I Just Made My First Puppet. Here Are Some of My Thoughts on the Process.
Admittedly inspired by Wayne White’s punk rock puppets, I decided to try my hand at puppetry, and in this article, I wanted to go a bit more in depth on the process I used to make my first puppet. This puppet, an anthropomorphic melting globe, will perform a song called Climate Change Blues, (a parody of Irving Berlin and Harry Akst’s 1921 hit, Home Again Blues,) in the 2024 Rectangle Show.
To begin with, making anything (not just puppets) for the first time is often an unpredictable experience where things can, and do, go wrong. At these forks in the road, it’s important to stop what you’re doing, pivot, and make a better choice. But as you correct course, you stay the course, and it doesn’t fall apart. At least that has been my experience. And this is why my final puppet isn’t made exactly according to my initial plan.
Speaking of my initial plan, below are the sketches I made to plan out my puppet.
This is the initial step I take to plan anything, even a two-dimensional drawing. And it’s important because it serves as a road map to plan out the result I want and the steps I would need to take to get there.
Once I had everything planned, the first thing I did was to make paper mache for the head. Initially, I used a ton of Elmer’s glue, but it was very toxic, very messy, and next to impossible to work with. So, after some research, (and going to Reddit for some advice,) I decided to make a paste using two parts flour and one part water. This was much easier to apply. To get the round shape I was going for, I used a children’s inflatable ball as an armature.
I purchased the ball on Amazon, and I also bought several other supplies I needed for this project, which cost me about $100. To get a feel for the proportions, I put the ball on top of the cardboard box I planed to use as the body, which I dressed using a child sized suit.
Then I began to paint the paper mache ball. I started with a coat of white paint, then I roughed in the features and started painting with other colors.
While waiting for the blue paint to dry, I made the facial features, which brings me to my second pivot point. The clay I used is air-drying foam clay, and while it has its advantages (it’s lightweight, soft, and flexible,) one major disadvantage that I discovered when working with this clay is its tendency to lose its shape while drying. This wasn’t anywhere near as big a problem with the facial features as it was with the hands, thankfully, but it is something to be aware of when working with this material.
The hands were where I had to pivot, as the issues I was having with the clay essentially made the hands into misshapen blobs, so I got the idea to stuff some real gloves and glue them on the arms, but I will discuss that more later. I had to buy gloves for this, so I ended up spending an additional ten dollars on this project.
As the clay dried, I deflated the ball and pulled it out of the paper mache. I also cut the hole a little larger so my hand could fit through, then proceeded to paint the bottom blue. While the paint was drying, I touched up the facial features with some paint to add detail and definition. Then I glued the eyes on. The mouth was more complicated, however, and that part needs further explanation.
I had originally planned on connecting the mouth directly to a wire that is thread through a hole in the paper mache. The wire would serve as a handle that could be used to control the movement of the puppet’s head. Unfortunately, the hold wasn’t anywhere near strong enough, and the wire was very flimsy, which threatened to destroy the paper mache if I did anything further with it. So my alternative plan was to construct a sturdier handle using thick wire and polymer clay. After sculpting the handle, I baked the polymer clay in the oven to harden it, then glued it to the inside of the paper mache. That worked out much better!
Once that was done, I was able to glue the foam clay mouth in place.
Next, I began to work on the body. After cutting holes in the cardboard box where my hand would be inserted when controlling the puppet, I then connected empty paper towel rolls to the box using thin wire thread through small holes, (for arms.)
After this, I proceeded to assemble the neck. It was a fairly simple process, as all it involved was cutting and gluing a piece of thick (3mm) felt. I glued it into the shape of a tube, then cut flaps at the top and bottom, which I then glued to the inside of the paper mache at one end, and glued to the outside of the cardboard box at the other end.
Then I dressed the puppet.
After dressing, I proceeded to fashion the hands. I thought the stuffed gloves might be a bit flimsy if they didn’t have any additional reinforcements besides cotton balls, so I tried to insert some armature wire. It was very difficult to make the wire into the right shape to fit inside the glove, so I tried it without, and was surprised to find that the glove was plenty sturdy enough with cotton only.
Once that was done, I attached a rod to the right arm using thick armature wire, and then I cut a hole in the back of the suit where the human hand controlling the puppet would be inserted.
And voila! My first puppet was completed, and I like the result. I always feel the need to challenge myself with every new project, and this was definitely a challenge. As for what I would have done differently, there are a number of things: firstly, I would be a little bit more methodical in planning out the puppet, and secondly, I would have perhaps used slightly different material so it looks more “punk”. Not complaining about the end result, however! I still think it’s a great puppet, and especially good for it being my first attempt at puppetry. I do have another puppet planned in the somewhat near future, and when I make it, I will document the process as I did here.
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Till next time!
