How to Make a Frog Puppet!

hmm [Music] adam crutinger here and today i'm going to teach you how to put together a frog puppet [Music] now even though this puppet is called fried frog your character does not have to be a frog it could really be any abstract character it could easily be any kind of lizard just by adding a cool tail and just imagine what this puppet would look like if you used fur instead of fleece if you want to learn how to make this pattern it's a combination of two videos that i made before making the head was the same process as making the snoof pattern and making the body was the same pattern making process that we use in my main tutorial series that you can see right here so if you want to make your own pattern it's kind of a combination of those two techniques but if you want to save time and support this channel you can download the pattern for my website all right let's get started the first thing we're going to do is lay out some fabric any fleece will work well for this and then i trace out the pattern you can use a sharpie or in this case i'm using a highlighter and then carefully cut out the body of the pattern if you want to stitch the body together on a sewing machine make sure to add some seam allowance before cutting it out about a quarter inch will do just fine it's always best practice to use pins before you start stitching it that'll make sure your puppet comes together evenly by your final stitches go ahead and stitch all the way along the back and along the front and you can also close up the darts on the side of the body too just make sure not to stitch the mouth closed next let's trace out the fabric mouth plate you can use velvet or felt for this in this case i'm using velvet then i'm going to cut it out and start pinning it the pinning is especially important for this part since these edges don't lay flat together you could sew this part by hand too but i really like the lip line that i get when i use the sewing machine next is the mouth plate to get a nice flexible mouth plate there's a couple things i like to use this is gasket rubber this is the most common thing that most puppeteers use it's really flexible but over a long time it will kind of break down this is what i use the most because it's so readily available it's plastic from a laundry detergent bottle i only use this center section right here you can definitely fit a nice mouth plate on that next is the lid to an ice cream container and this is actually what i'm going to be using for today's puppet this is a lot like the laundry detergent bottle but it's a hair more flexible all right now let's go ahead and get started with the mouth plate the first thing i'm going to do is lay down my pattern pieces and carefully trace it out most of these are thin enough that you can actually use regular scissors to cut them out now after i cut out those mouth plate pieces i glue them in using super 77 spray adhesive this works best if you spray both the fabric of the mouth plate and the plate pieces let them sit for just a minute or so to get tacky and then carefully set them in make sure you set them in very evenly this can be a little bit finicky to get right now once the mouth plates are secure you can go ahead and turn this entire puppet inside out just like this and now with your hand in there you can kind of see how it's already starting to take shape for this pattern i like to use wooden doll heads for eyes first thing i do is paint them white and then i make a plate for them out of pvc you could probably use another material for this to avoid the flattening process but it's really easy to get this locally that's why i like it i use schedule 20 pvc now what i do is i set the eyes on the plate the distance that i want them for the puppet and then trace around it to make the right shape this size will vary depending on the size of your eyes and the placement of the eyes today i'm using 1.5 inch wide eyes then find some screws that fit your wooden knobs and then you're going to put it together the plate goes inside of the puppet and the eyes go on the outside of the puppet now the pattern has suggested eye placement and that's really just a point to measure off from to make sure your eyes are even it's not necessarily exactly where you should put your eyes you can decide that based on the design of your character here i'm using a drill to securely attach the eyes you could just use a screwdriver for this just make sure you don't over tighten it you don't want to strip the wood oh yeah i love how this is coming out next i trace out the hand patterns and i actually don't cut out the patterns first i sandwich the fabric together like this then stitch straight through it on the sewing machine this makes the cutting process much easier but if you're hand sewing the arms you would want to cut out those pieces first to make the foam hands i use the same pattern but only trace the hand part could do this four times with half inch foam but i ran out of my half-inch foam so i'm going to use my one inch foam and just cut out two that just means i'm gonna have to slice it down the middle later next i use some 18 gauge wire to make some armature for the fingers i kind of make it into these little loops and then feed it through the arm rods i have a more detailed video on how to make arm rods and finger wires in the video right here there's a link in the description too this is literally hands down the most annoying part about making a puppet pun intended then i put a little bit of hot glue here to keep the wires from shifting then i lay out the wires to make sure it matches the hand and then mark on them just about a quarter inch above the fingertips then carefully snip off the rest and bend the tips down to be even with the pattern and lastly i encapsulate those wires in hot glue just to give them a little bit more support kind of like this next i'm going to snip my foam hands in half down the middle again you can skip this step if you used half inch foam instead and then i'm going to put a little glue on the inside to kind of just glue them straight back together but first we have to put our armature wire hands in that we just finished making and then carefully line it up like this and then once it's evenly put together make sure to press down very firmly and i put a little bit more contact cement on the tips of all the fingers let them sit for a second and then carefully pinch them so they look like this that'll keep the wire from poking through after a lot of use and now it's back to the fabric go ahead grab your scissors and carefully cut your hands out make sure not to cut too close to the stitch line or else it could come apart then i cut out some one inch strips out of the one inch foam kind of like this then i carefully try to round off the edges a little bit just taking those corners off like this then i turn the fabric hands inside out there's many different ways to do this and different tools this is called an easy point in turner and i have a link to this on the supply page on my website