Meet No.2 .....

So, with the realisation that a sock puppet is not entirely suitable for this project I have moved my sights towards the construction of a foam puppet with the idea that the foam structure will provide a kind of exoskeleton for the controller components.

I grabbed the free pattern for a round head puppet from Pupppetvision, purchased a glue gun, watched the video below and set about the construction of my first foam puppet head.

I was really pleased at how easily the puppet head came together, the hot glue gun makes for very speedy sticking!! With the head constructed I made the mouth from felt covered mounting board and stuck it into place.

Although it wasn't really necessary I decided to cover the head with fleece, partly to make it look for aesthetically pleasing but mainly because I had never done it before. So, figuring that the stretch in the material would allow it, I cut some fleece from the same pattern that I used for the head and then sewed it together in much the same way that I glued the foam for the head. I left a small amount of the seam at the nape of the neck open so that I could pull the skin over the head like a helmet and then I sewed that up to ensure that it wouldn't slide off.

There's a lot of friction between the foam and the fleece which is ideal as it means that there is practically no slide, it also means that pulling the skin into place took a little manhandling but thankfully everything stayed together. The last thing to do was to glue the mouth seam to the foam and presto, covered foam puppet head... done!

As I hoped, I believe that the head will be ideal for the purpose of the controller and, having a physical object to work with I can already imagine possible design solutions for the control system and how I might be able to incorporate it into the puppet.

Obviously, being a first effort there are a few things that I would like to address before I can call it a final design.

• The head is too small - I'll try up-scaling the pattern by 50% next time.
• The skin is too tight in some areas - slightly modifying the pattern I should add more material where I want it.
• The sewing is a bit of a mess - learn to use the "Henson Stitch" and practice.
• A body or sleeve is required.

OK, I've got a to-do list I'd best get on and do it!