Puppet Making, Part 4: Creating Poseable Hands!

My husband Patrick (aka @serapium) is responsible for Bean's poseable hands! He took on the challenge and did awesome things for me, once again.

I have to say that one of the most amazing things about my husband is that he has always ALWAYS been incredibly supportive of my creative endeavors. I really can't think of anything that I've wanted to do creatively that he hasn't supported me in.

I don't just mean being verbally supportive and encouraging, either. Not to discount that, because that has been a HUGE factor in me accomplishing so many things. His unending support, encouragement and always telling me that I am talented/amazing/capable has made it possible for me to keep up the momentum and get things accomplished.

BUT, he ALSO helped me out every time by actually participating. Helping me, almost always in some technical way to make my creation come to life. Whether it was building sets, doing lights or even creating cool special effects for one of my plays that I wrote or directed or building designs that I created for our home or helping with things like making a puppet with me.

In this case, it was creating poseable hands for my Bean. I was at a loss when it came to his hands. I didn't want to just have stuffed hands that couldn't do anything at all. I wanted him to be able to hold a marker or a paint brush. I wanted him to be able to have an open hand to wave... and @serapium was awesome as always and made it happen for me!

Yay! Now my Bean can pose:)

First, cut out the hand pattern in the reticulated foam.

The directions suggest an exacto knife, but for most of it, scissors were better.

The wide razor blades we bought were AWESOMELY sharp

*so much so, that I have a few new cuts from it barely bumping against my finger! NOT a tool to use with little ones running around!

Cut the "palm" of the hand out of hard plastic. We cut it out of a rubbermaid storage tub lid that we didn't need anymore. That stuff is HARD.

_{You can also use chipboard or something like it, but it has to be HARD and it has to be THIN.}

Next, you have to poke holes where the four fingers will connect to the 'palm'. Patrick tried the exacto knife, but it broke. He ended up using his pocket/carpet knife.

Then, take your bendable wire 'fingers' and insert them into the holes.

Lastly, take your stiff wire (this needs to actually be hard to bend) and glue all wires to the plastic using epoxy.

This will need a FULL 24 HOURS to dry.

The next day, place the wires on the top of one piece of foam.

Make sure that your foam hands line up perfectly and that they are the same size before continuing to the next step

Using more contact cement, place the other piece of foam on top and press together.

Wait 15 minutes, then place contact cement around the outside edges.

Wait ANOTHER 15 minutes, (yeah, a lot of waiting here) then squeeze the edges together. The contact cement will leave you with a nice rounded edge.

Place the foam inside the sewn up hand pattern and you're ready to go!

TaDa! Give me a hand! Lol... I'm such a hoot!

@abyni getting the first hug & kiss from Bean!

You can find more information in my previous posts Puppet Making Part 1:Making the Head & Body as well as Part 2: Making of the Mouth and Part 3: Creating the Skin

Next Week we'll make the arms and legs and be ready to discuss lighting and technical stuff and start posting some videos!

_{Click the graphic to join the fun}

Animation By @zord189

art and flair courtesy of @PegasusPhysics

Click the icons to read some of my other posts!

Weekend Freewrite: To Change Our Fate

Sunday Funnies: When Cats Get Bored, Letters from a Boat Cat

Try Something NEW Tuesday: I did a MAKEUP Video! (Yep, it's as weird as you'd expect!

Fiction: Short Writing Challenge "A Dog's Story"

Sharing Our Steemit Work Space: My Steemit Office

Friday Freebies! Custom Graphics for You!

_{All Photos & graphics are mine except for the discord channel logos and they are credited/linked to their source under each graphic.}.