Puppet Kaos -

Time to wrap up on these shadow puppets related posts!

In Episode 14: Tofu, Mac and Cheese and Bottle Monster talk about how Soy Milk is made. There’s a dramatization of the whole history and I was originally going to do it using flash animations. Later I decide that it would take me too long. So what’s the alternative? I was going to do paper cutouts and then move them around as puppets, and then an idea hit me: why don’t I do shadow puppets instead? That was definitely an exciting idea for me.

I decide to do this in the style of Chinese shadow puppets. You need three things, essentially. You need a screen, some puppets, and a light source. I already have a lamp (duh) so now all I need is a screen and some puppets.

The Screen:

In Chinese shadow puppetry, the screen is traditionally a thinned layer of animal skin. I guess back then that was the best material they can find. Nowadays it’s probably some synthetic material. Either way, it needs to be semi-transparent. It should be transparent enough to show the shadows and opaque enough so the sticks, rods, and puppeteers controlling the puppets are not showing. Originally I was considering using tracing paper but I couldn’t find any in my local pharmacy. I just decided to go with a piece of paper towel. That’s probably the best choice at my place that’s the right degree of transparency.

Instead of a fancy stage, I was just going to make some kind of frame out of cardboard. After all, this is going to be on video, not in front of a crowd. And then I realized that I should just tape that paper towel between two lamps (apparently I have quite a few lamps in my room due to all the filming I do). Shine a light (or two) behind it and that’s our screen. So, was paper towel a good choice? Yes and no. It was the right degree of transparency I want. It was the right size. It was easy to obtain, and it even has an interesting texture to it. But there is a problem: The puppets tend to get stuck in it. In that case, maybe other kind of paper that offers a smooth surface would’ve been a better choice. The puppets probably would’ve moved a little more if I wasn’t having trouble unsticking them, particularly with the shot in which an arrow or spear was flying across the scene.

I didn’t really try this out, but I think tracing paper would’ve been a much better choice. If that was too transparent, you can always layer it with a piece of paper towel. Maybe printing paper would work, too, but I didn’t try.

The Puppets:

Again, traditionally they are made of leather due to the lack of other durable materials. Since I don’t have leather and I’m not about to go buy any, I use what I use all the time: index cards. I seriously use index cards for everything. I use them to write to-do lists that I carry around in my pocket. I use them to write down directions when I go somewhere. I use them for puppets’ eyes. And then now I am using them to make shadow puppets.

First you want to draw your design on the index card. I use a permanent marker. Now you want your design to be connected and in one piece. Look at this following picture. The face on the left has all the parts connected so it’s one piece. The one on the right is not a good design, because once you cut out all the white parts, the eyes and mouth will fall out.

And a blank face is just not flattering in any way.

Once you have the design, carefully cut out all the white parts with an Xacto knife. I bought mine at a local pharmacy.

Careful not to cut yourself. And if you don’t want to damage your table, put some newspapers in between the index card and the table. (That’s a well-known trick to Taiwanese students who had crafts classes in elementary school. I don’t know if American kids do this since we seem to be more scared of kids cutting themselves or others in class over here.)

And then you want to attach the paper cut out to a stick/rod. I use bamboo skewers… same thing I used for arm rods for the other puppets. In this picture, the paper fastener go through a hole on the paper cut-out and then I tape the paper fastener to the bamboo skewer. Later I decided that these paper fasteners look a little too big, and the purpose for using them is to make the puppets more flexible for motions, but that was kinda lost when they are stuck in the paper towel. I started to leave small tabs on top of the cut-outs so I can just fold that little tab over and tape it to the bamboo skewer. Normally I would probably use a glue gun but someone borrowed it at that moment.

So that’s it. Put the lights behind the screen and then put the puppets in between. Now let the show start!

Related posts:
Episode 14: Tofu
Shadow Puppets: The Best Anti-depressant
Chinese Shadow Puppets

Comment here

If you are looking for a tutorial on how to make a puppet that has a movable mouth and hands that can actually grab things, this tutorial is for you! In this post, I’m going to talk about how to make Bottle Monster, who has a structure similar to that of Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster, Avenue Q’s Trekkie Monster and The Muppet Show’s Rowlf. A lot of these puppets use furry fabric but of course, that’s not a requirement.

