Steve - thank you. Puppet building is very much a hobby for me and like you, I invest my own hard earned cash so am always looking to keep things as cost effective as possible. I wouldn't know where to start in terms of education or here in Australia where I would find it. My partner called one of the creature building studios Na had recommended and they are no longer holding workshops - nor did they know of anyone who were. That's not how I learn anyway so it seems experimental chaos reigns for now!

I turfed my second build too The design was right but the foam I was using wasn't. Really frustrating. I promise the second I actually reach that 'huzzah' moment I will post pics!

I wouldn't know where to start in terms of education or here in Australia where I would find it. My partner called one of the creature building studios Na had recommended and they are no longer holding workshops - nor did they know of anyone who were. That's not how I learn anyway so it seems experimental chaos reigns for now!

Education doesn't really exist. There are the on-again-off-again festivals, which are usually every few years. There are the 'sometimes' workshops for adults, but they tend to be in city centres like Perth, Sydney or Melbourne. Once upon a time I even tried seeing if a mentorship was do-able, but no one was interested (this was when VCA had their course so it was more like "go study there" rather than a "no").

This list is as close as I ever got to knowing about educational opportunities:
http://www.schoolofpuppetry.com.au/tutorials.php/where-to-study-puppetry-in-australia?tempskin=2013tutorials
UNIMA sometimes keeps up with the news of workshops and other things (they've redesigned *again* so all their old news is dead... ):
http://www.unima.org.au/news/

Frankly, you'd be better off buying some books and DVDs.   And investing some travel expenses in a festival when/if they happen. Festivals I find are far more bang for your buck because there tends to be a wider range of workshop opportunities/types of puppets represented in one space and at one time. The last puppet summit (2012) was pretty light on the puppet building, although their advice sessions were great. I believe the Tarrengower fest - now the Maldon Puppet Carnival I see - was just on. I've never been but that seems to be the new thing in festivals. Although looking at their program, they're pretty light on workshops too.
http://maldonpuppetcarnival.com/

It might be a good idea to get yourself on the UNIMA mailing list or the OPEN one (http://www.dreampuppets.com/O.P.E.N..html) because that way you can stay in touch with all the opportunities as they arise. I doubt you'd need to be a member of UNIMA to get on their mailing list - but don't take my word for it.

ADDENDUM TO ABOVE:

I just had another thought. If you're like me and prefer the cost-saving measure of books, you could also look into libraries. I know VCA should have a decent puppet book selection, and maybe Swinburne if they didn't kill it with their recent axing of the Prahran campus. I'm not sure how feasible it would be to borrow or even just waltz in (you could at Swin, but then, I was a student there anyway)... but it's a thought. I believe the State Lib of VIC does a decent selection too... and there a several museums spotted around the country that have collections of puppets that may or may not be available to look at. Sometimes going and looking at displays helps me a lot in understanding concepts.

It won't be targeted to exactly what you need, but YouTube has DIY and guides for just about anything. Sure, there's no way to know if the person is a real professional or just some batshit crazy oaf in their moms basement but that's the risk of the entire internet right?

I've found a ton of help looking at those kinds of videos for totally unrelated topics and then applying the knowledge to my own needs/scenario.