Puppets! (and WIP Furfrou puppet thing!)

[Little_Bird_Sorrel]

I really like puppets, especially marionettes. I have this pink and white dog one that looks like the 2-legged things on this site: http://www.puppetville.com/yarn-marionettes/
Years ago when I was a kid I used it for talent shows and junk like that. It was tons of fun!

Ever since last year I've had the urge to make a giant marionette type puppet thing. The only thing is that I have no idea what I'm doing.
 
This year I want to make a huge four legged furfrou puppet for no reason other than to say that I got off my lazy butt and did something with my life (and in case I decide that a Skullgirls cosplay is too hard for me to to make and a Pokemon trainer thing turns out to be the smarter option).

Are there any puppet makers out there with any ideas on what to do?

And also any puppet makers/ collectors who feel like showing off and letting me see there awesome puppets? I'm really in a puppet mood right now.

[systemcat]

Amateur builder & puppeteer, plus whenever I find a cool one in a thrift store I buy it  .

[Little_Bird_Sorrel]

Amateur builder & puppeteer, plus whenever I find a cool one in a thrift store I buy it  .

Oh cool! That sounds awesome! Do you have any that you can show me?

[Flitter]

I love puppets 
I have a few but they are packed in tote boxes right now.
I have a Kermit the Frog, a chimp puppet that I've had since I was like 3 yrs old named Georgie, a furry 2-legged marionette that I'm not sure what it's called...
I'm actually not quite sure what all we have anymore actually. We had these "fighting" nun & devil puppets but I might have given them to goodwill???
My husband used to make puppets occasionally but I'm not sure if we have any of them anymore, either...

I've always had quite a fascination with them though and I think of ideas for puppets sometimes but I'm awful at actually making the things I have ideas for 

[Little_Bird_Sorrel]

I love puppets 
I have a few but they are packed in tote boxes right now.
I have a Kermit the Frog, a chimp puppet that I've had since I was like 3 yrs old named Georgie, a furry 2-legged marionette that I'm not sure what it's called...
I'm actually not quite sure what all we have anymore actually. We had these "fighting" nun & devil puppets but I might have given them to goodwill???
My husband used to make puppets occasionally but I'm not sure if we have any of them anymore, either...

I've always had quite a fascination with them though and I think of ideas for puppets sometimes but I'm awful at actually making the things I have ideas for 

Your collection sounds so interesting! : D

And I know that feeling! Every time I try to sew something I mess up. I'm going to try for this thing, though! I failed  enough times to have an idea of what I'm doing!XD

[Flitter]

I love puppets 
I have a few but they are packed in tote boxes right now.
I have a Kermit the Frog, a chimp puppet that I've had since I was like 3 yrs old named Georgie, a furry 2-legged marionette that I'm not sure what it's called...
I'm actually not quite sure what all we have anymore actually. We had these "fighting" nun & devil puppets but I might have given them to goodwill???
My husband used to make puppets occasionally but I'm not sure if we have any of them anymore, either...

I've always had quite a fascination with them though and I think of ideas for puppets sometimes but I'm awful at actually making the things I have ideas for 

Your collection sounds so interesting! : D

And I know that feeling! Every time I try to sew something I mess up. I'm going to try for this thing, though! I failed  enough times to have an idea of what I'm doing!XD

Thanks I'll see if I have time to dig through my closet and take some pics sometime soon.
I'd love to see the one you are planning on making once you finish 

[Little_Bird_Sorrel]

I love puppets 
I have a few but they are packed in tote boxes right now.
I have a Kermit the Frog, a chimp puppet that I've had since I was like 3 yrs old named Georgie, a furry 2-legged marionette that I'm not sure what it's called...
I'm actually not quite sure what all we have anymore actually. We had these "fighting" nun & devil puppets but I might have given them to goodwill???
My husband used to make puppets occasionally but I'm not sure if we have any of them anymore, either...

I've always had quite a fascination with them though and I think of ideas for puppets sometimes but I'm awful at actually making the things I have ideas for 

Your collection sounds so interesting! : D

And I know that feeling! Every time I try to sew something I mess up. I'm going to try for this thing, though! I failed  enough times to have an idea of what I'm doing!XD

Thanks I'll see if I have time to dig through my closet and take some pics sometime soon.
I'd love to see the one you are planning on making once you finish 

Aww thanks! If I ever get around to it I'll definitely post pictures! 

