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Step 1— Hot glue (or use white glue for this step, depending
on how fast you want to do this) little piece #3 (you can
sand it down if the cut was rough) to the top of T.D. #2 (that's
the whole one). This makes a space to put all the upper jaw
features (eyes, ears, hair, etc.)
Step 2 — Using a black indelible marker of your choice,
carefully black in what will be the inside of the
puppet's mouth. For the more advanced, try adding a tongue
with a red marker. Go at least 2 or 3 inches down, so as to
allow your puppet room to open wide!
Step 3 — First, lay TD. #l (the lower jaw piece) on
top of T.D. #2 (the thing you just made). Carefully run a
line of glue just left of center on T.d. #l and attach the
fun foam piece. You should leave a space between the "mouth"
and the fun foam (at least an inch) so there's room for features
later. After the glue sets, run another line of glue parallel
to the first, and wrap the foam around. Be careful not to
get any glue on the sides or between the two sticks or it
won't move! Also the foam should allow the piece to slide
easily but not too loose, or it will wobble when it talks!
Step 4 — The finished "skeleton" shown front
and back. The velcro is glued on the bottom of the back side
to serve as a thumb grip, and to store the puppets "backstage."
The faces and hair and arms, etc. that you will cut out of
fun foam and add should be glued to one surface or the other.
In other words, don't block your movement! Start by gluing
arms to the fun foam piece, glue a shirt over that, and so
on.
The illustration below represents a typical pattern for fun
foam parts needed to make a pop-up puppet. Fun foam comes
in many bright colors so the patterns can be traced on several
sheets or cut out like cookie cutting. At right is hair, arms,
back of head, front face, lower jaw and a shirt (for which
you'll need a front and a back). I also cut out collars, hats,
noses and other features all at the same time, and assemble
the puppets when my pattern box gets full. I also have parts
that are only in flesh tone or only in red, etc. and I store
those patterns in ziplock bags separately I prefer to stick
to fun foam for hair and most detail work, just for the sake
of consistency, but wiggle eyes, pom-pom noses and fun fur
hair gives you more options. (Another great idea for hair
— Take one of those Koosh balls apart by snipping the
wire at the center, and use a few strands for hair! It gives
great secondary movement!)
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