Puppet Space

Our PIT Crew performed a song last Sunday called "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" but it was set to a 60's girl band sound.  Super fun and cute! I made everything here except the puppet in the middle.  We've had her a long time. :) One fun thing I did was on the angel props, if you look closely you can see that the Joseph, Mary, Jesus sign is the same shape as the angel with wings.  There is an identical angel on the other side! and on the other side of the angel shown here are two shepherds and a sheep.  It was a fun way to keep props at a minimum. 0:)

This is what I finished today.  I started these a month or so ago, but just now finished them up.  I'm thinking of adding some details but at least they are ready to practice with! I used the melonhead pattern  from projectpuppet  adapted to the size I wanted for the heads, the body pattern is my own and the arms and legs are adapted from a stuffed animal frog I had! They glow in black light and well be featured in this year's show.  On to the next puppet!

I saw this song performed live several years ago and had the opportunity to see these bunraku type puppets up close at a workshop.  Joe Bruce and his family are an amazing and talented bunch.  I've been wanting to make some trees like this ever since I first saw them and I am finally doing it this year!  I'll be posting soon my progress on this project.  My trees will be swamp trees and  will glow in black light.  I am only making two.  They are going to be so much fun! 

I love learning about the Muppets and how it all began.  I can't get enough.   I came across this video yesterday and I want to share it here. It's long but if you have time it's very interesting. I admire Frank Oz and his character.  Great guy!

I went shopping at Hobby Lobby and yard sales this weekend and wound up with a few goodies for good prices! First: Side opening Easter eggs. I got these at Hobby Lobby for 40% off: I will use these to make puppet eyes after sanding and spray painting. I’d had been looking high and low for these and a few friends looking too and no one seemed to have any. I was happy when I found these and bought all they had.  I’ll be sure to show how I make eyes from them as soon as I can. Next: The usual suspects. Not on sale but something I buy often: Neon paint for black light props.  I tested them in the store with my trusty mini-black light flash light I carry in my purse.  Doesn’t everybody? Now to test them under dark black light conditions for opaqueness. Floral pins.  This was a “duh” moment for me the day I realized they would work on sheet insulation foam and ever since that day they have changed my life. Really! Doll joints.  I use these in puppet arms and ot...

I took this puppet from choir member...  to lumberjack in just a few minutes... Here's what it took: You don't need more puppets, just change up what you've already got!

I redressed a puppet for a skit tonight that needed a karate character. My name is Chung Lu. Hi-ya!

I started almost a year ago on this puppet! I can't believe it's been that long but I finally finished him. Let's do a little re-cap shall we? (Note: This is not a step-by-step I didn't take enough pictures along the way for that.)  I sketched out the basic shape and idea of the head and mouth.  And cut it out of foam. Glued and pinned all the foam together and it looked like this. I cut out and glued together the body. I covered the head with antron fleece and added the eyes (purchased at creativemin.com , nose (just a pom pom ball), ear lining (polar fleece)  and teeth (made of craft foam). Head with covering a some features  Then I cut out the body covering from the antron fleece and cut the lining from an old t-shirt! Don't worry, the lining will never show. ;) Body cover and lining.  This is the body cover and lining stitched together and turned right side out. Here is one of the hands being sewn. Here he is looki...

Ever need just the right prop to fill in that space in a song or skit?  The first place to go is the dollar store of course!  Sometimes you find a toy, or yard decoration that will work perfectly!  But honestly for me, it is rare that I find just what I'm looking for.  Usually I have to make my own prop.  But again the dollar store is the first place to look for materials, then I move up to "that large discount store" or hobby and fabric stores. Today the materials I'm using came from the Dollar Tree.  I'm wanting a butterfly for my "love" song that I'm planning for the Valentine Banquet coming up and wouldn't it have been great to find one of those large butterflies they usually have around spring time in the dollar stores?  But it's not spring, it's still winter and even though I could see they were clearing out and making room for spring items, they didn't have any yard decorations yet.  So I picked up some craft foam to make my...