I had my first hope of escape this morning. Sadly they were false. Following is an accurate depiction of what happened…
Jeff's first hope of escape...
Work is continuing on the Stromple puppet. The mouth structure is in place and most materials are purchased. Everything is coming together nicely. Here is the mouth:
Stromple Mouth Front
As you can see, the mouth itself is constructed from illustration board. Illustration board is a nice, strong material that will hold up with time. It also scores easily (for the bend) and glues nicely. The dome of the hand hole is constructed from foam. Their is a matching dome on the bottom. This is all internal and nothing shown here will be seen outside of the puppet. This structure is glued together with hot glue. Have patience with the glue. Let it cool completely. Patience at this step will save time and burnt fingers!
Stromple Mouth Back
Here is another view of the mouth, this one from behind. The black object is a glove. You want to make sure a puppet it comfortable and you want to make sure it will stay on your hand. Using a glove accomplishes both. I use a simple stretch glove that will accommodate most hand-sizes. The foam dome across the top and bottom of the fingers is there to add durability and to give a tightness so that when a puppeteer opens and closes their hand, it won’t fall off. I like to give my puppets a snug feel. The glove is simply hot-glued to the illustration board. A tube will be attached to the glove that leads outside of the puppet.
Here are some of the materials I will be using. I use fleece for most of my puppets because of it’s flexibility. It has stretch, it sews easy, it doesn’t unravel, and it hides seams nicely. The fleece I chose is a light bluish purple. It should match Stromple’s skin tone nicely. The darker bluish purple felt is for the eyelids and the eyebrows. The hair will also, tentatively, be constructed from felt. Felt is another great material to use in puppet construction. It’s cheap and comes in a large variety of colors. The inside of the mouth will also be felt.
Whenever I make a mouth, I create a pattern from brown crafting paper, making sure to mark the score line. This allows me to recreate the shape if I need to or to use the mouth for a future puppet. Make sure you mark the pattern with the name and date of the puppet it was used in. This pattern will also come in handy when cutting out the piece of felt for the mouth.
The foam I’m using is 1 inch thick. It is available at most fabric stores. Another great place to buy it is at carpet stores. They use it for padding under carpets. You can usually get it much cheaper and in bulk this way. The shape of the head and body will be formed by cutting curves onto the foam and gluing them together. The 1 inch foam can be a little difficult to manipulate in small spaces but it’s strength makes it ideal for me to use.
Materials for Stromple Puppet