Note that Bottle Monster is a variation of my prototype Mac and Cheese. I will not go as much into details as I did in the tutorial on how to build Mac and Cheese (a moving mouth puppet with arm rods), so I strongly recommend you to take a look at that post if you haven’t. First, the materials:

Now, the steps: (The pictures match the number of steps. Click to enlarge.)

1) Draw your pattern onto the fabric: First draw your pattern onto the non-furry side of the fabric if you are using furry fabric because you will be flipping this inside out later. You want to first fold this piece of fabric in half, and then sew along the line you drew. And then cut it out (be careful, don’t cut the lines you’ve just sewn). At this point you should have some kind of giant bag made of fabric. Now flip it inside out. This would be the basic structure of the puppet.

Note that I have two types of patterns here. The one on top is the most straight forward way of doing it. Once you sew it and cut it, you pretty much already have the head, the body and the hands. However, if you didn’t buy enough fabric (I didn’t), then you can do it like the one at the bottom. The basic structure will lack the hands and you’ll make up for that by making two furry gloves that you will sew to the main structure when they are done. This is a little more work but it’s the way to go when you don’t have big enough fabric.

Also, make sure that you draw the hands way bigger than your actual hands. Why? This is because your fingers have some volume. If you just trace your hand instead of drawing it bigger, your fingers will not fit in the gloves when they are made. Also, in the process of sewing things and flipping it inside out, you lose some room too. So make sure you draw the gloves way bigger than your hand.

2) Make the mouth board: I cut out a piece of cardboard from the cereal box shown in the picture. (By the way, my ex-apartment-mate Scott said it’s very good cereal. I never tried it though.) And then cover this cardboard with a black piece of fabric. You can use felt or sheet foam if you want, but I just used a black T-shirt that I got from Rite-Aid for 2 bucks.

3) Cut a slit across the face to put the mouth board in: For maximum flexibility of the mouth, cut this slit about equal distance to the top and bottom of the face. Use some trials and errors to determine how wide this slit and how big the mouthboard should be. Before you actually glue them together, you can always make changes.

4) Glue the mouthboard in: Glue the mouthboard in. If you had done some experimenting in the previous step, the edge of the mouthboard should fit the edge of the open slit fairly well.

5) Put on the eyes: I drew these eyes on an index card, cut them out, and then glue them to the puppet. You can decorate it some more but I chose to keep it simple.

So that’s how you make a moving mouth puppet with glove hands! Now how do we operate this new puppet?

When this kind of puppet appear on TV, it’s usually operated by two puppeteers. One person will use his/her right hand to control the puppet’s mouth, and his/her left hand to control the puppets left hand, while another puppeteer uses his/her right hand to control the puppet’s right hand. But when you only have one puppeteer, you can go without the right hand. In fact, if you’ve noticed in our podcast, Bottle Monster almost never uses his right hand and I often put him on the right side of the screen as a result. What’s awesome about this kind of puppet is that his hands can actually hold things and have flexible gestures. That’s why in my podcasts, he’s usually the one holding a piece of paper reading questions from viewers.

Speaking of which, if you have a question for Mac and Cheese, Bottle Monster, Bobby and Moostifer to answer in our podcast, send an email to puppetkaos@gmail.com! Don’t be shy!

Related post:
How to make a moving mouth puppet with arm rods (Mac and Cheese)

Comments(2)

Before I post the tutorial on how to build Bottle Monster, here’s a few tips about glue gun usage, since hot glue is what’s used a lot for these kind of projects.

1. Get a low-temp gun: Hot glue guns come in three varieties: high temperature, low temperature, and dual temperature. High temp guns heat up to 380º F (195º C), and low temp guns heat up to about 250º F (120º C). Now, the low temp gun is more suitable for building puppets, because you’ll most likely be using it on fabrics, paper, or maybe plastic and foam. The high temp guns (and glue) get so hot that they might actual demage the materials you are using. Besides, low temp guns will hurt you less when you accidentally burn yourself. When you are using a dual temp gun, choose the low temp setting.

