On the Hunt for Thread

This blog actually covers two days since neither of us got a chance to update the blog after we went and got the necessary thread on Monday, mostly because we spent the remainder of the evening making a NEW BLOG called Thrift Ninjas!

On Monday we had to take a trip out to Hancock Fabrics.

Chuck had me pose in the parking lot.

Checking the fabric against the thread to get the best match

Comparing two threads to see which color more closely matched the fabric.

Success! We found the perfect thread! Like my earrings? They were a birthday scavenger hunt prize from Chuck!

The main reason we went to that particular store(which is about 30 min from where we live) is because it is right next door to THIS place!! Delicious southern buffet, and only $7.50 including sweet tea. We love going here.

Happy Veronica after a delicious meal.

And since this is right down the road, and the new Star Trek comic had come out the week before, we just HAD to go here as well.

Cutting the Fabric

Today we cut out the fleece that will cover the head and the body. It was fairly simple, and if we had the proper thread (whoops!) we would have started stitching them together today as well. Our biggest problem is that we don't have a dedicated work space. The light is crappy, and we're trying to use this huge cutting board on our living room floor. It's ok for now, but we really need to find a place to set aside space for the sewing machine on a table and space to keep puppet supplies.

First I traced the pattern with a yellow marker, which smelled more than any of the others. It was the lightest color we had and I really didn't want the black marker to accidentally bleed through.

I traced both sides before I began cutting. With the pattern you flip it over to get both sides, otherwise you'll have two of the same side and it won't work right.

I cut out both sides of the skull covering together into one big chunk to make it easier to manage.

Chuck working on cutting out the body section

My attempt to fit the skull covering before I stitched it together. Kinda looks like a helmet. Or Hannibal Lecter. "Hello, Clarice."

Both of the skull coverings of mine. The open pieces facing each other there are the mouth opening.

So here's where we are so far!  Progress!

Building - Parts 1 and 2

So, Chuck(my fiance) and I decided we wanted to make our own puppets! We got the pattern from Project Puppet and followed the instructions for the Roly Puppet on the tutorial on YouTube.

Before I started this blog we'd already made the mouth plates and skulls, and today we are attaching the mouth plates with felt coverings to the skull. I'd accidentally glued the felt (white) on the "wrong" side of my mouth plate and had to re-glue the proper color (red for me). Somehow in doing this it made my mouth look more feminine than Chuck's. Funny how mistakes work out for the best, eh?

Below are a few pictures I snapped of our work thus far.

This is the foam we used for the skull. We could only find the proper thickness at a Hancocks in Marietta. They have in a HUGE package, but it was only $15 and we could likely make several more puppets from what we have remaining.

Here is Chuck adding contact cement to his felt that will be the inside of his puppet's mouth.

That's the skull piece that will be attached to the mouth plate.

I highly recommend getting a whole can of the contact cement rather than just a tube. The can is only about $1 more and the tube will only just barely make one puppet. It's also easier to spread out on surfaces that the tube stuff.

My mouth plate with foam over the hand to hold it in the proper place.

Mine with the skull part attached to the mouth plate.

Both of ours. Chuck's is on the left, and mine is on the right.

Next blog I'll snap some pictures of us sewing the material together. We got some fleece that looks slightly skin toned. We plan on making YouTube videos with puppets, possibly preforming at local libraries, and even using puppets that look like us at our Muppets themed wedding in February 2013!