Hey Snail and thanks so much for the welcome and the compliment! :D

I'm amused though. The characters you see in the former picture, were imps. The green guy in my avatar is called Lazzle, and he's my silly lil' mascott.. and he's a goblin. I've not really drawn much work I can show involving my design of trolls.
The bat-ears will be something I need to tackle, making them move in some way, or atleast posable. I also want my imps, trolls and goblins to have some sort of eye-mechanism, either blinking or moving eyes, or eyebrows, so I can make them more expressive.
To put all in one puppet would be murder, however. xD

I'm still figuring most out, eventhough the troll puppet allready has a basic shape and way of operating (handpuppet/rodpuppet).

I used to draw trolls like they are in the game 'World of War-'.. well, you know the one
But they are a bit too trademarked to happily make a puppet out of. The Norwegian trolls as everyone knows them, are also too known.
And.. well, I like designing. So I made my own trolls. But like said, I never really got to draw one, so that would be hard to show.
So I took the liberty of quickly making a design sheet to show you.


If you want to see it a lot bigger, you'll probs need a password. I made the folder to show folks here, so.. the password to that folder is "Notyourbusiness" :P  

Hope you enjoy!

PS: I just noticed the 'design date' is completely off! it's 3-3-2015. I adjusted it.Me and my discalculi xD

Very nice design sheet. Really gives a great idea of the finished puppet.

For your ears you can do something similar to what  you do with your hands. You can embed wire into the outer rim of the ear. You cut your ear shape out of foam and then you cover the edge in contact cement. After it is tacky you take wire and press it into the center of this outer edge and pinch the foam in around it. This both rounds out the edge of your ear and encases the wire in the foam.

One drawback to putting wire into both hands and in ears like this is that over time it can break and then it sticks out.  So think ahead while you construct your puppet. For example with the ears I would not glue them to the head but make and cover them in fabric then sew them on by hand. This way if an ear needed to be replaced you could detach it easily by taking out the stitching and then adding a new one.

Also don't glue your fabric to the foam on the ear if you can avoid it. That way you could take the foam ear out of the fabric covering and replace it. Sometimes when you try to replace just a section of fabric on a puppet it does not quite match because of fading or dye lots.

Yeah... that design sheet is top notch!!

@ Shawn: Wow, thanks for the compliment!  
I didn't think about that yet, how you describe the wire of the ears. That's an amazing idea. However, the not-glue-fabric-to-the-foam would make it hard to make details (ridges) in the ear itself, wouldn't it? It's good food for thought!
The wire I have for the hands is a copper-wire, wrapped with a very soft but slightly textured tape used for grip on tennis-rackets. Would the wire break, it's safely tucked until repaired. BUt copper wire can be bent unlimited times. I've used it for a LOT of things and projects so far. It's only slightly heavier, and a wit weak if you want it to carry heavy stuff, but it keeps shape well, and it doesn't break.
Copper wire was one of the ideas I had for the hands and 'Pose by hand' ears that don't need to move on cue.
I still planned to ask if that was a good idea for puppets

Also, what kind of wire would you put in the ears? Heavy-duty Fishing wire?

@Sassafrass: Thank you! :D

The copper wire may be ok for ears and hands. I've never really been picky when it comes to the wire I use. Often it was just what ever I had on hand. For shaping the ridges and detail on the ears you could either us foam cut and shaped that you glued to the foam base ear or say for the outer ridge you could sew it into the fabric. Thinking a small foam backer rod you get at the hardware store that you put at the edge of the ear that is sewn then top stitch around the ear to encase it. Then slip that onto the foam ear. It would be similar to doing piping on a cloths item or furniture cover.

I have to warn that sometimes, my non-native english gets the best of me. I'm afraid I don't know what you mean with 'Foam backer rods' exactly.
The rest however, are golden tips. However, I could make ridges and put them in the 'pillowcase' for the ear, wouldn't the ridges barely show if I don't glue?

Sorry if I sound like a total noob *Snickers*

Foam backer rod is most often used to fill in gabs when caulking. It is used around windows and even in roads and sidewalks to fill the gap between sections. Google Search: Foam Backer Rod  You can find it in hardware stores.

I would agree that the easiest way would be to glue down the fabric to the the foam to show any ridges you may have put in the foam ear.  You could put that detail though in the fabric by using a quilting type of technique. Two layers of fabric with thin foam between and then you sew your details into this layer. That could then be sewn to the back side of the fabric ear as a "pillowcase" to create your covering.

This may all be more trouble then it is worth and it may just be easier to glue as you had thought and then if for some reason the ear wares out you simply replace it. I tend to be always thinking of different ways of doing things but that does not mean it is better.

P.S. I didn't even realize that English was not your first language.  I would say you are doing a great job at communicating!