Hi everyone!

I am a sock-puppet maker wannabe. I have been lurking a bit and you guys are absolutely inspiring!  Thank you!

I am an English teacher in Latvia.  I have a few kindergarten kiddie classes (about 45 kids ages 5-6), and I want to use sock puppets  with my wee ones. I have used puppets with adult classes in the past, and find they are a great way to practice conversations over and over and over.  A very good thing in a language class.

My resources are extremely limited:

I have a  modern temperamental sewing machine, that throws fits at random and an ancient treadle machine that is a wee bit more reliable.

I have old clothes that will be converted into sock puppets or perhaps a glorified sock puppet or two.  The local charity shop, has given me for a song, some lovely leftovers, exceptionally unfashionable, stretched, shrunk, torn etc clothes, giving me a great selection of colours and textures to work with. 

I am going to sacrifice one synthetic pillow (I prefer feather) that has a fleecy filling, to use as stuffing/padding where needed.

I have been advised by the children about which puppets they would like to see (it’s a very long list). The  Children are very understanding and forgiving, and will accept any imperfections.  They understand intrinsically the magic of puppets, and have sworn to love whatever creations I come up with.

I have an overly developed sense of the ridiculous, and love to laugh. I suspect that this will help in this endeavour.

You guys have already given me a load of ideas, on how to do this.  My plan is to start with some incredibly basic characters…we are talking  snake, frog, worm….and to slowly work my way up to the dragon, and princess. Any advice you can give, will be appreciated.  I need to make these extremely durable, as 5-6 year olds, despite sworn oaths of devotion and fealty to the puppets-to-be, will take their toll.  I also want to avoid anything that will crack, break, tear or cut easily.

I have had a teaching schedule from hell for the last month. My fault, I was unemployed for a bit, and took every job I could get, to reestablish a sense of financial security.  As of today, my schedule is back to sane, and I can pay my bills, and I am resolved to delve into sock puppets this weekend.  My apologies in advance for the length of this post....I am hoping that my discussions with the children this week, and posting my intent publically here, will help me overcome any procrastinatory impulses which may arise.

Hi everyone
 

. . . I have an overly developed sense of the ridiculous, and love to laugh. I suspect that this will help in this endeavour.

First, Welcome to P&S, a most congenial collection of ridiculous senses. I look forward to seeing some of the creations you bring into being.

WELCOME!  You remind me of myself. :D  Procrastinators unite!  Not to worry, this site is great for motivation.  It gets me excited just to post something new and that helps me overcome my procrastination...a bit. LOL.  I love your enthusiasm.  That is all you need to dive in.  You are going to be GREAT!  I love that you are interested in entertaining small children like me.  My whole purpose of puppetry is for the children and my four year old son.  They are like you said so forgiving.  That is the BEST description.  Children make our jobs easy.  I like the classroom approach rather than the usual birthday party scene which can end up feeling like a babysitter.  Glad that you are a teacher.  Will be good for puppeteers to ask questions regarding performing in the classroom from a teacher's point of view.  I took only one class on art in the classroom in college and learned that the main thing is to have a show/craft relate to the lessons being taught in the class.  It's always good to have a teacher on board here at P&S.  Sorry in advance that I might be asking you a lot of question....lol.  Again...WELCOME....big hugs (((HUG))) 

xoxo,
N

Welcome!!  We will be eager to see all your sock puppet creations!!!  As a former teacher myself I can attest to the MANY benefits of using puppetry in the classroom!!  In fact now I also teach teachers how to use puppetry in their classroom!!

Welcome to PandS! It sounds like you have a solid direction you want to head and how you are going to get there. That is half the battle. If you run into any roadblocks along the way please ask questions.  I am sure we can get you around them.

Welcome and hello

Welcome to P&S

Billy D.

Hi,

Welcome to P&S.. ...I am sure you will
enjoy interacting with members. Chek some of
the gallery pics for sock puppet designs.

Have a great time with puppets..

Cheers

Thank you everyone for the kind welcome.

Just what I needed to overcome procrastination.  My first puppet is complete….Yeehah, click my heels and happy dance!

….and now a couple of questions.

•   I struggled with the order of a few things….when making a bog-standard sock puppet, as I have done, do you usually do the sides first, or the mouth?
•   I tried to use some thin foam (leftover sheet, about a half cm thick, from insulating the chicken coop) to give a bit more structure to the mouth, but managed to get mick jagger lips---looks really cool but not what I planned…any advice? While I like this one, I’m not sure I want all of them to do this.
•   There is some puckering on the lips, is this from the foam plate…or imperfect sewing….the arc was even and a lovely and smooth stitch, looked great until I reversed to right side out.
•   If I try a variation of the glorified sock puppet pattern I found on the internet, is the mouth an easier event?  I can’t print it out, so I’ll have to draw the pattern free hand based on what I see on the screen.

Any advice appreciated.

•   There is some puckering on the lips, is this from the foam plate…or imperfect sewing….the arc was even and a lovely and smooth stitch, looked great until I reversed to right side out.

Without seeing what you have done, I would venture to guess that you need to do some clipping around the curve, in order to maintain its smoothness. Clipping little V-shaped notches (the point of the V should come very close to the line of stitching) can help smooth out a curve once it is turned right side out.

Oh, yes, he's pretty cool looking. Kind of like he just came around the corner and saw something rather shocking.