2. Have cold water nearby: Some might suggest having a bowl or cup of cold water nearby, so when you accidentally got glue on your hands, you can quickly dip your fingers in water to cool it down.

3. If you get glue on your finger, rub it against your thumb: Well, I haven’t seen anyone giving this tip, so it’s totally from my own experience. When you got glue on your finger, your first instinct might not be burning your thumb as well. However, if you rub your finger and thumb together with the glue in between, it will quickly harden. And guess what, it cools down in that process. And you can peel the glue off easily so it stops burning you. I actually found this trick to be more useful than water because it’s faster and you don’t get water all over.

4. Don’t ever touch the nozzle while it’s hot: I learned this the hard way when I burned my thumb on the hot glue gun nozzle. It was actually a careless mistake but it hurt.

5. If you burned yourself, take care of it: This should be pretty standard for any kind of burn: run it under cold water and keep it in cold water for a lil bit. Usually, the glue will not burn much if you use a low temp gun. It’s like getting a piece of food on you when you are cooking. It might hurt for a half second but then it’d be gone. Now, accidentally touching the nozzle would be like accidentally touching the pan/pot when you are cooking… it hurts more. But either way, glue guns aren’t likely to cause any severe damage that would not heal itself given some time.

Anyway, just be careful. And even if you burned yourself, it’s not likely to burn you too bad but it’s still an ouchies experience nevertheless. (What? You mean… “ouchies” is not a word?)

Comment here

Want to know how to make one of those furry monster puppets? (Well, or any similar puppets that’s not furry?) In this post, I am going to show you how to make Mac and Cheese, the puppet that you’ve seen in every podcast episode on this site so far. This is what he looks like: (By the way, if you are looking for how to make Mac and Cheese the recipe, click here.)

For the most part, I followed this video by puppeteer/puppet builder Paul Louis, but I’ve also made a few variations on my own based on what’s available to me at the time. For example, he used both glue gun and contact cement for gluing, and I used only my hot glue gun. He used foam to stuff the puppet’s head and I didn’t feel like using it. He used untangled wire hangers for arm rods while I just bought bamboo skewers from the supermarket across the street. So yeah, you should feel free to experiment with different materials too. Here’s a list of materials used by Paul Louis to make his puppet in the video, and the materials I used to make Mac and Cheese:

Now here are the steps. The numbers on the pictures correspond to the steps. Please click on them to see the details. I had to use thumbnails here, or the article will appear way too long. Also, keep in mind that Mac and Cheese was the first of this type of puppet I built so it’s a prototype and I did make mistakes along the way that I would also point out.

1. Draw out a pattern: Draw a head and a body. (If you are wondering why I sort of traced my palm and fingers in the face part, it’s because it’s a good measurement for how big that circle should be. If you’ve ever asked other people or been asked the trick question “Is your hand bigger than your face?”, you know.)
2. Cut out the pattern: You will have an easier time tracing it onto the fabric that way.
3. Trace the pattern onto the folded fabric: I used a permanent marker. There are fabric markers that you can buy at fabric/craft stores as well. If a regular pen works for you, go ahead and use that too. Notice that the fabric has to be folded, so you can sew the two layers together.
4. Sew along the line: In the video he used a sewing machine. However, since I don’t have one, and this is a prototype I am using to learn every single detail, I did this part by hand. I used back-stitches. They are time-consuming but very sturdy.
5. Cut around the stitches and flip it inside out: Be careful not to cut the actual stitches. It’s fine to leave some fabric outside the stitched border since you are flipping it inside out anyway. You should now have sort of a bag that you can put your hand in.

