Hello all!
Been awhile since I've posted, I've been very busy lately with school and also have had a chance to jump back into puppetry this summer with a new production and a "revival" of the Crayon Kingdom.

My new production is a musical adaptation of Susan Hunt's book "Sammy and his Shepherd." [Awesome book, check it out if you can!]


I am a bit for pressed for time [again, big surprise] so am planning on just building Sammy, My Friend, and a "Anything" sheep. These sheep will all be upright standing. The rest of the puppets will just be other builds I've done, costumed appropriately.

I could use some advice and help, so please share whatever you think will help address my questions and any tips in general, thanks again P&S community, you're all great!

1) I am still debating on how I could get an appropriate headshape similar to the illustrations for the sheep. Any ideas on a pattern I could use or just general tips and advice so I can get a great head shape and muzzle? The body and arms I'm not worried about, I can do that, it's just the head that's going to be a challenge!

2) I also want to create a "look" similiar to the illustrations, I was considering using Antron fleece for the faces and arms and sheep wool for the bodies. But I'm trying to figure out how I could get the "fuzzy" look on the face without it being overbearing. More then anything, I would just like the cheeks and top of the head to have the furry look.

3) I plan on making an "Anything" sheep puppet, since the play calls for at least 3 speaking sheep. I'd like to make the head something that could quickly and easily be attached and re-attached to the body. Any ideas?

4) I would like the character "My Friend/Precious" to start out as a skinny and "dirty" sheep and progress into a cleaner and prettier one. I'm wondering, how could I best achieve that look?

If I have anymore, I'll be sure to post them. Again, thank you everyone for your help and input!

This sounds like a good book.

Link no longer available.

Is this what you want your sheep to look like or do you want it to be upright.





Sweat shirt puppet
http://www.activitytv.com/501-sweatshirt-sheep-puppet

flock of sheep
http://home.earthlink.net/~huntermarionettes/puptmin/sheep.pdf

I will keep looking

Billy D.

Hmmmm... this looks like an awesome project!  I'll throw in my 2 cents:

1.  Maybe it'll be best to achieve the sheep look and head shape with fabric.  Do the majority of the head in the woolen/fur and the face area in Antron (I think you already thought of this), and when you do the mouth area, just do the center part of it in Antron, the rest being fleece, that could give the look of a muzzle.  You'll have to splice the pattern to be part fur and part fleece.   What do you think about the Pinhead pattern from Project Puppet?

2. Maybe also splice furs together and have a long shag fur lining the Antron face.  This can be trimmed to your taste and will give that wispy look of the illustration.... Oh!  Also a tuft on top of the head?  If it's the same color as the wool fur it should look pretty stellar.

3. I'd do a separate head/neck puppet design where the head has a fabric sleeve that can attach to the body via velcro (Think Pannabecker/Privett method)

4.  This is super tough, either do layers on the puppet or make different bodies all together... if you're trying to go from skinny TO "healthy" you could start with a skinny body and have layers of fur bodies to add that change the appearance and fill the body out more.

Did I ramble?  Probably yes, hope there's something that may be insightful!
 

@Billy It is! When I read the summary I thought, "This sounds like a nice story to use, I'll buy it." Once I read it, I was AMAZED at how beautifully written and handled it was. Honestly, I wasn't expecting it to be all that great but it was and a whole lot more.
And I'm going an upright look but thanks for the links! I'll look through it to get some ideas =]

@jlucci Thanks and it is! I have great ideas for it.
1. Yeah I was thinking I'd most likely have to do it, but splicing the pattern and just fiddling with it sounds like a great idea so I can find the look I'm going for. And the pinhead? I didn't think of that, but I'll check it out. I know PP has a tutorial on adding facial features but I doubt I'd be any good at carving foam for a rush job.
2. Oh shag fur could work great, I just want to make sure I can give it a natural look with the rest of the head and definitely it'd be a bonus if I could match it with the wool.
3. Ah velcro! Great idea! I was thinking of perhaps trying safety pins or snaps but velcro is a lot less cumbersome and more likely to hold throughout the performances.
4. I was thinking of making separate bodies altogether but your idea of using fur layers actually sounds like something worth trying.. this gives me something to think about!

And I don't mind rambling, I got some ideas and hopefully you'll have more to share. Thank you! =D