Rankin-Bass Rudolph puppets - re-creations?

Came across these today.
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New Photos!!!
These photos were taken both at what may possibly be the set of Rudolph and the set of the GE fantasy hour commercials. (Here's a link in case you aren't familiar with what I'm talking about -
)
The first photo shows Hermey alongside Rudolph. This was apparently taken while animating the GE Rudolph commercials. From what I have seen, all of the GE Rudolph commercials didn't feature Rudolph or Hermey. It is likely that these animations never made it into the first airing of rudolph or Rick has them recorded but has not yet revealed them to the world. Another possibility is that they did air but nobody has a recording of it. This would be very disappointing as that would make it lost media. The second photo is of the Boss Elf (Foreman Elf) and Hermey. This photo was also taken on the set of the GE commercials.
The final image is of Sam, Rudolph, and Santa. This image is actually not 100 new as most people have seen this image before. It was used for the album cover of the Rudolph record disc. Except of course it was only Sam and Rudolph on that cover. This time around we see the same image except Santa is present on the left. This is a very cool image as we get a good size comparison of the young Rudolph puppet, the skinny Santa puppet, and the Sam puppet (something that we never got because they were never seen in the special next to each other). As wired as it sounds, images of the ANIMAGIC puppets lifeless is something that I really love seeing. It really makes a person appreciate the lengths that were made to make such timeless classics.
Let me know your thoughts.

-These photos came from a news article published on September 21 of 1964
 
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Hey everyone. Sorry I've been silent for the past few months. I've been back and fourth with Sam. I'm a cosplayer as well as a "puppet builder" so I'm always working on other projects. Also school ended so I have more free time. Anyways I wanted to show off my very little progress on Sam.
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I attempted to make hands out of silicone the "cheap" way. It didn't turn out so well. I blame it on the shape of the hand mold. I'll be making another soon, and hopefully it turns out better.

I also remade Sam's watch. Not 100% accurate but I like it better than my last one. IMG_20210625_171622.jpg

And Finally I made some improvements to Sam. Sam had some cracking in his mid section, so I went back and went over it with a new layer of foam clay.
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Sam also had a bit of a hunch back so I redid the positioning of his neck and he looks so much better.

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I also added a wooden disk in his collar for more stability.
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I'll be going shopping for some supplies and hopefully Sam will be 100% finished by mid July or earlier.
 
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Freedmeep1964 said:
Hey everyone. Sorry I've been silent for the past few months. I've been back and fourth with Sam. I'm a cosplayer as well as a "puppet builder" so I'm always working on other projects. Also school ended so I have more free time. Anyways I wanted to show off my very little progress on Sam. View attachment 1470736
I attempted to make hands out of silicone the "cheap" way. It didn't turn out so well. I blame it on the shape of the hand mold. I'll be making another soon, and hopefully it turns out better.

I also remade Sam's watch. Not 100% accurate but I like it better than my last one. View attachment 1470737

And Finally I made some improvements to Sam. Sam had some cracking in his mid section, so I went back and went over it with a new layer of foam clay.
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Sam also had a bit of a hunch back so I redid the positioning of his neck and he looks so much better.

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I also added a wooden disk in his collar for more stability.
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I'll be going shopping for some supplies and hopefully Sam will be 100% finished by mid July or earlier.
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Your attention to detail is really paying off. Sam is looking great so far! I look forward to seeing the completed figure!
 
Hey everyone. Thanks so much for the positive responses on my last post. I wanted to update you on the plan for the Rudolph project. The original plan was to recreate most, if not all the Rudolph characters. However looking back on it now I realised that doing this would talk years for one kid to accomplish. I have also been wanting to move on to more Rankin/Bass replica projects such as replicas for "The Year Without A Santa Claus" and "The Little Drummer Boy". I also need to start working on these replicas for Castle Noel so I can get a final confrontation on if they will like to have some. I called the owner of the museum and said I would Email him photos of my replicas, that sas in November and I don't have anything yet. So here is how things are going to go now.
The project will include Rudolph, Sam, Hermey, Santa, and Yukon.
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I will of course make important characters like Bumble and Charlie in the box but don't expect to see anything besides these five characters for a while. I look forward to making theses characters and other Rankin/Bass characters soon!!!
 