6. Cut a slit across the head/face part: Along the middle line is probably the best to allow the most mouth movement and flexibilities. If you cut this slit too high or too low, you will have difficulties opening and closing the mouth.
7. Make a mouth board using cardboard and fabric: In the video, a juice carton was used. I used a tissue paper box. I’ve also used other boxes on other puppets so any cardboard would do. Make sure you fold it in the middle so it’s like a mouth. Next, cover it with a piece of black fabric (felt, T-shirt, or even sheet foam) and glue the cardboard and the fabric together. In the video, contact cement was used, but I just used my trusty glue gun. Cut the fabric according to the shape of the cardboard and now the mouth board is done.
8. Stick the mouth board into the slit and glue them together around the edge: For the mouth and slit to fit each other, the diameter of the mouth board should be approximately 2/3 of the length of the slit. Of course, that’s only an estimate. You should probably try to stick the cardboard into the slit before you glue on the fabric, because then you can go back and make more changes to the cardboard to find the ideal size and shape.
9. Make a little bag and stuff it with polyfill. Slide into the puppet’s head above the mouth board. In the video, foam was used. Since I don’t have foam, I made a bag by folding a piece of fabric over and gluing the edges. I then put the polyfill in from the opening and just fold over the extra fabrics at the opening. I didn’t seal it because I might want to adjust the shape and size again later. Slide this bag into the head above the mouth board. Don’t worry, it won’t fall out because the mouth board is there. Squeeze things around to get the head shape you want. If it’s too much or too little stuffing, take the bag out again to adjust the amount of polyfill in there.

10. Make the arms: Like the body, it’s just a piece of fabric folded over, sewn together, cut out, and flipping over. Stuff the arms with polyfill. Note that I really should put the arm rods in first (steps 11 and 12) but since this was my prototype, I didn’t do that right. Actually, it depends. If your rod is installed into the palm, you should put in the rod before you stuff the arm. However, if the rod is installed on the outside, you should install the rods later. Stuffing the arms give the arms some shape, but don’t stuff too much because you still want the arms to be flexible. Squeeze the middle part and then bend it back and forth a few times. This pushes the polyfill to either the upper or lower arm, hence creating a two part arm with a joint in between.
11. Make arm rods: I used the sharp end of the skewer to penetrate the middle zigzag layer of the cardboard (but not all the way through). Pull the skewer out, put some glue on the tip and insert it again. This time the cardboard and skewer will stick together.
12. Open up the wrist to stick the arm rod in: I cut open the puppet’s wrist to put in the arm rod made from a bamboo skewer. The skewer should come out the bottom of the palm. The cardboard will make sure the arm rod is fixed in place. Close up the wrist again. Note that if I had done this in the right order, I would’ve installed the rod before I stuffed the arm. If I did that, then I didn’t need to open up the wrist again.
13. Glue on the eyes and arms: In the video he used ping-pong balls, which created more 3-D eyes. I didn’t have ping-pong balls at the moment, and I wanted to see what it would be like if I just drew eyes on an index card and cut them out. So I did that and glued the eyes to the head. The arms can be glued on or sewn on. I tried to glue and then sew, but it’s mostly glued because later I realized that it’s very hard to sew through that layer of glue with the needles I have. So they were just glued on and I’ve been puppeteering it for a while now and it didn’t seem to be falling off… that’s a good thing. By this step, the puppet is pretty much done.
14. Glue the tongue into the mouth: That red tongue is made from a piece of felt. You would have used something else or just skip this step. (For example, Bottle Monster doesn’t have a tongue like this.)

So there you go. That’s how you make Mac and Cheese. I hope this article is helpful if you are trying to build your own puppet at home.

Comment here

Here’s a list of sites that have been useful to me. Some of them have to do with puppet building, some puppeteering techniques, and some are just fun to look at. Maybe there are even better sites out there, but they are of no use to them if I don’t actually visit them, right? So here are the sites that I actually visit regularly. You can also find them (and more) in the links page.

PuppetVision Blog
This site is updated daily with lots of information about puppetry. The author Andrew posts up a lot of links that’s worth checking out, including interesting puppet videos online, puppet building tips, puppetry events, puppeteer interviews and more. Many sites that I regularly read and am recommending here are actually found originally via his blog.

Puppetry Lab
Puppeteer / puppeteering instructor Amy Harder posts many puppeteering tips on this site. The most useful thing on this site I found are the instructional videos. For example, there’s a video showing you how to hold the arm rods. I’ve seen a lot of introductory puppeteering articles simply say form the rods into an X but this is really vague to many people until you actually see a video showing the puppeteer’s hand in action. There are also other helpful tutorials on how to make your puppet swim, and how to utilize the camera, etc. It’s a site worth checking out.

