Well when you are draping and gluing the fabric there is still going to be sewing involved. At some point you get to a point where you have to cut and make seams and tucks in the fabric. That is where things get complicated.

Along with the suggestion of Project Puppets patterns and Dr. Puppets videos I would also suggest having a look at Daryl's (aka StiqPuppets) videos. http://www.youtube.com/user/StiqPuppets If you can afford it buying one of the patterns from Project Puppet is a great way to start.  They are tried and true patterns that result in a nice end product.

When beginners ask about sewing machines I always suggest getting something inexpensive. Singer is a good brand and you can often get them for a good price.  There is also Brother and Janome that are lower end machines that will more then likely be even less then a Singer.  Try to avoid machines that are computerized.  If you go for the cheap one in the store then it won't have all the fancy stuff and you don't need all that at this point. While I do have an old Singer at home which is great, I also have a really cheap Brother that I use to take with me to jobs.  Does just fine, it is just a bit noisy. Once you get the hang of sewing and if you really start to build a lot of puppets then you might want to look at a higher end Singer or Bernia.

The Center for Puppetry Arts is smashing!  It has been ages since I was able to visit so imagine it is even better now.  I would recommend to anyone visiting Atlanta Georgia to make sure and stop by.

I like to use what is called piano or spring wire.  You can find it in some hardware stores. It is nice because it does not bend or cut very easily. Makes it a chore to cut to length or to bend for a handle but worth it.   To bend it I normally put it in a vice and then bend over.  To cut just get some heavy wire cutters.

So if I understand right you are cutting up foam into small pieces that you can stuff inside your marionettes?  Static electricity is the culprit when doing something like that often. I guess you could try some static guard although I never tried it. Why not use poly foam fill for stuffing your puppets?  Comes in a package ready to use.

I embedded them for you.  You just put the item number between the ebay bbCode tags. Still working on making this easier. Actually I had thought I made ebay links auto embed so you just pasted the link to the page in a post.

They are really coming up with some cool stuff.  I haven't seen Cathie post for some time... wonder where she is?

There is also this listing of programs that feature puppetry over at Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Television_programs_featuring_puppetry

I think most of them are series and I think maybe you are looking for a single film you saw.  Hopefully one of our UK members will be along soon and remember seeing it.  If you can think of any other details let us know it might help in the search.

I think I would list them in revers order.  Entertainment, Art and Message.  I am an entertainer at heart so feel an obligation to that first. If it is artful then the beauty of that simply enhances and supports the first.  The message is the story and even in a variety or cabaret show there is normally some type of storyline or common thread that must bind the program into a whole.  Even award show have this... who won what.

Really nice.  Who did you make these for?

You have my full permission!   This should be fun.  I was just watching Xena the other day and thinking about your current trip back to NZ.  I know that at least parts of Xena was filmed there and was going to ask if maybe you could see if you could find some of the locations.   I get the feeling that some of them are quite well know since they seem to be used in other shows.  Then again I am sure that NZ is small enough that everyone knows everyone else right? I'm kidding of course.