SAM IS FINISHED!!!
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I really like how he turned out. Sam is missing a few minor details but I'll leave him as is. This Sam will play the role of a prototype when making my other more accurate Sam in the future. He unfortunately doesn't have posable hands and he doesn't have gloves but hopefully I'll be able to fix that when I'm more experienced. Hermey or Santa will be made next. After they are done I'll move on to Yukon.
 
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Quick Rudolph update. I know I haven't focused on Rudolph for a good while now and just wanted to let you know that I'm redoing Rudolph. I wasn't entirely satisfied with my first Rudolph as he didn't quite make the 6inch mark (accurate scale of real puppet) also the color was too bright, Other than that he was good. However I felt I could do better. I challenged myself to see If I could make a new Rudolph in under a month. So far it took 8 days to get to where I am. That is not including the days I haven't been working on him. He's nearly done. After this Rudolph is finished I'll get started on Hermey.
 
vaderdarth said:
Try this pattern for the Rudolph ear. once assembled it's narrower at the base because it's overlapped. Also the inner part of the ear should be narrower than the outer part.........so sew them around the edges leaving the bottom un-sewn........then turn it inside out, sew the fluff near the base and then fold the sides in and sew together......then attach to head.
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Hey there vaderdarth you have been such a big help with the pattern for Rudolph's ears back in October of last year. I'm currently getting started on my Hermey, however I'm having trouble getting his outfit right. I've never really done a coat like pattern before and was wondering if you still have or still remember how you did it for your Hermey. The outfit on yours looked spot on.
Thanks for taking the time to read this.
 
Rudolph Is FINISHED!!! (Sorry for the mess in the background)
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Let me fill you in on what I've done to complete this new and improved Rudolph.
Since my last post, I made wooden hooves, antlers and simple wired ears.
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his eyes are also made out of ping pong balls. I wanted his antlers to be a more brownish color with a semi-gloss look to it. I don't have brown paint however and instead settled for black paint. This new Rudolph is also more accurate in hight. The original stood 6 inches as mine now does.
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- Here is a side by side comparison of my first Rudolph (Not Newborn Rudolph) and the Remake.
I also feel I did a pretty good job at capturing the look of the original Rudolph in the special.
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However there is always room for improvement. But please Let me know what you think and feel free to leave any advice.

I'll be getting started on Hermey very soon!!!
 
Here's a prototype for Hermey's coat. I made this so I could get a good idea of how I'll make the pattern. I think it came out alright. I now have a pretty good idea of how I'm going to do make his outfit.
-The materials used for the prototype will not be used for the final replica.
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I was finally able to make decent looking silicone hands.
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For a while now I've been trying to learn how to make silicone hands for a cheap price, But I didn't know how.
I learned that if 100% silicone and corn flour are mixed together and covered in mineral oil, it will result in a soft moldable silicone.
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I used the mixture in a two piece hand mold I had made earlier this summer.
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It worked as it should have, however there was one issue. The excess silicone. A two piece mold works great with thin liquid silicone, but not so much for this thick silicone. Pressing the two mold pieces against the silicone worked decently well. But it left a lot of thick excess around the hand shape.
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Liquid silicone would leave a nearly seamless look after peeling the excess off. But here I couldn't even peel it off. My only option was to cut the excess off. This could be done but not without leaving a rough finish to my hand.
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I ended up just using a one piece mold for the hand. For this I basically had to press my silicone clay in the mold and pull it out before it dried up, to touch up on the hand and smooth away any imperfections
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This ended up working so much better for me. And after many failed attempts...
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I was able to make my best hand yet.
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If you want to try this for yourself Please Read These Notes.
-These hands can also be colored by mixing paint or food coloring with your silicone before mixing it in corn flour.
- If you want to try this for yourself DO NOT mix the mineral oil with the silicone and corn flour. Instead rub it on your mold and all over your hands (this is done to prevent the silicone from sticking to your hands).
- when finished mixing your silicone with corn flour, place it on your oiled hands and knead your silicone until it is at a workable consistency.
 
An upgrade on Rudolph's snout.
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Before this improvement, it's snout was just felt. The original Rudolph looked like his snout was made of a different material from the rest of his head and body. I don't know what it was made of so I just used what I had. It's foam. I also previously gave Rudolph an overbite look when he really has more of an underbite look. I also fixed that.
 
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