Wow what a special treat for us all.  I can't wait to see who will be the first one to try it out and see what they come up with.

Thanks Meg.......

Daryl H

Magenta:
Where did you get the legs?  Nice.  I made a similar pattern off the video but I think yours may be superior.  The hand pattern on yours is appropriately larger.  Are the puppet pictures ones you have made from your pattern?  Here is a picture of a puppet made from my pattern:  I had a hard time manipulating the mouth.  I didn't use rubber, I used sheet foam.  I'd like to hear from someone who made this puppet also and had success with a mouth that worked well.

puppetlady, that is adorable!

I haven't worked mine up yet.  It is almost finished but still in pieces on my kitchen table.  I had to pause because I decided I really wanted to cover it in fleece.  I am making my mouth out of heavy chipboard peices (2) with about 1/2 gap at the center of the mouth for movement. Milk jug plastic or a few layers of cereal box would work too. 

I threw the legs in for fun.  I really like to add legs, but don't always take the time.

Meg M.

I also made one covered in fleece but I didn't like it nearly as well.  It was hard to get the head tucks in both the fabric and the foam at the same time.
I hope you post your finished puppet. I'd love to see it.
My pattern was very similar.  It might be interesting to note that my mouth plate was not as long (back to front) as yours and the top and bottom halves were not symmetrical on mine.  Thanks for sharing your pattern!  I like your hands a lot better than mine!

Ok.  Here you have it.  I've started my new Brazil puppet. It's actually a blend of Magenta's pattern and mine.  I used her head pattern and my mouth plate pattern.  The puppet is not complete. 
Magenta:  How did you post your pattern? Did you draw the pattern up using a certain program? 
Our patterns are amazingly similar.  My mouth plate pattern is not the same top and bottom.  My top plate is bigger than my bottom plate creating an overbite on the puppet.  My mouth plate is the same width as yours but extends out 3/8 inch less on the top and 3/4 inch less on the bottom- overall smaller.  My mouthplate fit your puppet head pattern very well. I didn't make up the mouth using the same method on the video.  I used two foam core pieces hinged with tape and a snug hand hugging grip on the top and a thumb cup on the bottom.  My first puppet of this type was difficult to manipulate, so I spent extra time making the mouth more user friendly.  I plan to spray the puppet with floral paint.  The eyeballs aren't attached yet and the mouth felt missing since I want to complete the painting first.
Looking forward to seeing yours!

Oh, the back of the head does not come up like in the original.  The eyes are normally mounted ABOVE the middle tuck.  Do you think that tuck should be farther forward?

I think your puppet is looking great.  I seems to me that the location of the tuck could be varied to give a slightly different look to the puppets.  Can't wait to see how everything turns out.

Puppet completed.  I first tried spray painting the foam with Design Master floral spray as suggested in the Foam Book.  It looked awful.  I hated the visual texture.  I ended up covering the head with hand dyed antron which worked out well.  I used the same pattern on the fleece as on the foam understructure but without any tucks.  Excess fabric created by lack off tucking was trimmed off by the mouth right before glueing up and over onto the bare foam core mouthplate. 

The mouthplate pattern I used is pictured in case you wish to copy it.  The little squares behind the pattern pieces represent 1/4 inch.

This puppet came out much better than my first two.  I made a snug fitting chamois lined handhold (ala David Pannebecker) which helped to manipulate the mouth easier (a puppet#1 problem).  I like the look of the fleece better this time (a puppet #2 problem).  My second puppet had fleece too but I put the fleece on before tucking and glueing and tried to tuck and glue the foam and fleece layers together which did not work out as well as covering the pre-tucked foam understructure with untucked fleece.  I hope this makes sense.

I also coated the eyeballs with clear fingernail polish and liked how it added depth, shine and brought out the black better.  (This is one of those happy accidents I love.  I had just finished repairing a fingernail which was damaged by puppet building and thought to try a little on the puppet eye as well.)   Funny hu?

4 seperate hair pieces make up the "wig" of MaryJane.  They are little hair pieces that are designed to go over pony tails and were purchased at Family Dollar for $1 a piece.  One is glued center back.  One is glued center front.  The other two are glued front right and front left.

Oh, she's adorable. Does she have colour on her cheeks, or is it just me?

mary jane looks very great, she is a beauty
did you enlarge the pattern ? it seems she fits baby-clothes

Na I think it too (colored cheeks)