It's just a little frustrating when I'm staring at stuff for a while and I just don't understand it. I'm going to have my husband look at it though. He's got a much more mathematical mind than I do... and the shapes for the foam will probably make more sense to him.

Anyway, the good news is that Boober is nearly done, if anyone would like to have a look:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/haleybrooks/Fraggle/boobernohat.jpg

my husband is downstairs making his hat right now, and we still need to make his scarf, but he's pretty close to done. The tail was actually a lot easier to make than I had first though. We took a coat hanger and took it apart, then we hemmed the bottom of the puppet, stuck the hanger through, poked the hanger through the back of the fabric, and then sewed the bottom shut. After this I just covered it with fabric and poked out some feathers at the tip of the tail. ^_^

One time I built a head in smaller, kind of odd shaped pieces.  Just kind of cutting and piecing till the shape was right.  Then I cut the whole thing so that it would lie flat in one large piece and traced it for the pattern.  When I built the actual head it looked neat and clean but the path to get there was anything but.  A whole lot of trial and error.  A good thing to remember is that if you're going to cover the puppet with fabric any ugliness in the foam will be covered so don't worry about it.  Nip, tuck, add and take away as you need to.  Keep fussing with it till your happy with it.

I think I may know exactly what to do now with the foam. I was folding some paper, like you suggested, and something clicked in my mind. I have no idea if it's gonna work, but I'm certainly going to try it.

I might have some more questions when I actually start this, provided my idea works.

I usually start my patterns out on paper. I actually didn't purchase the foam book until recently. My first book purchase was The Complete book of Sutffedwork by Toni Scott. For me it was the missing link to designing 3D foam shapes. The book covers all sorts of stuffed art, but the chapter on 3D basic geometric shapes is the best.

Thanks! That's really good to know. ^_^ I'll definitely look into it.

It is a good book

Link no longer available.

Billy D.

Will something like this work for the fleece that will cover the head? I still haven't worked out the foam that will go under it. I'm still having a hard time.

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/haleybrooks/Fraggle/wembleytest1.jpg

That skecth it gave me a lot ideas! Draw the same, but thinking in 3d

The part where the head (with the darts) are is good (3D), the neck is perfect. The mouth, still work to give a 3D looks, the same with the nose. I think you have to use more darts in the nose and mouth

Please keep us showing us what you doing. Building puppets is little by little. And believe me, you are doing a great job!