I agree with Lola, every puppet "mistake" is a chance to learn something.  Looking good. 

Julie

Never tried this but could you glue or sew a thin trim to cover the fabric edge like maybe small round black cord. Like an outline on a picture it straightens and sharpens the edge. I would try it on a scrap to see if I liked it before on the puppet.

I like the closed mouth rather than the mouth you have to force shut. My hand hurts more when I never get a rest with the open mouths, but then I have bad arthritis in my hands. My puppeteers like closed mouths more too. It is not so much the amount of force used but the lack of rest that is the problem.

Snail, how many  puppeteers do you have?

Never tried this but could you glue or sew a thin trim to cover the fabric edge like maybe small round black cord. Like an outline on a picture it straightens and sharpens the edge. I would try it on a scrap to see if I liked it before on the puppet.

That's a good idea!  Or I might be able to do it with a thin strip of craft foam.  I'll play around with that, thanks.

That's a good idea!  Or I might be able to do it with a thin strip of craft foam.  I'll play around with that, thanks.

If you do that then you'll need to cut your craft foam in the same arch as your mouth plate because the craft foam in a straight strip would not make the curve.

I did it!  The head is covered!  Phew!  That was stressful.

I made a number of errors, but to my amazement, it didn't turn out to be a total disaster!  The skull, ya know, actually fits inside the fabric!  

I haven't attached the beak yet, I'm just holding it in these photos...



From the top, you can see that the fabric didn't come out quite the right size.  Also I ran into a bit of trouble, as I realized while sewing that I hadn't trimmed out the original seam from when it was a jacket sleeve.  So, I trimmed that out and then was a bit tight on space at one edge. 



And here you can see how badly I FUBARED the chin.  Oops!  The seams don't meet and I accidentally squared off the jowls more than I intended to.



But considering that I have never attempted to do this without a pattern before, and just a few months ago I had never made a puppet from anything other than a sock or a paper bag, I'm quite proud of myself!  He's riddled with imperfections, but screw it.  I'm calling it a win!



But your thoughts, tips, suggestions, advice, criticisms, etc. are welcomed! I'm learning!

From what I can see, it's turning out pretty well, especially since this is your first effort without a pattern. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished critter, but so far it looks great!

Duffy Duck!

I have to agree that I think he is turning out pretty good and you are learning some valuable lessons.   Did you pin your seams together before you started sewing? That can help in keeping your seams lined up.

I hope you are  saving  your patterns...

Nice job so far, looking forward to seeing the finished product

And I agree with Pagestep, save everything!!

Duffy Duck!

Yeah, he did turn out a bit Daffyesque.  That wasn't intentional!  

Did you pin your seams together before you started sewing? That can help in keeping your seams lined up.

I did, but it seams that my pinning skills could use some polishing!

I hope you are  saving  your patterns...

Oh, I haven't thrown away anything since I started this project... just ask my fiance!  

And, now... huge update tonight!

I thought I would get started on making his body tonight... but I wound up finishing it!

First, I started by making a simple foam body to go inside. This is my first time making a foam body for a puppet, but it was easily the simplest thing I have done on this project thus far.



Next came the tricky bit!  I knew from the start that I wanted this to be a glove arm puppet, my first, and I decided to use an old pull-over that no longer fits to save money on fabric.  Unfortunately, it didn't even occur to me that a pull-over doesn't have near enough fabric to make a glove arm puppet! Not even close!  And the material that is there is in small pieces because of all of the seams on the pull-over!  *facepalm*  So, I had a dilemma. I didn't want to have to go out and try to buy or find fabric to match the head and the fleece I have left over from the previous puppet builds is no where near the right color.  So, I decided to go back into the hall closet, find another old jacket from my chubbier days (a 2XL, thankfully) and try to piece together my first ever glove arm puppet using the small bits of material I could pull from both jackets using my meager sewing skills (seriously, I had never even operated a sewing machine before I started making puppets a few months ago... my sewing skills are pathetic).  And do it in a way that looked like it was supposed to be that way!  

So... I stayed up all night and here's what I came up with...



That's everything I've done so far with the foam body inside and the head pinned together.  I'll have to take some better pictures tomorrow (it's 4a.m.!  I couldn't stop! I have to be up for work at 630!)  But the front torso and the front of the hands are the same dark grey as the head, and the front of the wings and the entire back are a lighter grey from the second jacket.

What do you think?  I am pretty darned pleased with myself!  

And you should be! He is great!

I think using an old 2x large jacket for the body is pretty brilliant! Your ingenuity is inspiring.

Well that turned out  PRETTY GREAT. Well done.I like the contrast of the beak to dark body, and the pointy fingers look like nice stylized feathers. What are you  going to do with him?  The sewing machine bit will come with practice, and you will now find after such success, the bug will have bitten and you won't be able to help yourself!