Hi, I'm Carly.
I'm... very, very, new to puppetry.
I all started with the musical Avenue Q. I'm a hardxcore Broadway lover, and when I found out what Q was about I'll admit I was a little bit "wtf", because, like a lot of people, I thought being able to see the manipulators would be creepy and blahblahblah. But, long story short, I've been inspired. Inspired specifically by Stephanie D'Abruzzo. But I'll leave that lurvefest for another forum. :P

In any case, I started making my very first puppet today. I'm terribly excited. I'm keeping a log of what I'm doing at http://community.livejournal.com/projectpuppet/, if anyone's interested.
I really don't have a very solid idea of how to go about making a puppet, but, I lovelovelove learning by trial and error so much more than buying templates online and such. Well, that, and I'm 15 with a father who is so dead set against putting his credit card on the internet because he just knows identity's going to get stolen. Also, with t&e, when you find something that works and you didn't get any help from anyone at all, it is so so satisfying. uhg. I love it.

So... that's me.

Oh yeah, I'm also really wordy. My 'pologies
:P

Edit: Fixed link

Welcome Carly,
Couldn't get the link to work. Don't worry about being wordy. Some of us here at puppets and stuff get pretty wordy ourselves.

Sue

Well I certainly admire your ambition to jump right in and make a puppet. Welcome to Puppets and Stuff....... If you feel you are stuck at any certain stage of your puppet build don't hesitate to ask questions. Thank you for sharing the pictures ... we love that.

Billy D.

Welcome 

You certainly have the right attitude on puppet building.  Can't wait to see some finale puppets.

Ask if you need to we love to help.

Daryl H

Hiya,

Welcome to P&S. I'm looking forward to following your progress and cant wait to see the finished puppet. Feel free to ask any questions you have. somebody here always seems to the answer and if not are able to point you in the right direction.

good luck luck, and enjoy the puppet building process.

cheers
Spam 

Welcome to the gang...I to love the "Q" as well so its good to  see some broadway fans hanging around...so welcome again and have fun!!!


Sincerely,


Spoon!

I was just checking out your blog Carly - I'm interested to see how it turns out. Just wondering, what made you think of using papier mache for the head? You don't often see it with mouth/rod puppets.

I'd also suggest not using felt on the head as a covering. I did with my first muppet build and regretted it. It pills an awful amount, and is easy to get dirty. It also doesn't hide seams well. A good suggestion is to use fleece, which you can find in most material shops.

Good luck with the rest of the build!

EDIT: Heh, heh. Just realised the pic on my profile is one of the muppets with felt... This is one of the shots before he was used and actually before I gave him feet. Now he looks a bit funny, with felt coming off his face in places.

Hehe, thanks all. I love when people in forums are so welcoming to newcomers. It's very encouraging. :P

Hahaha, I don't know where I'd be without Broadway, Spoon.
♥

Na, I big reason I chose papier mache was it's price. It was free, because I already had everything I needed. I suppose that's a little bit of a silly reason, but I don't know, I really wanted to get started and was getting anxious. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if I end up going to a fabric store to buy some foam. Also, I do remember making papier mache puppets in first grade, and one of my friends wanted to make one that looked like Kermit, rods and all. And, with much teacher assistance, she made it, and it worked fairly well, for a first grader, so I know it can be done.

And thanks for the felt tip! I was worried about... all of those things, actually, but I wasn't 100% if they were all that bad, or difficult to deal with.

If you like puppets and broadway...check these 2 youtube vids...





Hope you like....Spoon

Na, I big reason I chose papier mache was it's price. It was free, because I already had everything I needed. I suppose that's a little bit of a silly reason, but I don't know, I really wanted to get started and was getting anxious. I wouldn't be surprised in the least if I end up going to a fabric store to buy some foam. Also, I do remember making papier mache puppets in first grade, and one of my friends wanted to make one that looked like Kermit, rods and all. And, with much teacher assistance, she made it, and it worked fairly well, for a first grader, so I know it can be done.

And thanks for the felt tip! I was worried about... all of those things, actually, but I wasn't 100% if they were all that bad, or difficult to deal with.

I've never thought of using papier mache for a muppet before, which is why I asked. It sounds like it would work well, so long as you don't need it to talk. Great thing about puppets is that there are no right or wrong things! (Some things, of course, work better than others, but it's still about your own personal taste)... I did once make a papier mache 'head puppet', a papier mache head/cloth body, which was then mounted onto a headband and worn by the performer... For those interested the inspiration came from Ronnie Burkett.

As for the felt, well, that's one of the things you learn as you go. Sometimes no amount of classes or books will teach you about making puppets! It's the actual doing that helps you learn the finer points.