Puppet Making, Part 1: Forming Bean's Foam Body & Head (Mommy Monday)
I had a puppet show that I did on youtube for a year. This year I went to post a link in one of my blog posts and realized that YouTube had deleted my channel. Because it's been six years and we've moved a couple of times, I couldn't find the original videos. I was really heartbroken. That was a major thing for me and my youngest two kids.
We eventually found some of the videos on an old external hard drive, but a lot of them are still in pieces/unedited and still others are permanently lost. SERIOUSLY upsetting, with no way to recover them from YouTube. And SERIOUSLY YOUTUBE? With all the shit you have, you decide to delete a damn PUPPET SHOW FOR KIDS? WTF?
At any rate, I tried to upload a video to dtube today, but it was NOT functioning, so instead I decided to go back to the beginning of making the puppet in the first place. I will eventually get the dtube thing figured out, edit my original videos and upload them there, but for now, here is the beginning of what was a wonderful adventure (If I can get dtube to work at some point, I'll tell the story of how this voice/cahracter came to be in the first place as well... but it really requires sound to go along with it!
This was previously posted on a blog of mine back in 2012. I created this puppet due to a silly "cartoon monkey voice" that I had finally revealed to my kids. My girls and I wanted to create a puppet show with this new monkey... so that's what we did. This was step one:
I've got a rough design drawn out for my monkey, I've ordered a professional puppet making pattern and reticulated foam, bought all of the equipment and supplies... and I'm going to make my own silly monkey named, "Bean". This became such a huge, living, breathing part of our lives, I can't believe that the videos from that year are gone.
I ordered a puppet making pattern for my own reference, even though I planned to customize the puppet, I wanted to at least have the base of the puppet from the patter so I hopefully wouldn't mess up from the very start.
My reticulated foam and pattern from project puppet
It came at a very frustrating time. My dad was visiting, I had to take my son to work, then my daughter to babysit... things just kept getting in the way. What I really wanted to do was just sit and build the puppet until it was DONE. I was not in the mood to leave the house and do responsible things! I wanted to stay home and have fun:) Alas, I actually AM a grown up with responsibilities, so I left.
This means that I've only had about 5-6 hours to work on Bean thus far.
Onward!
I was a little confused at first and ended up cutting some things out of foam that were only supposed to be cut from fabric. That's what I get for being in a hurry and not paying attention. It was all good in the end, though.
NEXT is was time for HOT GLUE & Building the Core for the Body
Which, btw, burns. A lot. Especially when you keep getting it on your hands repeatedly!
Seriously, this is a simple concept, it wasn't that hard to do... except that I am SO impatient!! I got annoyed at having to sit there and hold things for "so long"... and I'm sure it wasn't THAT long, but still.
NEXT is was time for The 'Skull'
NEXT WEEK for "Mommy Monday" I'll show you how to make the puppet's mouth, assemble the head and start on the fabric covering!
You are an awesome mommy. I love puppets. I used to do puppets and was in a drama club. Before that, was taught at home by my mother. Love creativity. Love cats. Love your fashion, style. Cute glasses. Love your photos. Puppet making seems like fun. Thanks for sharing. I'm Oatmeal Joey Arnold. Happy Easter 2018.
Thank you! It was so much fun to bring Bean to life. Now that I have grandkids, I'm thinking of bringing him back to life. He needs some work, though, so maybe I should just start from scratch!
awesome
Holy Smokes! I love puppetry. So glad to have followed the bread crumbs here.
YT sucks. I am so sorry about all your videos, ugh. Dtube is a pain in the butt too, but for other reasons, like uploading and taking 25%, stuff like that.
Thank you! I figure YouTube is worse as far as the money. They just keep making it harder and harder to even make money, unless you're already super established with a big following. Dtube has some frustrating glitches, but regardless, I have learned my lesson about not saving things to a safe place! Thanks for the comment!
Wow, I had no idea that one can buy ready supplies to make a puppet of their own. Your adorable Bean reminds me of Peanut by Jeff Dunham, maybe you know this ventriloquist? Here's how Peanut looks like: Yt video Peanut and Jeff-fa-fa Dun-ham. Making a puppet looks like a time-consuming and complicated process. I'm very curious about the next parts of your tutorial :)
I had no idea either! I was just searching for some instructions and found the site with the pattern. The reticulated foam was AMAZING to work with, so I'm glad I took the extra time to order it as well!
Lovely artwork. I love when old Hobbies get resurrected
Thank you! I'm hoping to get back into it now that I have grandkids that would enjoy it :)
I didn’t know YouTube deleted stuff....wow! Anyway, looks like a great creative session. If you get the vid up on drive, I’ll love to watch the process too. :)
I had NO idea they deleted stuff either, or I would have been much more careful about saving my finished videos! A lot of them are lost forever now, since the hard drive of the original computer was corrupted. I'm just glad that I at least have a few left. I will put some stuff up on dtube here before long, once I find time to reedit the videos that I do have!
Thanks for the the comment!
This is a really neat tutorial. I have never seen a puppet made from scratch. I didn't realize they even created puppet patterns for sale! It's a real shame that youtube would delete your channel, causing you to lose all your videos. I am sure they were so cute!
I didn't know there were puppet patterns either. I was shocked when I googled a tutorial and found that site. It was awesome!
I was SO upset when I realized it was not only deleted, but they had NO way to recover or fight it at all. :(
That's so cool! Here in Atlanta, we have the puppetry arts center with a huge display of Jim Henson's puppets - I'm so excited to see your next steps - looks a lot like what they did in his workshop (except maybe with less hot glue burns!) I am also very impatient and very obsessive when I get into a project. I've been doing that with drawing and digitizing them lately - my husband applauds when I stand up out of my chair...whatever! Passion is important in life :-) Very cool project! Sorry about your videos...
Ooooh, I can not imagine getting to see Jim Henson's puppets!
I am always obsessive about creative stuff! I hear you about the standing up out of your chair being amazing :) It is my biggest challenge with trying to incorporate fitness into my life. I just get SO absorbed in what I'm writing/creating that I don't want to stop to go do some boring workout!
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