attaching legs

[tsu]

hi guys,

could you please tell me how do you usually attach legs to the puppet's body?

Iza

[Na]

I'm sure there are a few threads on the topic, but here's some ideas:

Velcro or a detachable mechanism
Doll's joints, as mentioned in The Foam Book

You may want to do the velcro bit, because I found adding legs to my puppets (I'm guessing you're referring to muppets) were too heavy most of the time.

[tsu]

velcro did you say? hm, I will have to think about that - but, huh, how do you do that? do you attach one of velcro bits to the fleece at the bottom of the body and second one to the leg and then connect them together? so there is a necessity to cover the body hole at the bottom somehow?

when it comes to the doll joints - is the attaching the leg to the body shown on "Foam Book" DVD? there was said about arms, and foot attached to the rest of the leg, but I didn't notice they said anything about attaching leg to the whole body... I don't know, maybe I missed something...
if I used doll joints (I bought machine screws, locking screws and washers made of metal, couldn't find plastic ones), where would I attach them if the bottom of the body is an open space (the same situation like with velcro)? somewhere on the sides of the body tube?

EDITED:
I did a search (should have done it earlier...) and found even your thread there. you wrote:

my idea is to get the skin material of the puppet, sew some legs and feet and stuff them with polyfil.

I would have to think of it too (I was thinking of making half of the leg being stuffed with polyfil and second half as a foam tube with foam foot - should not be too heavy for velcro too?)

and then Jon linked a thread for "full body puppet" so I'm about to sit and read it carefully too.

thanks!
Iza

[Na]

velcro did you say? hm, I will have to think about that - but, huh, how do you do that? do you attach one of velcro bits to the fleece at the bottom of the body and second one to the leg and then connect them together? so there is a necessity to cover the body hole at the bottom somehow?

Yes, exactly. As mentioned, other builders have posted about how to do this, so just do a search using the word 'velcro' and I'm sure you could find more info about it. You don't cover the body hole at the bottom, since you still need access to the neck/head via that hole.

when it comes to the doll joints - is the attaching the leg to the body shown on "Foam Book" DVD? there was said about arms, and foot attached to the rest of the leg, but I didn't notice they said anything about attaching leg to the whole body... I don't know, maybe I missed something...

I'm not sure. I have the book, so perhaps it's different. Basically you use the washer of the doll joint and attach it to the bottom of the body, on the inside. You thread the top of the leg with some rope, and through the bottom of the body, knotting it inside the body against the washer. I describe how I did it here:

http://puppetsinmelbourne.com.au/index.php/blog/2006/12/18/title_2

(down the bottom of the article) I used plastic ones, so I'm not sure how well doing it with metal will work. You can see in the article, the legs are attached at the bottom of the front of the body tube. In this case, the legs were tubes of foam, not filled with anything. I threaded a rope through the tubes, and into the body; the other end of the rope I attached to a children's shoe (after dressing the puppet). You can still use polyfil, just make a leg with fabric, fill it, tie the top of the leg with a rope. You could easily use the idea of a 'sock' and insert the foot end of the sock into a homemade shoe. (Children's shoes are definitely too heavy I found)

[puppetlady]

I just hand sew my legs on.  If I wanted to go without legs for a season, I'd just clip the threads and take them off, sewing them back on later if I so desired.

[tsu]

@Na, I suppose I will cut a hole in the puppet's back anyway.
I, obviously, know your site and have read your tuts and articles before - I dunno why but I love this sentence: "No, there is nothing wrong with this pic. Holding the head up with one hand, and taking the photo with the other, has provided an oddly-angled image."
and thanks for your great reply, it's very helpful.

@Pam - since I haven't velcro bit at the moment (oh well, I'll try to find something in a /very/ old box with sewing kit), shops are closed now and I probably start to prepare legs to be attached today, I could try to do this that way. since that puppet is just a 'training' one, I can try anything on it.

Iza

[Jon]

I've always just sewed my arms and legs to the puppet.  there may be a more durable way to attach them but their movement and action is easy and the construction is simple.

[Na]

@Na, I suppose I will cut a hole in the puppet's back anyway.
I, obviously, know your site and have read your tuts and articles before - I dunno why but I love this sentence: "No, there is nothing wrong with this pic. Holding the head up with one hand, and taking the photo with the other, has provided an oddly-angled image."
and thanks for your great reply, it's very helpful.

Haha, yeah that photograph looked very odd!

Funny, I don't know why I didn't mention sewing the legs in the first place... but yeah, you can do that too. It's probably easier than the other methods I mentioned.

Glad to help!