Date: Sat, 19 Jan 2008 11:01:23 -0500
To: <puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org>
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] TECH: Sock puppet cousins


Pictures, Mathieu, send pictures to your site!

Mary Horsley


On 1/18/08 11:05 PM, "Mathieu René" <creaturiste-AT-primus.ca> wrote:

> Hi all.
> I'm still experimenting with sock puppets when I have a minute.
> This sort of easy to build contraption does not mean one has to be cheap
> about it, we can make awesome-looking-awesomely-practical puppets with the
> proper base to start from. As mentionned in recent posts, I like adding a
> mouthpalte inside the sock (a straight slit is cut, mouthplate inserted, and
> the fabric is pulled over the edges of the mouthplate and glued, a bit at a
> time, with hot glue (high temp only). I also sometimes add a partial skull
> shape made of carved styrofoam. When lazy or pressed by time, one could just
> buy styrofoam shapes in craft stores, and cut them in symmetrical shapes.
> 
> A recent trip to the dollar store gave me a few other ideas for "raw"
> materials.
> 
> Socks (any lenght, stretchy or not, any color) aren't the only thing one can
> use to make "sock puppet" type puppets.
> I've been looking at alternatives, to have more possibilities in case of not
> finding proper socks, and also for the fun of variety. Forms appearing in
> our hands while we work can teach us so many unexpected things!
> 
>  A simple Tuque (simple tight fitting winter hat, common in Canada) does a
> great job for a wider fatter puppet. The skull of the creature is a good
> size for a "mupet type". I added a partial skull into the head, made from a
> 2 inch styrofoam carved into a cone. I just made one puppet with a tuque
> tonight. it's a freaky red-eyed thing, reminiscent of a messed-up evil
> kermit with inflated cranium. It's still wearable as a tuque, although very
> silly looking, but I,ll keep it as a puppet. If worn on the head and the
> extra fabric of the tuque is pulled over the puppeteer's face, the whole
> puppet head becomes a "displaced mask", changing the performer's proportions
> freakily!
> 
> I found a long tube scarf that sold with matching gloves and tuque. This
> kind of knit scraf is amazing for making puppets, very versatile, as it
> expands in lenght or width, one sacrificing material for the other. Meaning
> it fit a variety of forms very smoothly!
> 
> A soft-soled slipper can make a nearly instant puppet, if it can be folded
> in half without strain on the hand. Add fabric to complete the head (perhaps
> a large sock or a tube scarf), and you're in business!
> 
> Gloves can be modified to become mouth puppets too. I have yet to experiment
> with this, but eventually I will.
> There was an old fun trick with glioves I learned from other kids back in
> elementary school.  Folding the gloves in a special way turned it into the
> cutest little puppet! Works best with the cheap "magic gloves", usually
> around 1$ in drugstores. They are one-size-fits-all, super stretchy. Too bad
> they are so short of wrist! I wonder if the same material is made into
> longer gloves?
> 
> I'm going to look for interesting sweater and shirt sleeves to use as
> "better" socks to make puppets with. They are bound to offer more lenght and
> width, while the rest of the sweater can provide extra fabric to complete
> the puppet.
> A set of two identical or matching puppets could easily be made with a
> single sweater.
> 
> 
> 
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