Thought that'd get ya attention ;-)

Guys I've got a problem I'm hoping someone can help me with...We moved into a unit a couple of months ago which is part of a kitchen making factory so saw dust a plenty...Thing is my puppets are starting to look grubby..Is there anyway of cleaning fleece puppets or am I literally gonna have to give the dirty ones new fleece skin...I mean I obviously cant wash them or dry clean them as there is glue, fur all kinds of materials. Its so annoying as the puppeteers obviously get dirt on their hands and then touch puppet faces.

While you may not be able to throw them in the washing machine you can still give them a hand washing. Think of it in terms of if you had to clean your favorite covered sitting chair. A damp cloth and some cleaner should do the job. You could also try some of the carpet cleaners but make sure to test on a spot not visible just like you would if cleaning your carpet.

You might want to have a look at this post. http://puppetsandstuff.com/community/index.php/topic,8202.0.html Great idea for storage and has dust covers to keep the grime off.

Depending on your area and the humidity, cleaner bags or trash bags can be used to cover puppets or... Store them in air tight plastic containers. We have a lot of humidity, so cloth bags work best here.

Cleaning - Woolite and a soft cloth (you can dilute the Woolite with water).  Build A Bear sells a spray on cleaner which I like.

haven't tried this yet, but bookmarked it for later use. You can take a peek, and see if it might help you...

Cleaning advice for stuffed animals

I always throw moisture absorbers in with the puppets I'm going to store long term. You can find them super cheap at those emergency supply places. (We get weird humidity here, too. )

The above article (and most others I've found) reference stuffed animals made of fur. Most puppets are fleece with a foam base.  I know our custom dyed puppets that went through Hurricane Ike faded in spots. 

What is an "emergency supply  place?"  I have seen those packets on eBay.

My vaccum came with a heavy duty plastic bag to clean pillows.  It works like a vaccum bag and the pillows go flat but it sucks the dust out of the  fabric and stuffing, I never tried it on a puppet but did on stuffed animals. Also we got cheap white gloves at photo shop for puppeteers to wear to keep the puppets clean and had a NO food or drink around puppet rule to protect them.  Maybe you need to invest in some of those foam strips to put around doors to insulate to keep out the dust, it is not good for your lungs to breath particulates, you can't sew new set of lungs.

Thanks for your replies guys! Yeah I started putting bin bags over them the minute I realised we had a problem...We're having a workshop built where I'm gonna have a no drink/food/dirty hands on entering the room rule..but in the meantime I'll try a few of your handy cleaning tips..

We're having a workshop built where I'm gonna have a no drink/food/dirty hands on entering the room rule..

Good luck on that... the rule that is. Actually it is probably a good idea but I was always the first to break the rule.

Steamer on low setting can be your friend.. Just avoid paint and glued areas.. Goes great with hand washing.


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