I am working on a set of foam head bird puppets.  I searched and searched for the right pattern and read on here somewhere to "start with what you know".  I have made some foam head puppets so I started with the Project Puppet pattern and added a beak.  Here is what I have thus far.  I hope to sew the beak and head fabric together today and see what I have.  They are evolving. Any suggestions/critiques are appreciated.

I think they are looking pretty good. The fabric around the "lip" area of the beak looks a bit bumpy on the two outside ones. That may simply be because they are not finished off yet.

Yes the "lip" part is a little bumpy.  It is hot glued rather than sewed into the mouthpiece, using the VIP technique.  I am not too good at that and don't like that as well as sewing but tweaking.  I like the stretchy (green) fabric better too because I can pull it tighter on the beak. 

I always try to glue on the inside of the mouthplate instead of the edge to help avoid this.  Then I can cover the inside with another piece of fabric using a glue other then hot glue that does not leave bumps or I simply hand stitch outside fabric to the inside of mouth fabric and maybe only glue the inside fabric say at the back of the mouth.

Well, I can tell they are birds without being told!  That is one of my measurements.  If I make something, show it to someone and they know what it is, then I'm good. LOL

Exactly!  My husband didn't know and that concerned me.  Then I asked more people and everyone knew right away so I felt better.  I am really encouraged that you could tell too

Pat, they are great.  Yes, definitely birds.  When you lay the pattern on the fabric make sure the stretch of the fabric runs from top edge to neck, not in the direction of the lip edge.  Then take a dart down the middle of the chin. That will help with the puckering around the mouth.

Enjoy the fabric scraps..can't wait to see what you come up with.

Julie

I know I will enjoy them.  Thanks for sending them.  These are " scrap birds". They are made so far with what I had on hand.  The  green pieces are the stretchy velvet you had last year.  The bags I have coming from you will definitely complete  them.  I hope to learn on these small ones then will tackle some big walk about ones.  So now I know to run the stretch from the tip of the beak  to the neck. Thanks!

Well, the green velvet is a different story.  It's just harder to work with around the mouth area especially since it's a two or four way stretch.  You are doing a great job. Mthe best part about blacklight stuff it looks great under the blacklight even if there are flaws in the regular light.

Good basic bird shape. They look like a goose.