Thanks very much for the positive repsonse, everyone!   I'll be sure to let you all know when the book comes out. Right now I'm in the middle of getting my first book--about ghosts!--to print, so I'm becoming more familiar with the publishing process.  It will probably be a few months before my puppet book hits the shelves.

puppetsinmelb wrote:

"Well Dressed Puppet, can you put me on your mailing list for when you start selling your book?"

Absolutely, I'll be very glad to!   I'll PM you for your e-mail address.

"Incidentally, if you have info about materials/tools, can you please also include ideas for substitutes (ie. in Australia we don't get antron fleece; although you mention you're not discussing that, it's an easy example for me to use) that other nationalities might be able to find, if you know of them. Also, it would be great if you use both metric and inches/etc. for measurements. It makes things so much easier for us who use metric."

Do you know, I didn't even think about that, but it's a very good idea.  When I do my rewrite/revision, I'll make certain to include that. Thanks for that input!

"Another question: does the book focus just on foam puppets, or could we use it for other types of puppets too?"

I've tried to include ideas and techniques for costuming a wide variety of puppets, from simple hand puppets to hand-and-rod puppets to marionettes, and everything in between.   I use Herbert to demonstrate these--he's shown as each of these type of puppets throughout the book, and I explain the modifications and techniques used to costume each one.  I also include examples of non-people-shaped puppets (I was able to use some of my favorite puppets from Grey Seal, such as Blackbeard the Pirate made from a scrub brush and Humpty Dumpty made from a large plastic egg).  It's my hope that all puppeteers from beginners on up to more advanced crafstman would be able to find some info in the book that would be useful to them!

CunuckAmok wrote:

"My favourite resource is to raid Value Village or some other second-hand shop for interesting infant clothes to "repurpose." For example, a pair of little girl's Sunday school shoes with buckles is now decorating the feet of my swarthy pirate puppet. Hats galore! Tiny gloves that can be stuffed for hands! And best of all: no sewing! "

Thrift stores ARE great places to look for puppet costume stuff!    I talk a bit about that in the book as well.

And speaking of the book--it's finished, and I mailed it off to my publisher last week.  Whoo hoo!  It's a great feeling to have that done!

I'm posting here just a few photos from the book, so folks can see some of the things that are covered in there.  I'd created a puppet character named Herbert that I used throughout the book to demonstrate different sewing/costuming techniques, and here he is in some of his favorite costumes/costume pieces.

Modelling a simple lady's bonnet:



As a fairy-tale princess:



As Little Red Riding Hood on the way to Grandma's house:



And as his favorite character, a fierce pirate.



I also talk a bit about modifying/using the same pattern for different types of puppets; here the pattern for Little Red Riding Hood was modified slightly to make a Dorothy costume for a bear, complete with ruby slippers.



I'll be sure to post updates on the progress of the book if folks are interested.  And please do keep posting your own costume ideas! 

Thanks, V!

I know our community is mainly for the Foam Book, but I asked Vania if it might be OK to post pictures of some of my other puppets and she said I could (thanks, Vania!  ).  I did post a photo of one puppet I made using the Three-Piece Head method in another thread, but here are a few other of my puppet projects that I've done just for fun:



A recreation of Mr. Hat from the TV show "South Park"--I only watch the show every so often, but I do love Mr. Hat.   This is made almost completely of felt with a styrofoam ball for the head base and a posterboard tube for the hat.



I don't know if everyone might be familiar with the "Potter Puppet Pals;"  someone put together minimalist puppet versions of the Harry Potter characters and has been producing web videos on the 'Net (they're pretty popular, too!).  A friend of mine (who's also a puppeteer) really loves the character of Snape, so I put made her a Snape Potter Puppet Pal of her very own for Christmas.  This puppet is constructed just like Mr. Hat, out of felt with a styrofoam ball for the head base.



Finally, here are a couple of pictures of a large puppet I actually built many years ago; I've gotten a lot of use out of it!  This is an almost-life-size horse (well, OK, almost-life-size pony!  ) that I had made for a community theatre production of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" for their Headless Horseman.  I built him pretty quickly, and considering he's made of cardboard, cheap fur, and old wigs, he's done pretty well!  After his run at the theater, I got him back, and put him to work with my Lord of the Rings Ringwraith costume as seen in the photos.  I also with a little modification (and some advice from Vania!) turned him into a creature known as a thestral from the Harry Potter books, and have won quite a few costume contests with both of those characters.  I'm hoping to rebuild the puppet to make it more realistic (and as mentioned in another thread, I'd like to work out some way I can get smoke to come out of the nose).



