shininghours.com

Puppets with Personality!    Step 4    Step 5    Step 6    Step 8    Step 9    Potluck Puppets

Potluck Puppet Project -- Try it!  YEAR ONE this page!  Coming soon photos from YEAR TWO!  
These are puppets made with the help of 21 volunteers at one energetic elementary school.  You can make one puppet, a pair, or enough for a classroom or school project.  We made 40, enough for 8 Kindergarten classrooms to each have a set of four creative and diverse puppets.  Having many volunteers helped add great dimension to the puppets.

 

 

 

 

 

 

How we did it:   Everyone who worked on the project added unique energy & spirit!

  Forward to see puppets sent to another school.
A mother/grandmother duo cut 40 puppets and drew the faces.  We each used our own pattern -- they're very close.  One pattern has shorter arms and slightly narrower body, with rounded curves under the arms.  The other has longer arms, wider body and a sharper corner under the arms.  Both puppet patterns can fit a child or adult.  
bulletFronts were pinned to batting & lining & stitched together, then trimmed around the edges.  
bulletA separate step was machine sewing along the facial features.  Three people took on this step.  
bulletThen the puppet was trimmed again, and the front stitched to backings.  Two people worked on this part. 
Hair was cut from craft felt or wool felt.  Some puppets also have a silky yarn stitched over the felt.  A few people worked on hair.  One volunteer had a special knack for the hair and found that it added great dimension to the puppets to let edge stitching show -- it looked more like real hair.
Then clothing was made.  Some volunteers took home a puppet and created a full outfit.  One person made about 20 pair of puppet pants, complete with stitching to show a zipper & pockets.  These were matched up with puppets and shirts.  Some volunteers designed traditional costumes to reflect different nationalities.  This would be a fun avenue to explore!

Many puppets were bagged "ToGo" with pinned hair, a loose shirt and pants, or a dress and jumper...  some included possible buttons, trims or spare fabric that might make a pocket.  Volunteers took these home to secure the clothing and many added special creative details:  pockets, collars, buttons, trims, ties, jewelry & handkerchiefs!  These details really helped give each puppet a unique appearance.  

© 2002-2003  ShiningHours.com.