Looks great Julie. Seeing a build at this experience level is really helpful and motivating, thank you for sharing.

Thanks.  Here are the finished photos.  The lighting isn't so great as I finished it late Thursday night.  You can see the final test video on facebook.

Please feel free to ask questions.  I learned soooo much during this build.  I will do a few things differently if I ever make another one.  Had a great time when I wasn't stressing over the deadline. LOL
Julie

Wow, he turned out great. He's quite big. You mentioned a deadline...how is he going to be used?  The stick man I am needing to build is a walking stick insect type thing. Originally it was literally going to be just a stick from a tree, but it would be nice to be able to have him interact a bit more , or act as it were.

Fantastic job! How did you do the creases in the face? Did you carve them into the foam? And did you paint the pupils? The eyes look fantastic, well done.

Wow, he turned out great. He's quite big. You mentioned a deadline...how is he going to be used?  The stick man I am needing to build is a walking stick insect type thing. Originally it was literally going to be just a stick from a tree, but it would be nice to be able to have him interact a bit more , or act as it were.

The puppet team is competing in a local festival's competition. They have been practicing their program minus the tree and if weather doesn't delay the delivery they should have about 2 weeks to practice with the tree.

What size do you need the walking stick to be?

Julie

Fantastic job! How did you do the creases in the face? Did you carve them into the foam? And did you paint the pupils? The eyes look fantastic, well done.

  the veining in the top and bottom lip are created by adding hot glue to the fleece and pinching it together. I drew the direction of the veins on the foam just so i could rememer how I wanted to crease the fabric.  Mist of the time I just have to add the hot glue to the fabric, pinch they lay the fabric against the foam.  So, starting from the center of the mouth, let's say the top lips is 5" tall. I would cut the fabric about two tines as wide and about 3" longer than the shape of the top lip. For instance, secure the fabric under the nose in about a 1/2" wide line, the add  hot glue to the back of the fabric about 2" wide (across) and almost the about where the fabric would lay on the edge of the mouth. If you will be sewing any edge, DON'T glue all the way to the edge.  Working quickly once glue is added to the back of the fabric, pinch the fabric together in the curvy line, then secure with glue to foam...repeat the same working you way out to the left or right side of mouth.  I used this same technique for hair. I'll try to post the photo.

Julie

Sorry, forgot to answer about the eyes. The eyes are  each two half domes that are used to make fireworks. They are painted with i. Front, black in back with regular walmart spray paint, then painted with Wildfire blacklight reactive paints. Thanks for you complements. Eyes are very hard for me. I saw a beautiful video technique I want to try. The artist attached the eye to a spinning table. By just touching his brush to the spinning eye it formed a perfect circle. I found it on youtube, but forgot to bookmark it. LOL

The hair on this puppet uses the same technique as the mouth of the tree.

You are just mind blowingly talented Julie. I have really enjoyed watching the process of this one here and on facebook. I just adore the finished product and am in awe of your skill. Such an amazing sense of creativity and seemingly effortless gift you have. I am looking forward to seeing more of your builds - it really has been fascinating to observe the difference in your methods compared to mine and others here. Thank you for sharing the build process. I love the dude above too!

Thanks heaps for your detailed information. I have seen the fleece pinching technique before however I have never seen it used for hair. That's awesome, your whole elvis head looks great. I have to agree with Lizzies Lair, you are very talented.

You guys are so generous with your compliments. I truly believe it is a combination of things. I believe God is the true creative one and as I learn more about him and grow in my faith my abilities have improved. I also have a fantastic Daddy that allowed his fidgety little girl to site with him while he worked on cars, motors all everything else around our house that needed repairing. Some where in those days I learned his gift of seeing the solution as he analyzed the problem. Also, the puppetry community has been so generous to share along with the vastness of the internet it has made learning possible. For all of you just starting out, keep learning, keep trying, never give up. I'm still very far from where I'd like to be..so more prayer and more study of all the other talented artist out there.

Lizzie, I am always amazed at the differences in building styles. It used to be very intimidating, thinking My puppets had to look like or I had to create things like what I was seeing. After viewing probably thousands of puppets and designs, I realized beauty and success really is in the eye of the beholder.   

I'm greatly impressed with the talent here as well as some of the teens and young adults that I speak with. I think, wow, it's taken me a very long time to get to this point, but this generation is leaps and bounds ahead, most likely for the reasons I stated above.

As far as effortlessly, you should have seen me stressing over each new detail that I needed to learn. LOL

Julie