Muppet build help - mouthplates?

[EmmRuffle]

I'm wanting to build puppets for school based on muppet designs. I've made a foam-head-and-fleece style one (like Bert and Ernie), but I really like how Kermit and Cookie Monster depend more on the movement of the puppeteer's hand...it feels organic and has more potential for subtle facial expressions. Cookie's mouth can get crooked and zany, and Kermit does the scrunchy-face when he's angry or thinking.

Does anyone know what the structure inside those muppets look like? It looks like they have a bit of foam or something around the mouth, and the rest of the head/neck is loose fleece? I'd be very interested to find something to make the mouthplates with...they look flexible but solid, without permanently creasing. Most plastics I've found are too stiff..I wonder if it's fleece with layers of interfacing, or some kind of stiff fabric?

Thanks!

 

[Buliwif]

Hi there, I've made a few puppets myself, and believe it or not, automotive gasket material is popularly used as mouth plates because it's flexible in just the way you described, then covered in black felt with a few reticulated foam pieces like the tongue, teeth, etc. (upholstery foam is works too and is much cheaper than reticulated foam). Foam itself can be used as mouth plates and will give you the movements you're looking for (I always used card myself, since I never needed that much flexibility, with craft foam for details)

Anyway, here's a link to project puppet, which has some handy tutorials for puppet making as well as selling materials and even templates for different types of puppets... A very useful resource... https://www.projectpuppet.com/

And here's a couple of my puppets, Roger and Lola...

 

[Gaby]

Interesting, do you mean like this stuff?
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/prod...OE5-ILJUgiIVOhXBFgRoCBS4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I keep meaning to have a go at making a mouthplate with one of these. They do have a lot of flex to them though.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/282670224842?chn=ps&var=581882734636

 

[SethDDPotter]

I used this for my Kermit. It is used for making washers for plumbing.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Plumb-Pak-6-in-Rubber-Washer/1082955

 

[Buliwif]

Interesting, do you mean like this stuff?
https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/prod...OE5-ILJUgiIVOhXBFgRoCBS4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

I keep meaning to have a go at making a mouthplate with one of these. They do have a lot of flex to them though.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/282670224842?chn=ps&var=581882734636

The neoprene might work well. The material SethDDPotter linked to in his comment is the type of stuff I was talking about.

As for the silicone oven mitts.... considering you can make a puppet from pretty much ANYTHING, I think those would likely work well... I have some full gauntlet style silicone oven mitts and those are PLENTY flexible enough, so I'd imagine these would have identical properties. The one thing with silicone oven mitts though, is the gripping surfaces are usually DEEPLY textured, so you might want to cover them with something, and silicone is notorious for resisting almost any kind of glue, so it might be worth looking in to for a future project after some R&D....

 

[Gaby]

The rubber washer sheet looks interesting. I'll look to see if it's something I can get in the UK.

True about the silicone resisting glue. I end up stitching a fabric backing to pre-cast silicone pieces that need to be glued to something. Or adding a layer of towelling onto the wet silicone if making from scratch I've seen works very well too.

 

[starsonapollo]

There's a guy on youtube, Adam Kreutinger, who has a free set of puppet patterns and tutorials, and he uses the lids of the really big plastic storage bins.
Here's the link to his channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/Kreuam28
I think this may help, but if that's not quite it feel free to correct me.