Hello!  I'm a new to the hobby puppet guy.  I have always liked puppets, so thought I would give a shot to building one myself.  There are a lot of great resources here, and I wish I had found this site before attempting my first build.  But it's turning out great!  Need to purchase some of that Antron fleece for the skin... But all in good time!

Looking forward to learning some new things!  Thanks for offering such a great board!

Welcome to PandS!  Glad you found us.  Antron is nice but when you are starting out I think it is best to use anti-pill fleece you can get at any fabric store.  Not quite as pricey and handles similar to Antron. Just my 2 cents.

See that? I'm already learning things!  Thanks for the suggestion.  I did notice that the Antron is a bit pricey.   :?

I agree with Shawn.  It is not necessary to start with Antron.  It is lovely fabric and works well especially if you need to dye it a specific color.  I use it for a lot of our custom puppets, but not all.  Please et me know if you need help figuring anything out. I'll give it a shot.

The caricature is made with Antron the giraffe is with regular anti pill fleece



See link for Giraffe. http://www.outoftheboxpuppets.com/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=476

Julie

Oh I have another suggestion for fabric on puppets.  Velour or Vellux blankets.  Both are just fabrics that you can buy in the fabric store but it is a popular fabric for blankets right now and often buying a blanket is cheaper then buying the fabric.   Also often you can find a cool print (like giraffe which is what made me think of this) that you can't find in the fabric stores.  Like Antron or fleece it has a nape to it so it hides seams pretty well.

Welcome to P&S! I hope you enjoy your first build. Care to share some pics???

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!  I just purchased some anti pill fleece (some flesh colored stuff for my first puppet named Wonderbread who happens to be a bumbling superhero) and found some remnants of a great blue and a vivid green color that will work for my next 2 puppets, Snippet and Snappet, arch nemesi of Wonderbread.  The remnants were 50% off and I had a coupon for 40% off. All told, I bought about 2.5 yards of fleece for about $15. Not too bad!

I applied the first bit of fleece to the foam with spray adhesive.  Is that what everyone else uses?  I tried a bit with hot glue but with the fleece it left some odd patterns.

Anyhow, I love how this is going. The top of the head is causing me some problems (bullet head)but i'll get there.  Pictures will be coming.  Is there any way to upload directly to the site or is it all offsite?

Thanks everyone!.

Hey there, sounds like you're making progress! I used spray adhesive for my first puppet and haven't touched the stuff since. I would steer well clear of the hot glue if using fleece. You might be able to get away with it if using a heavier fabric such as faux fur. I generally machine sew to fit based on my foam pattern or if draping, pin the fabric in place (loads of pins!), cut the excess then sew by hand. I find that works for me but everyone is different and I guess with experimentation you'll find the best method for you - a worthy excuse to keep building more and more

As for the pics, you can upload them to your personal gallery on this forum then link them using the little camera button within your post. That probably makes no sense - best to await instruction from Shawn or another mod!

Pictures will be coming.  Is there any way to upload directly to the site or is it all offsite?

Lizzie had it right. You can upload them to the Gallery then when you are posting there is a small camera icon in the buttons at the top of the post box that you can use that opens up a little window where you can choose what picture you want to insert into the post. It is set to go directly to your user album at first but you can navigate anywhere in the Gallery and insert pictures. BTW the first time you visit the Gallery an album should be created for you and then you'll have a link both in the small info box from mousing over your avatar on post and in your profile. In the small info box it uses the same small camera icon. You can see it by mousing over my avatar to the left of this post.

 
Thanks for the info!  Ill be uploading some pics today!   

Some more intro-mation about me: I'm a registered nurse In a level 1 trauma center, do charity events in my fursuit (watch for photos). I wanted a way to entertain sick kids at my hospital and I figured what better way than with puppets?