The Wippets
This is a podcast by self-taught puppeteer Ron and his gang. It’s the home of Barff, Spafford, and more recently, Jimmy and Phil. I love their wacky episodes and it’s certainly an inspiration in terms of how much you can do when you are self-taught and armed with imagination to make something experimental at home. Check out their videos!

Expert Village
This is a site that has a lot of instructional videos. I learned how to build simple puppets from this video. I do it somewhat differently (for example, I do not use rubber cement and I do not use foam) but I build puppets using methods that are variations of these videos. There’s also a good summary on puppeteering basics. Both sets of videos are done by puppeteer Paul Louis.

Puppetbuilding Dot Com
As the name suggests, this is a site about puppet building. The show covers a lot of puppet building techniques and tutorials written by puppet builders. A lot of these refer to more professional puppet building than the stuff I do. For example, some of them use different types of foam that’s only sold in large quantities and I simply don’t have access to them and won’t bother. The concepts are still worth checking out though, even if I don’t use the same materials.

There are other links to sites that are worth checking out but aren’t directly related to puppetry. Check out the links page for more!

Comment here

In this spring’s LCC quarterly production, I produced, directed, and performed in a puppet sketch called “Accent Elimination for Animals.” Here is a picture taken by Lydia. From left to right: Scott and I on Professor Bottle Monster, Aki on Bobby the lamb/sheep, and Peter on Moostifer.

And then we have two more furry puppets next to each other. This picture is taken by Kimmie. I believe that was my hand in the blue one and Clara’s in the yellow one. I don’t remember now. It’s not important anyway.

Soon I’ll put up more videos and pictures of them. I’ll also have tutorials on how to make your own!

Comment here

So… I got a burn on my left thumb from my hot glue gun. I guess that officially initiated me into the hot glue gun users family. Actually, since I use the glue on fabrics, I use a low temperature glue gun. I’ve got glue on my fingers before but it actually wasn’t too bad. It would be hot but it doesn’t actually hurt you. It’s like accidentally spilling something on your hand while you are cooking. It’s not bad if it’s not in large ammount. This time, however, I burned my thumb cleaning the nazzle. I was about to put it away too. (It always happen when your guard is down, doesn’t it?) So yeah, that’s the story. I wonder how long it would take for my skin to recover.

Comment here

Meet Sockie Monster. He’s my very first sock puppet. Yeah, I’m just practicing. I wanted to make a sock puppet after I watched this video that teaches kids how to make a sock puppy. This is the first time that I actually made a puppet with a plan in mind. Last time I made Lapu the Coyote that Cares, I just totally started cutting and sewing without really planning out a design first. I called him Sockie Monster because he’s made from a sock, and that at one point, he resembled Cookie Monster, though he doesn’t anymore after I tweaked his features and head shape. He actually looks more like Grover now. My lil sister actually recognized the sock. It was from a pair of tube socks we got from Singapore Airlines last time. She recognized the color. Good job, Mandy.

While Lapu the Coyote that Cares took 24 hours to make, Sockie Monster actually only took 2.5 hours. Reason one is that I actually had a plan this time. I tried to follow the video step-by-step, but I got lost at some point after flipping the sock inside out a few times. I started to just go with what I feel is right instead of following the steps. I think if I make the same puppet again, I can finish within an hour. Another major reason why it’s so fast is that I didn’t do anything sewing at all. All I did was use the hot glue gun that I just bought.

Actually, I’ve never used a glue gun before this, and when I tried it out, I was totally impressed. It binds fabric, plastic, paper, etc. pretty quickly. And it’s pretty strong too. The only downside is that you cannot hesitate cuz it works so fast, and that, if you are not careful, you can burn yourself. I was pretty impressed. The only place where I used regular school glue is the nose, simply because I forgot to put it on before I unplugged the glue gun. It was interesting buying the glue gun, wiggly eyes, and pom-poms though. I got those things at a local fabric shop. The store was filled with grandmothers and their grand-daughters. I was a bit out of place in there, haha.

Comment here