Just in time for Easter, John C. Zell has posted this three part video tutorial on YouTube demonstrating how to make a talking Easter Egg rod puppet. The video has been heavily compressed, but this is a great activity for the upcoming holiday!
Prehistoric Puppets is a new line of highly detailed, very realistic dinosaur puppets produced by Puppetoys, a company founded by veteran Hollywood effects artist Michael Maddi. The line is made up of four different puppets - a Tyrannosaurus Rex, Spinosaurus, Ceratasaur, and Triceratops.
Click "Read More" to see lots more pictures and videos after the jump...
This video demonstrates a great technique for making heads for glove puppets from a small block of foam. Just remember to use extreme caution when sanding foam on a belt sander (it's very easy to slip and seriously injur yourself). Also, while the tip in the video about making a hole in the head with a soldering iron is a good one, foam gives off toxic fumes when it melts so be sure to only do that in a well-ventilated area while wearing a respirator.
This is a great eight minute video tutorial from Tom Stewart of Puppeteers Unite explaining how to make a blinking eyelid puppet mechanism (link goes to The Puppet Building Wiki where we're having a serious problem with spammers lately, so apologies for any inappropriate links that appear there).
Project Puppet has released a new Monster puppet pattern. The Mostro Pattern includes the pattern and instructions for building a full-bodied monster hand puppet that stands 25 inches from head to foot. Also included are tutorials on making posable puppet rod arms and working with with faux fur. The pattern can be ordered online for $59.95.
This is a simple, but clever leg mechanism made from a piece of umbrella designed by Grant Harding. The mechanism allows a puppet to bend and unbend its knee.