there's a link down below and now we got to put these armature hands into the fleece covering now there's no easy way to do this i imagine it's a lot like trying to give a cat a bath it just takes some persistence a little bit of wrestling but with some time you'll get there then we're going to insert the foam into the arms as well this can also take a little bit of wrestling and this tool can come in handy again for that just make sure it's even and the fabric lays nicely and then we're going to carefully stitch up these seams using a slip stitch if you want to learn more specifics on how to do the slip stitch click the link above or the link down in the description now i had exactly enough half inch foam left to do the legs carefully trace around the foam pattern just like this cut it out and glue it all together these little notches here will make it easier for the knee to bend later this is a tight tube to put together you just have to carefully pinch it as you go along now onto the fabric legs carefully trace out the fabric legs again add a quarter inch of seam allowance on the legs only if you plan on machine stitching them you're going to trace the tops of the feet as well and then you're going to cut out the legs very carefully and the feet you can just cut them out as blocks this will make the gluing process easier later when we glue on the bottoms of the feet notice the little slits i made in the back of the heel that's going to make this much easier to sew to the ankle i line up the corners of the ankles with the insides of those corners of the feet and then carefully stitch one straight line across to attach the ankle to the foot and then after that it's a straight line through the heel and up the side of the leg to complete the sewing of the legs there is a pattern for the foam foot also you can cut out two of those and i like to taper the edges on the top only this will make it lay a little flatter when we glue it in then we're going to slide the foam legs into the fleece coverings i kind of roll it up like this and carefully pull it up almost like putting on a pair of pants you'll notice how that knee has a nice little bend to it because of that notch that we put in the foam before now i'm going to glue the foam foot to the foam ankle now i don't do this on all my feet but i do always do it with this pattern be sure to let the contact cement set a little bit before attaching it next i use a super 74 spray to glue the underneath of the top of the foot fabric to the top of the foam like this then i use the same spray to glue the bottoms of the fabric feet to the sole of the foot for the bottoms of the foot fabric i didn't trace a pattern i just cut out rectangles bigger than the feet then i used a marker just to mark where the big toe is it's best to let this glue set overnight so you don't gunk up your scissors but if you want to move faster i just use some baby powder to get rid of some of the stick then i get the foot pattern out and trace over it like this that gives me nice cut lines to cut through the whole thickness this process is much easier than cutting those pieces out ahead of time and trying to get them to fit perfectly and they turn out really nice this next part is optional this is the sleeve to the puppet you can trace out this pattern and cut it out i like to start off by stitching just like an inch or two so that way i can turn this inside out this allows me to do a whip stitch from the inside which is the strongest way to attach this and then the foam body for this i'm using half inch foam that's called l 200 but also eva foam will work but you could really pretty much use any type of foam that you like carefully trace out the patterns and then cut it out a razor blade is really great for cutting out this type of foam and then just carefully start gluing the darts together like this and then put those two halves of the shells together to create this cylindrical foam body next you can insert this foam body into the puppet just kind of scrunch it up and then you can put it right in through the bottom it's easier to do that before you close up the final seam on your sleeve after that's finished then you can go ahead and stitch up the sleeve go all the way up until the end now we're going to get into attaching the limbs you can attach the legs just like this by stitching around the edges like i am here but another way you could do it with the arms and legs is to just use doll joints as well i don't have any on hand today so i'm just going to stitch it and then the same goes for the arms as well again you can stitch them on or use doll joints then i clean up the seams and move on to the pupils now there's a whole bunch of things you can use for pupils i have an entire video that goes through not only how to make different types of pupils but also how to make sure your puppet has really good eye focus click the link above or the link down in the description to see that [Music] even though this is called the fried frog pattern i highly recommend you try making something other than a frog the only reason i really use that name is to stick with the theme of all my other patterns we have the small fry the medium shake the big mac and now the fried frog plus a side of bacon but really don't be limited by the name of this pattern i've already seen a lot of people do some pretty creative stuff with it in our facebook group the crew puppet tutorial q a there's a lot of really neat things there i highly recommend using my free patterns before using any of the paid patterns right here i have an entire playlist for them sure to tackle that project before using any of my paid patterns the paid patterns are a little bit more advanced so if you have trouble with the free ones you'd want to practice a lot more before moving on to the paid ones i highly recommend you try making your own patterns too it's a really fun process and you learn more about how a puppet's put together and if you use this pattern or any of my patterns i would love to see your puppet if you post them on facebook instagram or twitter make sure to tag me at adamkrtenger and on facebook at curtingerpuppets we release weekly puppetry videos everything from learning how to become a puppeteer for puppet building and we even have our own podcast called puppeteers that's where we have interviews with the world's most passionate puppeteers be sure to check it out if you enjoyed this build video make sure to subscribe because there's a lot more coming thanks so much for your support and be sure to check out puppetnerd.com for all your puppetry related needs that's it for now see you next time [Music] you

Channel: Puppet Nerd

Views: 327,400

Keywords: adam, kreutinger, puppets, DIY, Pattern, free, builder, maker, cosplay, How to make, how to, muppet, muppets, how to make a puppet, How to make a muppet, tutorial, building, 101, Frog puppet, Fried frog, How to make a frog puppet, Kermit the frog, Kermit

Id: tcb3js7kSwI

Length: 13min 5sec (785 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 17 2021