I'm working on a project that would involve making several puppets.  However only two of them have major roles in the project so I'm toying with the idea of having two other puppets to serve as all the "extras" and just swap out facial features so they don't look the same every time.

However, I'm not certain what materials would be best to make this viable.

I would like to make just blank faced mouth puppets. (likely with a fleece covering, though that can change if it will better serve the idea of removable features)  Then make several sets of features (eyes, noses, hair, etc) that can be mixed and matched.

But I don't know how would be best to attach them to the puppet securely enough to withstand being used, but still be able to be removed without damaging the puppet.

My first thought was velcro, and frankly I can't find a fleece/material that the hooks will reliably stick to, I'm sure there's something I could use for the puppet skin to make that work., it would eventually wear out of course but it'd work for some time.

But there may be an entirely different method that I'm missing that could do the same thing.  Any suggestions?

Velcro is the first thing that comes to mind but you could also use snaps, fabric fasteners, or even magnets. Velcro comes in a variety of colors, tapes, and dots.

http://www.uline.com/BL_5051/Velcro-Tape

http://www.hookandloop.com/site/department.cfm?id=duragrip_special_colors

fabric fasteners

http://www.snapsource.com/faqs/introtosnaps.php

magnetic buttons
http://www.rnllee.com/storepages/giftsfin.htm

two way carpet tape can be a quick and temporary fix. Try different things until you find works best.

Billy d.

I have just built an entire puppet with embedded small metal washer in key places and metal cording with using earth magnets (which are one of the strongest) you can get earth magnets as small and as flat as a watch battery (even smaller than a watch battery)...I use any size magnet from a quarter size to a tiny little ones attached to items (glasses, hats, stuff they need to hold, tails) with great success and nothing has fallen off even bouncing around a lot.

I know this would easily transfer over to faces (no different than tails)...

I hope this gives you some ideas.

Daryl

Earth magnets are really cool things. I am seeing them used more and more on things.  I just worked the musical "Shrek" and the helmet he wears has the earth magnets in it to hold both his face plate and his "ear" covers in place. He has to remove it on stage yet is very active before that point and the magnets keep things in place till he needs to remove the helmet.

Where can you buy earth magnets? Lowe's? Home Depot? Staples?

Google Search: earth magnets

One of the major puppet companies use to sell puppets with removable features.  They had velcro on the head, and each piece (eyes, nose, eybrows, hair, etc) had velcro on them as well.

The major problem, as I recall, was the constant pulling them off stretched the fleece.

I've made puppets similar,  pinned on the hair and nose with t pins or quilting pins.
We finally decided changing the hair was enough. LOL

I do think using the earth magnets is going to be the way to go for my project.  I even had some laying around and it works well.  I just need to stick something metal between the fleece skin and the foam.  Washers as suggested earlier will probably be best.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.

I was also thinking if there was some way you could mount washers into the head and make the eyes to where they could be screwed on........ just a thought 

The times that I've seen earth magnets used, they use two of them for each connection.  You do have to make sure you insert them so the polarity is correct on them. I am sure that you could use a washer or something similar but depending on the connection you want it may be you need two earth magnets.