Another view of the Ringwraith.  I used bicycle reflectors for the horse's eyes to make them glow red in flash photos.



A photo of the thestral puppet from one of the Harry Potter book release parties.  In the books, the thestrals are described as being black horse-like creatures with white eyes and leather bat-wings.  Vania had suggested I use black umbrellas for the wings, and I just picked up a couple from the dollar store.  We laughed ourselves silly over it, and I won the Grand Prize in the costume contest at the party!

These are all some good-looking puppets!   Nice job, everyone.

Here's one I made a while back using the Three-Piece Head method.  I don't know if everyone is familiar with the TV series "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," but in one episode ("Smiletime") two of the characters were turned into puppets.    It was a popular episode, and there were several commercially-made versions of the puppets produced for sale; but as one friend of mine told me, they just didn't look quite right.  So I made him his own puppet of the "Angel" character using tips and tricks from the Foam Book (as well as some materials purchased from Grey Seal!), and he was very happy with it. Here's a photo of the finished puppet:



Sorry about the quality of the photo--it's a scan, so it's not the best, but it gives an idea of what the puppet looks like.  The Foam Book was definitely a big help!

Thanks for the advice on this, everyone!  I'm going to tinker around with some of these things and see what I come up with.   And I'll definitely post pics of the finished puppet!

Thanks for the input--these are good things to know.   I actually AM including a chapter on basic sewing equipment and techniques, as well as recommending a few other good sources if you need more advanced information.  In addition, I'll have patterns that can be copied and modified, and also some instructions on how to make wigs/hairpieces, accessories such as hats and shoes, and what kinds of materials might work best for what types of costumes.  I admit, though, that there won't be any info on actual puppet building stuff (the Antron fleece/vs. polar fleece)--my book more or less starts where something like the Foam Book leaves off.    But that's still good stuff to know--perhaps there might be a sequel to the Foam Book down the road?   

Thanks, everyone!    I appreciate the advice.

What I'm trying to do is re-build an almost-life-size horse puppet that I've used for various things over the years (the Headless-Horseman-on-a-horse, a Lord of the Rings Ringwraith-on-a-horse, etc.), and I'd love to figure out a way for it to breathe smoke out of its nose. So having tubing from its nose through the neck to some kind of mechanism I can access in one hand and operate would be the ideal situation. I wouldn't use it all the time--there are times when I'm wanting the horse to look friendly, and wouldn't need the smoke, but others when the smoke would be a neat additional effect...

I really like the three-piece head method myself--it's what I've used most in my own puppet building. It's pretty much become second nature now when I start on a puppet!   

Hey, everyone,

I currently have plans in the works for building a puppet that I'd like to have "breathe smoke" on demand, and I'm curious to know if anyone has a good technique for that?  I know about using baby powder/corn starch, but the puppet will be black fur, and I'd rather not have white powder get on that. Any suggestions?

Thanks, Vania!

Actually, I've found that both techniques can work equally well!  Although I've also found that it can depend on the type of puppet you're costuming. If you have a roughly human-shaped puppet, a modified doll-clothes pattern can come in very handy, whereas with a non-human shaped puppet--say a huge plastic egg you're turning into Humpty Dumpty--you would have better luck just draping or even gluing the fabric directly onto the "body."  (You'd probably not have much luck finding a ready-made pattern to fit a plastic egg, as well, although if you do I would love to know about it!  )

And speaking of costuming patterns--as Vania said, I am writing a book about puppet costumes even as we speak, and I would be very interested to know what types of information would be most useful when you're trying to put a puppet costume together--fabrics to use, where to find certain items, etc.?  I'd be very glad for any thoughts!

Hi, everyone!  I'm Cheralyn Lambeth, a puppet builder out of Charlotte, and currently working with Grey Seal.   I've watched the building process for the new forums, and am excited to see the up and running!  Just wanted to post a quick intro--I hope to be an active member of the Foam Book Community, and look forward to meeting other puppeteers.