

Here is the pattern I used.  The edge on the right is a fold line.  So draw out this part and flip the pattern over the 'fold' to draw the other half.  You will need two of these.

If you sewed the arms all the way around above, simply put these two pieces, fur sides together and sew the curve of the body and the slant below the curves together.  Leave the small top open for the neck and the bottom open for your hand.   Now sew the arms onto the body.

If you did not sew the arms all the way together above, the length you do not want to sew is equal to the length on the left of this pattern where it slants back in towards the middle.  Place the fur sides of the body together and sew just the curves.  Then sew one side of the piece of the arm that you left un-sewn (with the fur sides together) to the corresponding side of this piece.

It will look like this:

NOTE: The above picture was taken before I made a slight change to the pattern to make it as shown above.  The one pictured is too wide.  The pattern above corrects that and makes the body a much better fit than what is shown here.

Attach a head and you have something like this:

Enjoy!
Arthur Smith
PuppetsmithArts.com

Sculpted arms and hands

Now its time to upgrade the arms.  Instead of simply sewinf fleece and stuffing it, here's my first attempt at sculpted arms.

First, cut out 4 pieces, roughly the shape shown.  Spray glue the edges of each piece and assemble.  Fill with poly fill or scraps to get your desired shape.

Now, I glued the forearm to the upper arm.  Another method would be to glue a piece of rope between them.  That would make a nice, flexible joint. That would work well if you were going to cover them in fleece or if the weren't going to be seen.  However, I am going to latex these and don't want the gap.

Cut out two hands.  These must be a good deal larger than you want.  I used the same hand pattern because the extra you loose in sewing that hand, works out to about what you need for folding this hand.

Spray glue the edges and fold the fingers in.

There will be a gap between the fingers, but this can also be tucked in with the glue as you see here.

Take wire (14g-18g) and bend it to be just smaller than the hand.

Slide the frame in the foam fingers

Cut a small piece of foam to fill in the gap and put it in place

 Attach hands to the arms.  This can again be done with rope, but I chose to glue it in place for the smooth seam when using the latex.


BONUS:

Here's a great way for attaching the arm rods

 Get some 1/4" - 5/16" hose.  Cut  little less than 1" of it and insert it into the bottom of the hand near the wrist and glue it in place.  I usually do this after the whole arm is done.  Now a wood, plastic or metal rod can slide in and out.  It holds well, is easy to transport, they are interchangeable and don't require visible pieces to pinch the wrist into them.

Enjoy!
Arthur Smith
www.Puppetsmith.com

Body variations

Just a short note here.  I use the same pattern on most of the bodies I make.

I like this because it has shape and shoulders built into the pattern, which makes attaching the arms easy.  However, this pattern can be easily altered.

In this picture, I have made the cutout much smaller.  This still leaves me the shape for the shoulders.  I added a horizontal cutout (dart) below the cutout and a vertical one at the bottom.  I also added half of a vertical cutout on each edge where the two halves glue together.

When glued up, this changes the body from a slim puppet body to a full-figured puppet body.  Same basic pattern, two different bodies.

I will add some foam to this to pad it out even more, but this gives me a much better shape to start my puppet out with.

UPDATE:

Using the altered shape, adding a little padding and you now have...

No, not Homer's head, a full figured femme's torso!