Dressing Marionette Puppets

The long awaited dressing of our marionette puppets

are finally here.

Are you ready?

Start with a paper bag

and cut out a pattern for your puppet 

costumes.

Cut out your fabric and sew your

costumes.

Jane and I used scrap fabric

and old clothes for our puppet costumes. 

We even used an old sweater 

that has worked very well 

for our knights armor.

Guinevere is wearing a faux fur 

cloak and a beautiful rhinestone crown.

Lancelot is really for any opponent.

He is dressed in his armor and helmet.

Gwen and Lance

Merlin is ready to cast spells

with his mystical charm.

Oh Arthur, Beware! 

Guinevere and Lancelot seem to be

getting very friendly.

Marionettes - Let's Put These Puppets Together

"Jane, let's put these puppets 

together!"

Our puppet bodies are made and

their heads, feet and hands

are complete.

All we need is a little E6000 glue.

Jane and I are slipping each of our puppets hands 

and feet into their proper places.

The elastic holds the hands and feet in place just fine,

but for added security we are placing a small bit of 

glue just under the inside lip of the elastic.

We secure the puppet's heads in the same way. 

Slide the puppets head into its body

and place a little glue around the 

inside lip of the elastic.

There you go!

Easy, Peezy!

"Hello."

"Will you dress us?"

"Please!"

Marionette Puppets - Part Seven and Eight - Sealing Puppet Pieces and Making Puppet Bodies

Today Jane and I will be 

sealing our puppet pieces.

We will also be making their bodies.

For our sealer we have chosen

 a fast drying polyurethane in a clear satin.

(Follow the direction on your sealer.)

Jane and I sprayed the inside of our puppet heads first.

Then we sprayed there hands and feet.

While these pieces were drying we started making our 

puppet bodies.

Jane and I used old brown paper bags for our

puppet body patterns.

First we traced our puppets heads onto the bag.

 This give us an idea of how large to make

 the puppets bodies. 

We then drew a body on our paper bag

and cut out our pattern.

 For our puppets bodies

 Jane and I used old fabric that we had laying around.

 We folded the fabric in half and

 pinned the pattern to the fabric. 

Then we cut around the pattern leaving a 1/4 inch

of fabric.

Now we have two pieces of fabric in the shape of a body.

Using a running stitch we sewed these two pieces together. 

(Make sure to leave openings for the head, feet and hands.)

Once our stitching was finished it is time to put the 

elastic round the head, feet and hands.

Jane and I used a small round elastic for this.

It was time to turn our material right side out

 and start stuffing our puppet bodies.

We used 100% polyester poly-fill for stuffing.

Our puppet bodies are made.

Now it is time for another coat of sealer on our puppets

heads, feet and hands. 

Marionette Puppets - Part Six

We have now reached stage six

of our marionette puppet making.

Jane and I have all of our puppet pieces made.

Today is painting day.

We have painted our shoes and hands.

They are ready for the next step.

Merlin has arrived on the scene, 

with his mystical eyes and ethereal look.

King Arthur and Lady Guinevere are such a happy couple.

"Oh, Arthur!"

"Yes, Gwen.", says Arthur

"Have you seen Lancelot?", Guinevere asks.

 Arthur replies,

 "He is waiting for us outside the castle with Merlin."

 The story is already forming as  Camelot's Characters

start to come to life. 

The stringing and wardrobe are next.

It is getting real exciting around here.

See you soon!

Marionette Puppet Making Step Five - Facial Features

This is so exciting, today is the day our puppets 

take on their own personalities.

We will be using a paper pulp called Celluclay.

Jane and I started out by mixing up a batch of

this papier mâché.

With our papier mâché heads placed on top
of bottles Jane and I begin to sculpt our
puppets face's.

We started by placing a very thin coat of this paper clay
on to our heads as a purchase.
Then our puppet's slowly began to come to life.

They really took on personality when we added
the eyes.

 This is Jane and her puppet,
King Arthur.

 King Arthur with hair.

This is my puppet Lady Guinevere.

Is this a Knight or is it an Alien?

King Arthur, Lady Guinevere and Lancelot.
Lancelot needs a little work.

I needed to make Lancelot look like a Knight.
So with Jane's prompting I began looking at photos of Knights.
Jane said,  "Your Knight needs a grill or visor on his helmet."
She was so right.
I also added a ridge on top of his helmet
and I added a place for future plumage.

We now have a true Knight to watch over Camelot.
Merlin will be arriving on the scene
very soon.
Stay tuned.

Marionette Puppet's - Step Four

Before we begin to mold the features onto our

puppet's we must place a hook into 

the top of our puppet heads.

This will allow us to string our puppet's 

later. They will then become marionettes.

Jane and I gathered our dry puppet heads.

We took wine corks and cut them into about 1/2 inch pieces.

Then we took a drill with a small drill bit

and drilled a hole into the center of each

wine cork piece.

Jane and I took a paper clip and straitened one end of it.

Then we ran it through the the cork.

We bent the bottom half of the paper clip 

so that it would stay put

 and not pull through the cork.

Now we had to drill a small hole

 into the top of our puppet heads,

and a large hole into the bottom of the head.

In order to get the cork into the top of the head 

we used a long wooden skewer, a piece of string

 and a small piece of tape.

We taped the string onto the bottom of the skewer 

and the top of the paper clip.

Using the pointed end of the skewer we ran it through the bottom

 of the puppet head and pushed through the top of the head.

 Once the paper clip was out of the top of the head we took the string 

off of the skewer leaving it attached to the paper clip.

 We then turned the end of the paper clip 

making it into a circle for future stringing.

Now our puppet heads are ready for 

facial details.

Tomorrow our puppets will begin to 

come alive.