Ok so Lydia has now been given the full botox lip treatment.Hand sewn and stuffed felt, then sewn onto the head.



I think I'll give her pearly whites as well, esp since the pappets nmouth doesnt completely close. Here is a mock up with cardboard. I assume white EVA foam would be the way to go.

Nice lips, like the shape you choose to go with.

Yep white EVA is your best bet for the teeth.  You catch on fast!

Looks good, although hard to tell due to the angle of the camera. I really like the addition of the teeth, it makes her seem more alive somehow.

OK sorry if you are getting sick of me by now.
I have a question about eyes.
I tried half ping pong balls with felt lids but I thought she looked too much like JaJaBinks.
So I have tried plastic spoons (as I feel that with this head pattern I need to eyes to protrude out a bit from the face):


My question is:  has anyone got a way of sewing eyes of this type onto the head? I prefer at this stage to sew onto the head rather than glue (so that if I get better at it I can remove them and replace parts.
I was thinking that if I glued the eyes to slightly larger pieces of felt and then sewed the felt to the head. I am thinking the felt might then look like eye liner/eye shadow).
 The other idea I had was to glue velcro tabs on the face and the back of the eyes and temporarily attach them?
Any ideas guys would be greatly appreciated.

Here she is with eyes (the temporary pupils are just round floor protectors as I still need to find some small Velcro dots)

If you search on the forums here you will find many suggestions for eyes and eye attachments. However, your instinct is right: cut a small slit in the fleece where you want to attach the eyes; back the eyes with some of the same fleece, with a little overhang; tuck the overhang into the slit; sew up the hole. (I'm going by memory, so to make sure go find the relevant thread)

I recommend pinning the eyes in place to find the right position before cutting a hole though.

Overall the head looks really really good. The eye placement looks about perfect to me, and the nostrils are a great detail.

For your first (?) puppet this is coming out very well indeed

Yeah, I agree with Na, she's turning out really good.  I think you did a great job of the lips and teeth. Where did you buy the foam for the teeth?

For removable eyes you can attach a nylon bolt to the back of the spoon then poke it through the head and attach from inside with a nylon wing nut or threaded cap.  That way you can chage out eyes for different looks.

She's looking really lovely. Excellent first puppet.

Julie

Hey Danny, the white foam is EVA foam that I picked up from Riot! Arts and Crafts store. It's like the stuff you get from $2 stores except it is extra thick foam: 3mm. The label is Artstar Foamtastic. I think it was about $1.50 a sheet. It's a little sturdier and a bit more dimensional than the thinner foam, but the $2 store foam would probably worked just as well.

I am surprising myself at how she is turning out for my first ever foray into puppet-making. Esp since I am not good at sewing (and I am stitching everything!) It all boils down to a lot of internet research and heaps of experimenting(and a lot of tips from this very site: yay! puppets&stuff.com) Where would we be without google! and you guys.

I showed the Director of my show a pic of her tonight and she  liked  her, so I guess there is no turning back now.

For the eyes I decided to glue a piece of the fleece on the back of the spoon eyes cutting an overhang of about 1 to 2mm (as per Na's suggestion)all the way around. I used tan fleece on the bottom and blue on the top to match the eyeshadow)



I then just sewed this 2mm strip of fleece directly onto the head using a whip stitch. I was too scared to do any cutting of the head fabric.  The polar fleece is surprising forgiving of stitching and the seams tend to blend into the nap (if that is the right term).

Just ears left to do on the head...then it's on to the body. Yikes! Recreating tatoos on fleece

Looking good and no we are not getting sick of you!   We love watching folks projects evolve! 

Looks like you got the eyes figured out.  There really is no right or wrong way to do this.  One more way to do it is to drill small holes in the edge of the plastic spoon that would then be covered by the eye lid or eyelashes. In your case you would end up with three points that could be covered. Top and two sides. Only draw back to this is that the bottom is kind of left loose. Again there is not right or wrong and what you choose to do is perfect!

Ok so I have finished Lydia's head.
Added ears, throat and a tongue. She wont get her wig sewn on 'til much later (as I assume it would start to get ratty)





OK so now I have started body building:

Have decided to go for an extreme hourglass shape.
Also decided that I would make her a hole in the back (ventriloquist style) puppet rather than the hand from bottom. This feels more comfortable for me and I can bring her forward on stage.
Also I have been able to design the body a bit bigger (not limited by the length of my elbow.

QUESTION: I have made a hole in the foam for my hand to go through. Do people usually just cut a slit in the fabric covering (or make that a hole as well?)

Foam pattern for body:


I then glued an oval shape to the base for the hips:


Covered with fleece. I will sew the boobs on separately.


QUESTION: I made the fleece covering slightly smaller to get a good stretch. One problem I have is the foam inside scrunches up in places. Is this common? Any ideas on how to push the shape out more?

Now need to think about shapely legs and arms!