Attack of the Clones!

No real update on the puppet, but the new green sheet seems to work a LOT better than the pastel wall, especially considering the poor lighting conditions...

We're alive!

An update, an update! After moving places and a lot of complementary stress, I finally found some time working on the nameless foam guy. Apart from a proper hairstyle he's almost done. I actually tend to like the bald look more and more. Having one of my new home office walls painted a pastel green I couldn't resist trying a screen test:



Although it looks quite ok, the keying is pretty rough (you can see some dirt at the end of the clip). Putting a green background back in place helped :)
So, what are my first impressions playing around?

1. I gotta practice playing with those armrods. The funny posture of the hand throughout the video says it all...
2. The next puppet head will be a lot smaller. This thing weighs a ton, and my wrist needs a real break after playing for a couple of minutes. Chances are, I'll further work on the insides of the head to be a better fit.
3. It's a blast! Besides working on some details, I'll probably do some more video stuff in the next weeks.

Have a fun week!

Getting into the foam game :)

Here's the (yet to be finished) result of a rather professional foam puppet building workshop led by Norman Schneider I attended lately. My brand-new sewing machine got into action and I got quite used to working with it. As everyone started with a mouthplate sized after their hands, my puppet started quite big and grew exponentially from there due to the head shape I was going for. Only Tom, who was also there, could compete with my puppet size-wise. (As we were the only two guys in a group of ladies, ask Mr Freud about that...).

Where to go from here? I have the arms laying around here, half-finished, and the guy definetely needs some hairstyle, a little work on the mouth, maybe some paint and - of course - a name (any suggestions welcome). I'll be moving places 3 weeks from now, so progress is not to be expected in the next couple of weeks. I'm looking forward to do some video tests with both puppets after finishing them.

Yay! Let the Freak Show begin!

So here's my first puppet! After fighting the manual of my brand-new sewing machine for some time, things finally went pretty fast. In fact, sewing those arms and hands the manual way would have been a chore...

Well, so far I'm happy!

Wild Wild West

To distract you from my non-progress, here's a fun trailer i found over at Puppeteers Unite. It's a preview of the forthcoming DVD "It came from the West". Not for the faint-hearted, i guess ;)

Head Tweaks

A second eye! Little monster now features stereovision! I taped some cardboard onto his face to check if there's need for a nose. I f I decide to go with it, the nose will be made from air-drying modelling clay. BTW: Fur is made from "teddy fleece", eyes are cotton balls cut in half. Right now I got his felt tongue in front of me...

First Picture

Here we go! One-eyed for now, the little red one seems happy though. I'm thinking about adding brows and visually seperating teeth. What do you think?

Hello... uh... world.

This is about me learning how to build and play puppets, meaning the "muppet style" moving hand puppets build from foam and fabric. Right now, I'm in the process of building my first little monster based on the "Glorified Sock Pattern" from Project Puppet. Getting into simple sewing was easier than I thought but I think I really need a machine soon. Coming up: pictures of my new little friend, who is just a head by now.