He is great!!!  Love the way you did his legs!

Good job! I like  the way you combined those fabric colors, its makes it so fun!

Wow...looks really cute...I like your Basil Bunny.
I like the expression!! and of course the two tone
body...

 
Bhanu

how does your daugther react ?

He belongs on TV. He looks like he could carry his own show. Super Build and grreat character.

at first sight I thought it's a bat... but great one obviously!
love the colors and very aesthetic workmanship.

Thanks everyone, it's nice to have good feedback from people who aren't, themselves, daunted by making a puppet! Family and friends may be complimentary, but they probably don't do what we do. Coming from you guys it means more. Please don't hold back on constructive criticism. I'm here to learn. Although I'm very pleased with my results I know there are some faults to work on. These may become more apparent with more pics. (Sometimes the positive feedback is a bit to politically correct to learn from) ask about techniques and offer alternatives. As I stated more pics will help and a video of him animated rather than static has to be the best way to evaluate him.
Watch this space...
Having said that I am pleasantly surprised that some things people commented on I took for granted, very flattering from a design aspect. Thank you.
I need to research/find some more resources on hand sewing. "ladder stitch" or "blind stitch" worked pretty well in most places but puckered in others. (see the seam that's across his body) is this to do with the direction of the stretch in the fabric (not antron fleece, only stretches one way) or am  I getting lazy with the size of the stitches?
>>Sonny<<, thanks, the character was a design choice, slightly manic to capture those times a two year old needs someone to keep up! He started a game with her about how great it is to eat vegetables. She's pretty good and doesn't really need that at the moment but plenty of kids are different and she's starting to be exposed to more processed foods as she gets older so it could be good ground work for later!
>>Gombie<<, she was a little manic when she saw him and started describing him "he's got teeth and..." She tried to fold down his ear (she has a thing about rabbits having floppy ears, this only became apparent after I'd already made and covered the ears. I was out of time to make something that flopped)She tried say floppy ear but instead jumped to just "...ears" He got carried around most of easter Sunday but I have to say he's a little neglected at present as I have had a few double shifts at work this week and haven't been able to build a bond between her and the character yet. She can manipulate him a little but this too is something I need to spend a little more time showing her. The mouth plate is custom made to tightly hold little fingers but may be  bit complicated for her. (Her mother wasn't quite getting it right at first, never mind the 2 yr old!)
Having said, earlier about the pattern being a bit small, it is growing on me quite well, I'm liking the smaller head.
>>TSU< You are forgiven for thinking it was a bat. The spherical head is the basis for so many things and the eyes and nose are neutral, put ears and teeth that size on anything and it becomes a rabbit! but smaller ears and pointy teeth it could be a great bat. I thought about putting small pointed ears on to make a cat. See what I mean?
Any hints on adding whiskers to fleece?
will try and get more pics in a few days, thanks again,
Scoob

Tube leather.....grass cutter plastic tubing.....and you can sometimes find premade plastic wiskers at a craft store these are some of the common material.  Just poke a little hole put a little hot glue and stick it in.  Hope this will help.......it is one cute bunny.....I really don't have much to say around construction.....sewing is something most begginers stuggle with.....the seam might have happen due to the way the material was stretched over the body, you may have to play with the material until you get the seams more to the back....this comes with practice.......the only thing you might consider next time is the placement of the eyes it seems a little further apart and you might want to bring it a tad closer to the nose....but this suggestion may be more of a personal taste.  Over all be proud of your first puppet! 

Keep up the great work and can't wait to see the next one......

Daryl H

Daryl, thanks that's awesome info and advice! Grass cutter! Great, Though most of it I've seen here in Australia is flouro, perhaps it will take paint... I had thought of heavy fishing line  but I haven't explored it yet. Though I'm getting a LOT better with a hot glue gun, is there any advice you could give on not getting the glue on the fleece while inserting the whiskers. I should try it before I ask, but...
As for the sewing, consistency is alluding me a little at the moment, I will try draping the fabric more next time, this one was a round head pattern with the mouth glued shut and an extra hole cut for the neck. When i put the patterned fabric on it wasn't really happy about the extra stress of th mouth permanently closed. An extra panel (up the back) helped but I think I over compensated by pulling the stitches too tight.
Interesting about the eye placement, I played with it a bit to get a slightly manic look, without really knowing why i was putting them there, Your advice has me looking at other puppets and I see what you mean. Calmer, friendlier and more like a human face. I love your work shop, I have to work in a desk a meter by about  half a meter and it gets crazy, i either loose time re-organising it, or push through a pile of stuff till the end of a project! I do have extra space in terms of a ventilated area to glue and a seperate place to machine sew. When I was looking at your pics, initialy to check out eyes closer together I have to say I love the big yellow puppet on the wall above the sewing machine, beautiful!
well I'm off to sleep on your suggestions, it's nearly one am here, not that late for me but I have a double shift tomorrow which means more puppet making at work. Woo hoo!
Scoob

I need to spend a little more time showing her. The mouth plate is custom made to tightly hold little fingers but may be  bit complicated for her. (Her mother wasn't quite getting it right at first, never mind the 2 yr old!)

remember she is only two ...my sun (became two on easter sunday) put his hand in the puppet of my daughter. Throw out a lot of words I can't understand (some do) and have a great time. On his way he is playing and talkes with the puppet........