Learn

Mouth puppets are explained here. Read Part One - muppet-type mouths - here. Mouth puppets are not the same as muppet-types. You should also read the post on basic puppet design.

Method Two

This next technique for making a puppet mouth can be used on a range of rod puppet designs, from animals to humans and abstract creatures. It's advised that you only use this technique on puppets that require only their mouths to be manipulated, or else have a limited range of other movements built in. You will need a piece of dowel, longer is best - you can cut it to size later on. Also get some screw-in eyes (you can get them from most wall-hanging kits), and some strong fishing line. What you will be doing is attaching the fishing line to the mouth, which will then allow you to pull the line and close the mouth. (Yes, that is correct; close the mouth)

As mentioned in Part One, the mouth should be in the open position as a default. This way, the following technique works, as the fishing line will be pulled down, forcing the jaw to move up. Here's a step-by-step tutorial, using a puppet I have as an example. (Click on images for a more detailed view)

To the right, you can see a fish puppet. It's made out of foam (a block of foam carved into shape). You can see that there is a rod that extends out of its lower body, and the mouth is a triangular-ish shape.

First step is to make the puppet shape - carve out or create the whole body, or if preferred, the whole head. Then, cut out the lower jaw from that shape - as you can see with the fish, it is a right angle from the line of the lip, to the side of the mouth, down the centre of the body.

Now you have two pieces; the head/body and the lower jaw.

You will have to prepare the head to accept the jaw piece. You will need to turn the head/body over, so that you are looking at the base of it. Carve out as much inside as you can, without breaking the foam - the sides of the head/body should be roughly as thick as 1cm (1/2 inch). Leave lots of foam at the top of the head, but carve another small hollow deeper to insert a rod. This may take a little guesswork from you, but as you can see above, the rod will fit at the back of the lower jaw piece. So the rod will insert roughly where the lower jaw piece meets with the vertical cut you made in the head/body.

To the right, you can see how the inside of the fish is actually hollow. The inside of the mouth has been painted; black for the gums, and a pinky-white for the tongue. You may wish to cover the inside of the mouth will some material or paint it, as a finishing touch. Ok, so you've got the head/body all ready to go. Now what about the jaw?

This is where it gets slightly tricky. Although the following steps may seem difficult, it is actually quite easy - but perhaps hard to describe. I've tried to explain it as clearly as possible, but some of it may require a little trial and error on your part.

Take the jaw piece, and create a hollow at the top of the back area. You can see at right, the jaw piece is actually boat-shaped. You will also need to remove a small wedge from the back of the jaw, to ensure smooth movement later. Once you have a sufficient hollow, find a piece of thick card (here I've used a piece of core flute), and cut it so that it fits into the hollowed out space. However, make sure that the piece juts out far from the edge of the jaw (see photo below of finished jaw piece).

Before gluing this piece into the hollow of the jaw, you will need to make a hole in it, just where it juts out. This is where the rod will be fitted. Once you have made the hole, glue the piece of card into the jaw's hollow.

Now prepare a long piece of dowel as the rod. A metal rod will not do, as you will need to be able to drill through it. Slide the dowel through the hole in the card that you made. You should have what looks like a jaw on a rod - you haven't finished yet, but you're halfway there! Take the jaw on the rod, and slot the rod into the smaller hollow you made in the head/body. The jaw might slide around on the rod, but that's ok, we'll fix that in a minute. For now, hold the jaw in place and the whole puppet upright, and mark on the rod where it meets the card. This is important, as this place will be where you secure the rod to the card, and if it isn't marked correctly, the jaw will sit out of line with the rest of the puppet head/body.

Remove the rod from the card, and find the mark you just made. Drill a hole through the dowel, big enough to insert a small rod (a piece of coathanger will do). As you can see, the small rod is threaded through the hole in the dowel. DO NOT GLUE IT IN. Now insert the dowel into the card again (insert it from the bottom of the card), and you will see that the small rod stops the dowel from sliding further up. Glue the small rod to the card, without gluing it to the dowel. Now the jaw should be firmly attached to the dowel, and the small rod should be able to turn inside the wood.

So what's with the other stuff on the rod attachment? Well, the jaw is moved up and down by use of elastic. There's a reason for the jutting out bit of the card - attach a piece of strong elastic band (this may need to be replaced after several uses) to the top of the dowel. Attach the other end to the top of the jutting card. You will see that the small rod you ran through the dowel will act as a pivot point for the movement of the jaw; by pulling down the jutting card, the pivot turns, and the jaw moves up.

But that's not so handy, because then you have to reach into the middle of the puppet to move the jaw. So, get a long piece of strong fishing line. Attach one end to the bottom of the jutting card, and the other to the bottom of the dowel. You will probably want to screw some eyes into the bottom half of the rod, in order to run the line through. It helps keep everything tidy - and the line easy to find!

Once you've attached the line, you should now be able to pull it, and the jaw will move up. This is the closing action - to keep the mouth closed for long periods of time, and allow the puppeteer the freedom of their hands, you may want to consider a way to wind or hook the line onto the dowel, which can be quickly be undone when the puppeteer needs to open the mouth again. Your jaw piece should now look like the image above.

Once you're satisfied with the movement - you can reattach the elastic band to make the tension different - insert the dowel back into the head/body. You may find that the foam needs to be cut slightly to accommodate the dowel. That's ok, just make any adjustments, and you should be fine.

Finally, cover the inside of the bottom jaw, to match the inside of the mouth on the head/body. For the fish, I just added a layer of core flute over the top, and painted it to match the black gums and pinky-white tongue. Again, you may want to cover it with material. You can also paint or cover the dowel as appropriate to your needs.

You will have noticed that I haven't provided exact measurements or details; that is because this method can be scaled up or down according to your needs, materials, and shape of the puppet. This technique, while sounding complicated at first, is actually very simple, and can be used on a range of puppet designs. Once you get the hang of it that is! You may also be interested in reading the post on how to fit a mouth into a puppet.

Read Part Three - marionette mouths and other techniques - here. Find my list of free mouth puppet patterns here. Did you know? You can now buy moppet eyes for your next puppet build from my online store! Check it out here!

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