Ideas on Puppet Making

Puppets have been very popular since a long time. These can either be human figures or even inanimate objects. The various types of puppets include finger puppets, glove puppets (sock puppets), kitchen puppets and string puppets (marionette). There are even arm or life-size puppets. These are usually seen in puppet shows or carnivals. However, the smaller ones can be easily made at home. All you need is paper, cardboard, paint (preferably fabric paint), scissors, needle and thread. Here are some ideas on puppet making.

Finger puppets
These are very small and fit into your fingers. They do not have any moving parts. It is very easy to make a finger puppet.

1. Firstly, turn a piece of cardboard into a cylindrical or tube shape. You can also cut a piece of colorful cloth and sew it from 3 sides to make it tube-shaped.
2. Stick a face made of cardboard or hard paper on top.
3. Draw and color eyes, nose and mouth on the face. You can also stick ready-made faces of your favorite cartoons. Make sure you use less amount of glue as it can mess up your artwork.

Glove puppets
These are also known as sock puppets.They fit into and are controlled by one hand and so are called glove puppets. The most common ones are made of socks. Their arms and lips are the movable parts.

1. Put the sock in your hands and make a slit in the area between your thumb and forefinger.
2. Take an oval-shaped rigid cardboard, fold it in half and sew it in the area where you had made the slit. Now you can see that your puppet can talk.
3. You can paint eyes or even sew buttons as eyes for your puppet. You can use your own creativity to make nose, ears, hat, mustaches, etc. Use some colored fur to make attractive hair for your puppet. Your glove puppet is ready!

Alternatively,

1. Get patterns of the animal/bird of which you wish to make a puppet. Trace that pattern on a cloth twice.
2. Sew the two cloth patterns together on 3 sides. Do not forget to keep it open at the bottom. The curves should be clipped to prevent the cloth from puckering.
3. Turn the cloth inside out so that the stitches are not visible. Paint or sew eyes, beak, feathers, ears of the respective animal/bird which you have chosen. There, you have your puppet ready!

Kitchen puppets
They are called so because we make use of spoons, small mops, etc. for the base of these puppets. You can create puppets of any shape using this idea.

1. Use a spoon as a base for your puppet. Trace face, body, arms and legs of your favorite character on a cardboard.
2. Paint eyes, nose, mouth, etc. You can use fur or cotton as hair for your puppet. Make use of cloth or felt to make clothes for the puppet.
3. Now stick this on the spoon using glue. And your easy to make kitchen puppet is here!

String puppets
These are also known as marionettes.They are puppets whose movements can be manipulated with the help of strings that are attached to their joints. Human expressions can be achieved upto some extent with these puppets as all their body parts are movable.

1. Use the idea of making a glove puppet.
2. As a next step, you have to stuff it with pillow stuffing or rags. Sew the open ends.
3. Tie threads or rubber bands at the bottoms of legs and arms. As these are made of cloth, just sew the parts together and your puppets will move easily.

Alternatively,

1. Make puppets out of cardboard. You have to cut the face and the body parts of the puppet and also stuff it with rags. Since a cardboard is sturdier than cloth, you will have to attach paper fasteners to create joints for the movement of the puppet. In case, your puppet is made of wood or plastic, joints must be created using wires or nails. Now, its time to use your creativity.
2. You can paint the faces using fabric colors. Yard and fur can be used for hair. Ribbons can also be used for this purpose. Make use of your old doll clothes as they can fit onto these puppets or you can even sew clothes on your own.
3. In the end, tie strings to arms and legs (the parts that you wish to make movable) and nail all these strings together on a wooden rod. And, your marionette is completely ready.

The life size or bigger puppets are fairly complicated to make. You can get them ready-made or make them with the help of do-it-yourself kits. Instead, enjoy making your own puppets with these simple ideas on puppet making.