Recently I started work on my first piece meant to be a generally foam hand puppet. I've made what I consider a decent looking head but I'm unsure how to peruse the body design. I'm using mattress foam and I'm thinking before that maybe having a cloth undercoat to make it easy to bend? Also I'm unsure on the design of the body. Because of that I recently consulted a friend I wouldn't be shocked if she's a member here. She said make a few bodies that aren't attached and see which one looks best, then down the line maybe I could treat the puppet like a "What-Not". A good idea but I'd rather only make one body. I'm not sure I have the foam for a few.

Below are shots of the head needing more painting, and ideas over the body. One design is meant to have it come off as a snake-like statue and the other an Aztec god.

Do a search for body or bodies on here. Billy is the expert on finding things in past posts.  It seems like there are several designs posted.  Basically you want to cut a rectangle of foam. Fold in half lengthwise and glue edges together. This glued seam is the center back of body. Then you can work on the shoulders and neck opening. One way is to grasp the folded edge of foam, making sure seam is in center back. You will have a fold on each side.  Measure  from top down fold 2-3". Measure from fold toward back seam 2-3".  Using these marks as a guide, draw a line and cut along line. This will be a triangle before cutting. Glue cut edges together, from side to top. Do the same on the other folded edge. Now you can cut out for neck. Some people make a straight cut, others round out the front,making it lower than the back. Be sure your hand fits through the neck opening. 

I'm sure that is clear as mud!  Drawings would be easier to follow, but I don't know how to do that on my phone.

Actually I think I did some thing pretty much like that on the last one I made. Hee, the only finished example I've shown in this forum ..um to a point. My avatar shows it's head.

I appreciate the advice but that isn't the body shape I'd like to go with. The second image posted shows the basic shape I want to use which is a cylinder simply in two drawings. Same for the others but a little extended into a zone meant for show reasons only and not meant for manipulation.

The body you drew could be achieved by the method MsPuppet described. A simple rectangle glued along the long edges and then you can do the V darts at top and bottom to help give it more shape as in picture two. Then you cut a round hole about in the center so you can put your hand in.  Try using even just paper to experiment in where  you would put the darts and the shape and length of them. Remember that a while a dart is a V, you can curve the lines of it in or out to achieve smoother lines.

Could a picture be posted showing this cut? I might be perceiving this wrong.
Also which body idea do you guys like best? I'm prone towards them all but as stated earlier, I don't want to make them all.

I like the body on the right.  Don't have a picture handy that would show the cut for the body but this image illustrates what I mean about a dart that is curved. This is a complex head design but the cuts along the top show how the curve.



Grab a piece of legal sized paper. fold it length wise to get center then cut a V at the top on the fold. Duplicat this on the other side.  Now open out the paper and fold from the outside to the fold line on each side and put the same V to start with on this fold. Now take some tape and tape up the long sides so you have tube then take and join your V's and tape them. This is going to give you and idea of how your darts would round out or shape the top. Paper is cheap so you can experiment easily.   Now for the shape you want I would say that your V on the first center fold is going to want to be pretty long to help make the shape of your body.  In fact in your mind visualize the shape you want if you where looking at the puppet from the side and cut that in to the fold. That should give you a V that is curved inward.  Now the sides of your paper is actually back so the V there maybe the opposite so the back curves in a bit. Again visualize your puppet form the side and reproduces the silhouette. Your other two V's that get cut on the two second folds you make are the curve and shape of the puppet from the front, or the shoulders of the puppet. That gets your top done. Now think about what shape you want on the bottom and cut V's for that on the bottom of the page.  In total to start the experiment we are talking about a total of 8 V's with actually two of them being half V's till you join the sides of the paper.

Hee, I'm still confused over how to make the cuts. It might be crystal to some, but I can't make heads or tails of those instructions  . Without taping, here are ideas based off what you just told me to do. ...I really wanna figure out what you're saying .


The second one is folded over (I'm not sure that shows well in the photo).

No not quite right.   I don't have time right now but if no one else chimes in (they may not understand what I am trying to get out either) then tomorrow I'll get you a visual of all this.  You are close but not quite there.

I'll try.  If you lay out a piece of rectangle foam and cut the triangles as shown.  Then you glue the v's together and the ends together to make the tube. I can't draw on the computer very well but the second picture should look more like a cylinder instead of a square. But the v's make "shoulders".  This is how I make a simple puppet body.

HTH

Took a stab at a tapered tube pattern with straight Vs. If you curve the sides of the V dart more the edges won't be so angular, and be rounded more.