The term you're looking for is "live hand" puppet. You're doing some amazing work! I understand how you're used to working at a very high level of competence/expertise so you're standards and expectations for your work even when you're first starting out are REALLY high. That being said you should certainly be proud of the progress you're already making! Keep in mind you're entering into a related art but still an art which has you employing many new skills so it will take some time to bring those to a level that you're satisfied with. In the meantime us normal humans are pretty darn impressed with what you've accomplished already! Can't wait to see you're continued rapid progress and development!

Your puppets are amazingly realistic. First timer indeed.... I think a lot of professional puppeteers would be jealous! Just goes to show that having other skills in your bag of tricks goes a long way to making a good puppet first time around.

Just goes to show that having other skills in your bag of tricks goes a long way to making a good puppet first time around.

I agree Na.  That is one reason why I try to ask folks who are new here what skills they may already have.

He really is coming right along. Love the mustache.

Thanks, guys.  I have had plenty of experience with puppets over the years. I built my first puppet (a dinosaur head) when I was 11. Still have it packed away somewhere. But all the puppets I worked on were built through an entirely different process of sculpting,molding, casting, etc. Fiberglass underskulls, machined mechanisms and more. I'm finding the foam and fabric process to be somewhat non-intuitive for me and in some ways frustrating and I'm a little surprised that more of my "creature-making" techniques don't apply... at least at this stage of my education! I think the hardest part for me is figuring out what levels of realism are attainable in this style of puppet-making and what level of realism I'm looking for for the specific characters I'm hoping to build. Fun stuff.

I did a quick glove hand for this one and it works much better than the rod arms. So, I think this guy is done for the moment, as I really don't have a character for him yet. But I added temporary hair just to see what he could be;


I think he may wind up being the local artist/poet/free spirit.
I have no experience at all with "Live hand" puppets. I see that some are done as  head/body and separate hand/arm while others have the arm attached. Is there any advantage of one way over the other?

Groovy man

Are those real glasses?

Not real glasses. Just props.

So I'm on to the next one. Again, not sure what I'm after, just gaining experience. Another human of some sort. I'll be attempting to use this mouth assembly I made up the other day;

It's a different construction than I've been using and it's all foam. The gray foam is a stiff polyfoam for strength. I hope to get a little more movement out of the mouth with this approach. We'll see.

Not real glasses. Just props.

Sorry, better question: did you make them, or are they store bought?

The glasses were purchased, but they were part of a gift to me so unfortunately I have no idea where they were from.