I'm new to the puppet world.  However, I have been a Christian singer, musician, record producer, full-time on the road artist for many years.  I now pastor a church and still work in music productions. 

I approached Billy D. Fuller about a project I'm working on for my church, and he recommended I join this forum.  So here I am.

First, let me say this is not a "for-profit" show I want to do with these popular characters.  Our church wants to do a Veggie Tales VBS.  I want to open the VBS with Bob and Larry puppets or mascots with moving mouths for about 15 minutes. Then allow kids to get their picture made with them. (BTW - We do a one day 9:00am to 3:00pm VBS program)

I can buy a 12" Bob and Larry puppets from Big Idea, but the mouths do not move. 

I either want to buy these puppets and make the mouths move, or get a couple of kids halloween costumes of these characters (to get the eyes), and make larger puppets.

My orginal thought was to make a couple of mascot size with moving mouths and let the kids get a picture with them.

I checked on renting a Bob & Larry Mascot size.  The only place I found that had them was in Ohio (I'm in Georgia), and they wanted to charge $1,200 for a one day rental with me providing the actors.  WOW!

Google Veggi Tales Live!  Watch how the mouth moves on what is really a flat surface.  How could I make that happen?

I think the black part of the mouth is a dark tinted plexiglass for the dancer to look through because the black part of the mouth reflecs the light in some of the videos.  The green bottom part of the mouth is being pulled down but always stays over that black part. 

The eyes move also.  I think the eyes are a thin plastic mold, and the black pupils of the eyes that move are magnetic.  The dancer moves a magnet on the inside to move the pupils on the outside.  Here's how I drew that conclusion.  On youtube there is a video of "Larry takes a fall."  The Larry dancer fell on stage, and when she did, the black pupils fell off.  The jar of the fall knock them off. 

Would someone jump in here and help me get this thing together or suggestions on how to at least make the mouth move?  I really would appreciate it.

My purpose is to pull a lot of kids in our community because our church sign is on the main road, but our church is hid.  Kids and parents comes out to things they are familar with (I have a 8 and 3 year old. . . so I know.)  This would allow me to get acquainted with new families since this is my first year at the church.

Many Thanks!!

Welcome to Puppets and Stuff, folks will join this thread shortly meanwhile have a look around the site. I need to do a little investigation and will get back with you. I have posted some video so others can see what you are talking about.

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https://youtu.be/vgiTVM66JJs

Just from a glance at the video the whole costume is built with fabric stretched on a form or spine much like a umbrella is when you open it. The mouth looks like it is the same flexible material like boning you would use in a hat or something along that line. It apears the puppeteer inside the costume is pulling the mouth inward towards there body by a handle or something. Will watch the video again and do some web searching.

I agree.  On some of the other characters, you can see the imprint of the spine with just a thin fabric over it.  That makes it very light weight.  Thanks for posting the videos for clarification.  I'm not familar with the term boning.  I'm "green" to puppeteering (LOL).  Can you explain the "boning" term?  Thanks

My actual first thought is - can you do this? Isn't Veggie Tales a well-known show? In which case you might have issues with performance copyrights...

That is why I said it is "not for profit."  It is a VBS program which they sell to me.  All the music CDs is sold to me to use in my church to play.  They even sell the puppets.  All I want to do is take the puppets and alter what has been sold to me (which means I own), and make their mouths move.  I am not doing a full blown production and charging an admission. 

I've posted the links to veggie tales below. The hand puppets we can figure out how to add moving mouths. The term '"boning" is a building material sometimes used in puppet building. It is that flexible material plastic covered metal used in undergarments and hats,etc. It rigid but flexible.


Here are the links to Big Idea/Veggie tales........... From a price wise standpoint you may be able to alter a halloween type costume for the photo shoot. Let me explore that possibility and I'll get back.

http://store.veggietales.com/

https://www.facebook.com/veggietales

http://store.veggietales.com/toys/plush.html

http://store.veggietales.com/bob-larry-large-puppet-set.html

Maybe this will help........... So once you decide what products you want to use we can then work on how to alter them whether it be hand puppets,costumes or both.

Veggietales Church Events kits

http://www.veggietales.com/church

Costume ideas

http://www.ehow.com/info_8343676_veggie-tales-costume-ideas.html

http://voices.yahoo.com/how-larry-cucumber-halloween-costume-545316.html?cat=74


Ready made costumes

http://www.kidzonearth.com/categories/Veggietales-Products/Dress-Up-Costumes/


Ebay

http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_from=R40&_nkw=veggie+tales+costumes&rt=nc

That is why I said it is "not for profit."  It is a VBS program which they sell to me.  All the music CDs is sold to me to use in my church to play.  They even sell the puppets.  All I want to do is take the puppets and alter what has been sold to me (which means I own), and make their mouths move.  I am not doing a full blown production and charging an admission. 

Even NFP activities can break copyright law. But then I'm not overly familiar with US copyright law, so I'm not sure how much leeway "fair use" gives you, nor what products you've bought (ie. you can buy amateur rights that come with the script - I know you can do that here with certain shows). I'm not trying to offend you, I just point these things out because most people don't realise that performance rights exist, even within a NFP setting. I always think it's better to be safe than sorry when it comes to being sued