I am the Pastor’s Wife of a small church and a member of our HUG (Hands Unto God) Puppet Ministry Team (among other duties ).  Our ministry began about 4 years ago so we are still new and growing but small.  I have made all of our puppets because we could not afford to buy them already made. Julie at Out Of The Box Puppets is my “Go-To” person for resources. Great help!!!!   We have 6 small puppets that we use every month in our Children’s Worship and 21 larger puppets that most are blacklight ones plus 5 Stringbean “Noodle People” and 2 Homemade Slinky (Springy) “things”.
We are currently preparing for a presentation at our church March 3, 2013.  I am at the point now that I need more help learning about props and lighting, I think!  As I learn I realize there is so much more to learn and how little I know.  We use a 400W Cannon Blacklight plus some handmade floor fluorescent fixtures (for our Stringbeans).  I have spent more time re-making props for this presentation than before because they were not “right” or did not work properly.  So it would serve all of us better if I learned the right way to do things from the beginning.  
Right now, I need to make a blacklight ship, fish, and water.  I have come up with some dye and fabric (thanks to Julie) to use for the water.  Just have to figure how to make it look right.  I found the free fish pattern here but not sure yet if I have time to make more puppets or just make them from cardstock for now.  The ship may be of Styrofoam or cardboard.  Not sure yet.  Any suggestions for any of this???

Welcome to Puppets and Stuff.

In regards to your ship.  I would suggest not using Styrofoam.  It breaks way to easily.   I would stick with the card stock or cardboard for these.  You can get what is called matte board that is a bit heavier then card stock that is nice for things like this. If for some reason you do want to use Styrofoam for something like this may a suggest using the pink insulation for in walls. It comes in 4X8 foot sheets at places like Home Depot.  It is a dense styro that holds up better.  We actually used it quite a bit for set pieces since it is light weight.  The foam itself does not paint that well but we would glue a layer of muslin to each side with the front layer warping around the edge to the back. This also adds a bit of stability to the whole thing.  If for some reason it does snap at least the fabric holds it together till you can get if fixed.

Again welcome!

What kind of glue do you use to attach the muslin? The only reason I would choose stryofoam right now is that I have some 3" thick available. But I also have a large piece of cardboard which is not so "glue-sensitive".   Great advice! Thanks!

Just plain old white glue. In fact if I am remembering the process correctly, we actually watered it down a bit so it would spread easily and soak into the muslin some. We always kept gallon jugs of elmers around the shop.  Your muslin would most likely shrink some so take that into account when cutting the size you need.  The water glue combo kind of acts like sizing when you are stretching a canvas for painting.

I have learned a lot already!  Thanks for the info and welcome!!

Hi, I thought I would show you what I ended up with.  I decided to take your advice and go with cardboard,  BUT, I liked the muslin idea so I applied it to the cardboard.  In blacklight it shows up better than the cardboard but not too harsh so I think it will be OK. The Elmer's glue worked well. I am planning on placing on a stand and the puppeteer will be inside.  Trying to post a picture.  Thanks!

Cool... it's a castle right?

OK...do have to use your imagination .  It is the above the curtain portion of a ship.  'Hind sight...Could have changed a few things but "inventing" as I went.

Welcome Patmur. I hope the show goes well. Good suggestion for use of muslin Shawn. If I come across any I will give it a go.