Friday, November 23, 2007

as promised.......Christmas puppet tutorial!



Treadmills
click on collage to enlarge....

I promised, (after several of you inquired about my pumpkin puppet was posted) to show you how to make a jumping puppet for the Holiday Season! So here goes.......

FIRST
Decide on an image to make the body of the puppet!
That could be any Christmas icon you want...
Christmas Tree Ornament
Christmas Stocking
Wreath
Christmas Tree Light Bulb
Snowman
Santa
Elf

SECOND
Draw your image on a HEAVY watercolor paper (works best).
I like using watercolors, but acrylics work well also.
You will need to draw the arms and legs in two sections each.
This means that you will have two sections for each arm and leg.
I like making the arms and legs striped, but you can paint them in any fashion you like:)
Once your paint has dried it is time to cut all all the individual pieces!

THIRD
Gather together 8 pieces of wire (I like using telephone wire in red)...
and
8 small buttons (any kind of button will work).
(wires should be at least 6 inches long)

FOURTH
Using the smallest holed punch you can find...
(I use the the 1/16th inch hole punch)
Punch two holes in the knee junction on both pieces of the leg
and two hole on the elbow junction of both pieces of the arm.
check the picture if you are a visual learner like me:)

FIFTH
Threading the wire through the button
and then the upper and lower leg pieces...
secure by twisting the wire on the backside of the puppet.
(Make sure that you don't twist the wire to tightly because the leg and arm sections
need to swing freely!)

I will be back to show you how to string the back of the puppet in order to make it jump.....
Stick with me on this. I need to thread my puppet and take pics first.
Later.......


8 comments:

Lee Weber said...

cute puppet!

Sandra Evertson said...

This is Wonderful! Love your work!
Sandra Evertson

Anonymous said...

Ohhh the puppet is sooo cute! I wanta try!!!! Thanks for sharing with us! *HUGS*

Veronica TM said...

what a great tutorial! lovely blog too, linda.

Anne-Laure said...

thanks for the idea, it'll be a great project to do with my niece!

Ulla said...

Soooo Fun! I love the stripes and little wink!!!

Anonymous said...

What a fun project.....

I hope you had a wonderful thanksgiving and it sure looks like it from the pics.

HEARTWARMING!

angelica

Anonymous said...

I LOVE this!!! This would be fun to try and do with Carlos!