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Mouth puppets are explained here. Mouth puppets are not the same as muppet-types.

In terms of designing and building a mouth puppet, you must of course think of the guidelines of puppet design. Once you have thought of what the puppet must do and look like, you should then consider the mechanics of the mouth puppet, and then design the rest of the puppet around it. The reason you should design the mouth first, is because when you are making the puppet, it is easier to build up from the mouth, than to build the head first and then insert a mouth.

There are several methods you can use, depending on your needs, and they are described below. Generally speaking though, mouth puppet designs should include the following: the mouth will need to have a moving bottom jaw, which is either hinged or attached to the head; the bottom jaw has the ability to open and close; when the mouth is not being used, its default position should be 'open'; and the simplest design will allow the puppeteer to work the mouth with only one of their hands, leaving their other hand to hold the puppet itself.

Those rules are essential to follow, as any puppeteer will find the operation of a mouth quite exhaustive, especially if they are doing a lot of puppet 'talking' on stage.

Did you know? You can now buy moppet eyes for your next puppet build from my online store! Check it out here!

Method One

The first design is based on a technique used in making 'muppet'-type puppets. Find yourself a piece of thick card; I suggest illustrator's board, which is very sturdy and can withstand a lot of puppeteering. The boards come in large sheets, but the good thing is that you'll have plenty left over to make a number of mouths. A cheaper substitute is some good sturdy cardboard. I don't recommend using paper plates, as they will crumple after a couple of uses.

Cut out a circle from the board, using a scalpel or box cutter. The circle should be slightly wider than your hand, and, each half of the circle should be slightly longer than your fingers. You can cut the circle out in different widths and lengths, so long as it can accomodate your hand (read on to see why). So the circle can in fact be a rectangle, or an oval, depending on the shape you want for the mouth.

Now, lightly score a line down the middle of the circle. The scoring will allow you to fold the circle in half, without actually breaking the circle into two halves. You may want to score the circle so that one half is bigger than the other; when the circle is folded in half, you can see that one jaw is jutting out, so it's good if you want an overbite.

Now you've got a folded circle. One half of the circle will be the bottom jaw; the other will be the top jaw... Ok, so you need a little imagination, but I promise you, that's the basis of the mouth. If you hold the fold of the circle in the palm of your hand, with your fingers resting on the top jaw, and the thumb under the bottom jaw, you should see that the fingers fit comfortably around the circle halves. And if you close your fingers to meet your thumb, the jaws close too - that's how the puppeteer will operate the mouth.

But it's not so easy to operate it if there's no grip to the jaws. So find some foam - in sheets is preferable, but you can also use tubes. If you use a sheet, use one that is no more than 2 cm/1 inch thick. Cut the foam into strips, and roll into tubes. The tubes should be wide enough to comfortably fit your fingers, and one should fit your thumb. The tubes should also be short enough to fit onto the circle halves. (See the photo at right, the bottom tube for the thumb, and the top tube is protuding a little from the top jaw)

Join the foam into the tubes using some glue; hot glue works, but you can also use a PVA or super glue. Once the tubes are dry, glue them lengthways onto the outside of the jaws (see photo above). Now you can comfortably place your fingers and thumbs in the tubes.

From here, you may want to cover the inside of the mouth (ie. inside the folded circle) with some material that is a dark red, and then insert a small lighter red piece for a tongue - place the tongue right down the back, in the fold area. The photo above shows the back of the mouth for one of my puppets, and I chose to cover the back and the tubes with some black material, which will ensure the mouth continues to be sturdy and durable. Once you have appropriately covered the jaws, you can start attaching the head and body. This part of the design will be covered more in the muppet-type design FAQ.

You can read about how I made the above mouth and head here. For more pictures of the above instructions, you should check out this post, where I used the same technique to make a mouth for a sock puppet. You may also be interested in reading the post on how to fit a mouth into a puppet.

Read Part Two - rod puppet mouths - here. Read Part Three - marionette mouths and other techniques - here. Find my list of free mouth puppet patterns here.

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