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A lot of people do searches on the net in order to find Miss Piggy, Kermit, Animal, Cookie Monster, Gonzo, Elmo or other Sesame St and/or The Muppets patterns. They don't find many, if any at all. Why?

BECAUSE THESE PUPPETS ARE COPYRIGHTED. Think about it for a second... You spend your entire life learning a trade; you invent a new design. Then someone comes along and makes an exact copy of this design. Maybe they want to sell knock-offs. You'd be pretty pissed off, wouldn't you? Well, it's exactly the same here.

If you really want a puppet that looks like any of the Henson designs, then I suggest doing the following:

• Buying a puppet replica from Master Replicas, that produce poseable Kermits (etc.), which are made using the exact same pattern as the original
• Learning how to make your own muppet-type, which while may look similar to the Henson designs, don't actually copy them. The great thing about the muppet technique - and why it's so popular - is the building methods are the same, but can produce a zillion unique characters.
• You can try using this Kermit pattern or Scooter pattern from Puppet Planet.com. I don't recommend building puppets that are copies; for a start, it's not nice to steal other people's designs. Secondly, it's much more fun making your own. Neither of the above patterns come with instructions, and there's probably a reason why.

I don't recommend approaching anyone to make you a replica, nor do I endorse replicas of any sort.

As mentioned in my post on NOT making puppets from The Lion King, it's not ethical of me to provide step-by-step instructions of how to make your own Kermit. Puppeteers make their living from Henson's work, so do yourself a favour and just buy a damn soft toy from The Muppets website. At least you'll know it comes from the Henson company, won't be a knock-off, and will be enjoyed as a true way of honouring the brilliant and simple puppet designs. You might want to also read this post from Andrew at PuppetVision, who also rails against replicas.

For some more info on building your own muppet-type puppets, check out this post. Additionally you can find some helpful forums about buying muppets here. Wanting to know a bit more about Avenue Q puppets? Read this post.

Need some moppet eyes for your next puppet build? Buy them at my online store!

Want more? Help build a puppet!