[systemcat]

Amateur builder & puppeteer, plus whenever I find a cool one in a thrift store I buy it  .

Oh cool! That sounds awesome! Do you have any that you can show me?

Here are some of the puppets I've made:

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These videos feature puppets I've made, with me puppetearing, and not for the second.

http://youtu.be/pljxYZXbWi4

http://youtu.be/HDpwzAfq1IM

These videos all have me as the puppetear, but I did not make these puppets, they were collected:

http://youtu.be/5x1NKvbBJCc

http://youtu.be/F9ydCvz7x08

[Little_Bird_Sorrel]

Amateur builder & puppeteer, plus whenever I find a cool one in a thrift store I buy it  .

Oh cool! That sounds awesome! Do you have any that you can show me?

Here are some of the puppets I've made:

visitors can't see pics , please register or login


visitors can't see pics , please register or login


These videos feature puppets I've made, with me puppetearing, and not for the second.

http://youtu.be/pljxYZXbWi4

http://youtu.be/HDpwzAfq1IM

These videos all have me as the puppetear, but I did not make these puppets, they were collected:

http://youtu.be/5x1NKvbBJCc

http://youtu.be/F9ydCvz7x08

These are so cute! I love the last video!

[ZennaBug]

I've never made more than a little hand puppet, nothing fancy.  I still have my old favorite marionette somewhere, though.  I had a blue Limber Louie as a kid and I loved that thing.  I also have an awesome monkey hand puppet from when I was younger too.

[Little_Bird_Sorrel]

So since classes are done until September (yay!), I have time to work on this puppet thing. I've been trying to make a bit os a blueprint for it, but as usual I have no idea what I am doing. I want to make something that gives the illusion of walking a dog, but I don't know how to go about this. Any suggestions?

Below is just a wonky looking furfrou blueprint (if you can call it that much).

Spoiler

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Post Merge: May 11, 2014, 01:54:35 PM

I've never made more than a little hand puppet, nothing fancy.  I still have my old favorite marionette somewhere, though.  I had a blue Limber Louie as a kid and I loved that thing.  I also have an awesome monkey hand puppet from when I was younger too.

I just looked up limber Louie. It looks so cute and familiar!

[Griffin]

The sketch looks great to me! Unfortunately I know nothing about making puppets, I hope someone more knowledgeable will be able to offer you advice.

[hathorcat]

Ooooh! She is going to look great as a puppet. I hope you get everything worked out. I cant wait to see her all done.

[Little_Bird_Sorrel]

Update 1

So using this as a reference http://www.deviantart.com/art/Making-of-Puppeterasu-Pt-2-276598774 I finally got an idea of how to make this puppet work! The little blue print sketch was also updated a bit so it would be easier to figure out how the legs would work.

Spoiler

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I'm thinking that if I put some kind of stretchy string to the front of the front legs and back of the back legs, I might be able to get the affect that I want.

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A few weeks ago I bought some chicken wire and wood for the project, since I was pretty sure that I was going to need both. Unfortunately, it turns out that chicken wire is not the best thing to use for this. It was easy to cut and bend, but I couldn't figure out how to fold it into the right shape (unfortunately I figured this out after cutting things). I'm thinking it would be best to use plain old wire for this instead, so I'm going to try to get that today.

Next time I'll hopefully have progress pics that actually show progress. :1

[Little_Bird_Sorrel]

Update 2

Finally got the wire that I needed, and it works like a charm! I started working on it earlier, and despite a few scrapes everything's going fine. It's much easier than I thought it would be. The wire is easy to cut and bend, and I was able to make the head and torso.

Spoiler

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There's even a little handle at the back of the neck to make it move up and down.

I'm still trying to figure out what to do with the legs. In the end I think that I'll abandon my whole string idea and just add more wire handles to the limbs. It seems like it would be easier to manage.

I was going to follow the guide to a T and cover this with foam, but I think I'll cover it with two layers of paper mache instead. When that's done I'll glue the fur and features onto it.