Hello all!
I'm preparing a Christmas show with some parents from the nursery school of my elder son, and I made that bird as one of the characters.


As it is my really first try with mouth puppet, antron (dying and tailoring), foam and so on, I finally glued everything. I still have no idea how else I could have stitched a kind of sock for each parts of the beak...
I guess I could list every defaults I can think of, from the lack of legs to the position of the eyes but I don't know yet if I'm too severe with my own creation or not enough.

Any idea how I could enhance it ?

I personally think it looks fantastic, we as puppet builders are always too harsh on ourselves and we always think there is an improvement to be made, but I'm impressed if this is your first attempt at making a moving mouth puppet!! if you think it doesn't look right, then what can you change to improve it?? if you think the eyes aren't quite right, then have a play around with different eyes and placements (personally i am always worried about the eyes on my puppets, i have to get that bit perfect and then the the soul of the puppet comes alive, well focused eyes create an awful lot of life and character) but don't be hard on yourself, i think he looks fantastic and has a great deal of personality already, the kids will no doubt love him and i bet he is a joy to operate!! if you are looking for ways to enhance what you already have, then don't, because it is all about the journey and what you learn on the way, but if you are looking to enhance upon your design for next time, then take a look at 'Andrews pattern' in Billy's gallery, it is a great starting point for a great deal of puppets and i can see that by taking the round head pattern and adding two beak shapes, you would have a good bird head, but i could go on forever, so be encouraged, you've done well,
good job,
Ben.

You shouldn't be so hard on yourself.  He looks great.  Would love to see more pics of him.

I agree Great looking bird.

Billy D.

What a great character.  It's good that you can see the things that could be improved it will keep you challenged as a puppet builder which helps keep it interesting.  All that aside you did wonderfully and ought to be proud of the character you have created.

Thank you for all your kind words!
I suppose that we cannot be impartial when we have not enough distance with the puppet we're working on. It motivates me to read your vision of my bird!

I'm going to post some new images.

Wow your first attempt....very nice....I would agree with jeezbo that pinning stuff on before you finalize glueing helps with placement of eyes and I usually put them on last to make sure that everythng lines up.....but with more puppet making you will figure all this out....keep up the great work and can't wait to see the next one.

Daryl H

I finally manage to make better looking eyes and posted a photo :


The first version had no eyelids and each pupil squinted in a opposite direction.
I got inspiration from David Hellyer's bird there : http://twitter.com/hellyersonline. Still I need to improve my puppet but I'm quite happy with the result.
What do you guys think of it ?

WOW!! what an improvement, you have done a brill job with the eyes, i personally think that the eyes have a great deal to do with the personality of the puppet, good focus aswell, he is really looking at the camera!! so what did you do to change the eyes??
Ben.

Skand,
You can get a lot of help and suggestions here to improve your work, BUT the bottom line is...are you happy and how will your target audience react.

From my experience. you will always see something that you could have done better (in your opinion) and kids don't really care about the "little" things. They could care less if the eyes are looking in different directions. If it's a puppet and acts a little goofy, they will eat it up.

Cruppetman

Skand,
You can get a lot of help and suggestions here to improve your work, BUT the bottom line is...are you happy and how will your target audience react.

Nice remark that helps to focus. Yes, you're right th goal is th audience and not the puppeter only.

From my experience. you will always see something that you could have done better (in your opinion) and kids don't really care about the "little" things. They could care less if the eyes are looking in different directions. If it's a puppet and acts a little goofy, they will eat it up.

Thank you!

WOW!! what an improvement, you have done a brill job with the eyes, i personally think that the eyes have a great deal to do with the personality of the puppet, good focus aswell, he is really looking at the camera!! so what did you do to change the eyes??
Ben.

And thank you too!

i totally agree, the fact that the eyes where squinty before is actually alright if the charector is the same, kids will love him whatever he looks like!!