How to make a muppet-type: Part Two

Read Part One here, which discusses resources and actual instructions for building; the following is more of a basic detailing of how muppet-type puppets work.

So many people seem to want more information on how to make muppet-type puppets. I’m still refusing to make available a complete instructional here, because it’s too long and complicated. I do hope to have a moppet pattern available to buy soon. However, I thought I would include this short intro to the basics of the building, which won’t help you to make one from scratch, but will tell you a little bit more about how they are made.

So how is a moppet constructed? There are several methods out there, but this is the base of any method:

We start with the mouth, which should be a sturdy, but flexible object. Usually this is a piece of thick board (illustrator, or core flute it just as good), folded in half, and covered in material. Cardboard is not a good material to use. A set of finger tubes, or mounds of foam if preferred, are used for easy manipulation of the mouth.

Attached to this mouth is the head. Some people use the ‘three-piece method’, which is a very structured way of building the foam head. This technique uses sheet foam to create three sections of the head – front top, front back, and the bottom jaw – which are glued together to create a 3D foam shape. Others use foam sheet using a nip and tuck method, which is much more improvised; attaching the foam to the mouth, you then begin nipping and tucking the foam to create creases, wrinkles, cheeks, and so on. (You can also use foam blocks, and carve shapes, but this is generally not the common method)

The next step is to create a neck, which is simply a tube of cloth material, attached to the back/bottom of the head, and to the bottom of the body.

The body is foam sheet, glued into a tube, in the shape that you need. Shoulders are made out of foam and reinforced, so that they can house the arm attachments.

Arms can be tubes of foam, covered with material, which are hollow and then threaded with a nylon cord and attached to the body – the hands are attached to the other end of the cord. Alternatively, you can make the arms and hands out of stuffed material; or use human hands and gloves.

Hands are made usually by sewing and stuffing some material; some people prefer to make foam hands. Again, there are a few different techniques for attaching rods. Henson used detachable rods with his Sesame St characters – which have a loop of elastic that can slip around the wrist of the puppet. Others insert the rods directly into the hand by a variety of methods.

There, that’s the basics. ~~Come back soon for my moppet patterns.~~ You can now get a half-bodied muppet-type pattern here, where you can learn all of the above in much more detail.

Still want to know more about how to make a muppet-type? You should check out the post about the basics of puppet design, why there are no Sesame St/Muppet patterns, buying Avenue Q replicas, what materials to use for muppet building, or just leave a comment and I’ll try and point you in the right direction!

Want more? Help build a puppet!