Hand stitched Kermit the Frog puppet replica!! (Early builds/old patterns)

Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

Any chance of sharing some of the overall approx measurements?
I'm trying to print the patterns but they're all sorts of sizes and don't match up.
I tried printing through the browser and saving the pictures and printing.
Cheers

Unfortunately that does seem to happen sometimes depending on if the printers are automatically resizing them to fit certain paper sizes etc. I’ll draw up a diagram with the parts and will include the measurements that I used on my puppet. Will update as soon as I can here when I do that!
 
Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

Unfortunately that does seem to happen sometimes depending on if the printers are automatically resizing them to fit certain paper sizes etc. I’ll draw up a diagram with the parts and will include the measurements that I used on my puppet. Will update as soon as I can here when I do that!

That would be great thanks, literally only need one measurement from each pattern or a scale box and I can scale it from there.
 
Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

WOW! That's amazing. You have done a fantastic job sir.
Kermit has a very special place in my heart and you hit the spot.
 
Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

WOW! That's amazing. You have done a fantastic job sir.
Kermit has a very special place in my heart and you hit the spot.

Thanks very much! Kermit really is a special character....Jim Henson really did some amazing things throughout his career.

I do have another tip for people who are considering building their own kermit. Styrene is a really nice material to use for the mouthplate as it’s flexible and strong.

I still need to build a stand to keep his head up at an ideal angle. The tall cup inside him now makes his neck posture a bit awkward. I will update this thead with pics of the stand solution when I finish it up! Will also over the weekend post measurements for the patterns I used.


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Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

Phenomenal work! And thanks for posting the plans/writeup! I absolutely love when this much attention to detail is addressed. Excellent!
 
Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

Sorry it’s taken so long to update this thread! I’ve attached a diagram below that gives the approximate measurements I used on my puppet.

Keep in mind, these sizes can vary, but I reached these measurements from extrapolating them from as many references as I could, starting mainly with the idea that the eyes are 40mm ping pong balls. From my observations of an actual Kermit puppet at an exhibit here, I’m pretty certain the 40mm is correct. I’ve heard some people use 35mm eyes, but the 35mm ping-pongs are quite noticeably smaller than what I noticed on the particular original I saw.

Based on these measurements provided, the overall height of the puppet is very close to the measurements of the one on display at the Smithsonian (measurements of which are posted below as well), so that seems to work out just fine for this replica. Regardless, this is a good starting point that will yield a well proportioned Kermit. One thing to keep in mind is that even with the patterns provided, some adjustments and trimming may be necessary to get the right look, so don’t be afraid to change things to make it work better. It's amazing how much things can vary using the same pattern source. The real Kermit changed drastically throughout the years as well, so there are many interpretations of him--one of the major things I'd noticed while researching for this project.

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I did end up making a 3rd Kermit, but this time I wanted to make him look more like the vintage early style Kermit, with the different looking feet and body shape. Below are the results! (Pictured with the Madame Alexander Fozzie doll, a pretty cool piece)


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Below are the dimensions given for the Smithsonian Kermit:


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Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

This got me watching Muppet show again! :love That third one looks like it's straight from the show! Loved Kermit as a kid and still do! Hopefully one day I'll find the courage to try making my own...
 
Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

This got me watching Muppet show again! :love That third one looks like it's straight from the show! Loved Kermit as a kid and still do! Hopefully one day I'll find the courage to try making my own...


Thanks! Building these Kermits got me watching them again too. Seeing Kermit move helped me visualize the build as well. One thing about Kermit that was challenging is that the shape of his head is so dependent on the persons hand size. Small variations can result in him looking very different.


Below is a quick video (no sound) of the second Kermit I’d built, after I swapped the original mouth with a new one made out of a more flexible styrene. Kind of amazing how with a little movement, he just comes alive.

 
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Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

That video put a huge smile on my face. Awesome work.

I really need to finish other projects so i can build my own kermit. Thanks for uploading all the info.
 
Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

AMAZING work!! You've completely inspired me...I picked up several yards of the frog green antron fleece, as well as most of the rest of the materials needed...I"m just having trouble properly printing/sizing the patterns...specifically the head - since that one didn't have any measurements with it. One I found on here had a 9" diameter for the circle of the head - is that accurate by your estimate? Before I cut into the fleece, I want to be at least sure I'm working on the right scale!

Also, could you give us some rough measurements on the circumference of your Kermit body sculpt? Maybe at the neck/waist/bottom? I got your height measurement, but as I'm carving my foam (I got 2" foam to work off), I'd like to have a sense of where to trim down the shape..

Congrats, and thanks in advance for all the help!!
 
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Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

AMAZING work!! You've completely inspired me...I picked up several yards of the frog green antron fleece, as well as most of the rest of the materials needed...I"m just having trouble properly printing/sizing the patterns...specifically the head - since that one didn't have any measurements with it. One I found on here had a 9" diameter for the circle of the head - is that accurate by your estimate? Before I cut into the fleece, I want to be at least sure I'm working on the right scale!

Also, could you give us some rough measurements on the circumference of your Kermit body sculpt? Maybe at the neck/waist/bottom? I got your height measurement, but as I'm carving my foam (I got 2" foam to work off), I'd like to have a sense of where to trim down the shape..

Congrats, and thanks in advance for all the help!!





Thanks very much for the comment! Sharing in this experience is what it’s all about! Kermit is so iconic, and I know many people have a connection to the character. It was an amazing process for me to study and build this thing. This’ll be a bit wordy, but I’ll try to answer your questions.


I somehow totally forgot to post dimensions for the head...ironically the most important part. I did start with that 9” diameter pattern that you saw, but made my own minor modifications to the shape and size. My first test piece was with the 9” diameter head, and personally, I felt it was a bit too ‘baggy’. I then printed the pattern at a slight reduction— at 8.5”, and I think it yielded better results. BUT, keep in mind that Kermit is unique in that the shape of his head was heavily dictated by the performer’s hand. Apparently Jim Henson had big hands, so naturally that affects the build. I believe though, at 8.5”, the head pattern seems to hit that ‘not too small, not too big’ range. But even so, you will notice that some trimming around the mouth (antron fleece part) will need to be made to make his head either more roomy or tighter. This is something you can do after it’s sewn up and fitting around the mouthplate has begun. I used bits of rolled up blue painters tape around the mouthplate edges to first test fit the sewn antron fleece around, and to see how much I needed to trim the overlapping antron fleece around the mouth to get the right fit. I may draw up a diagram to show this, as this part is one of the more frustrating parts of the build. So basically, this pattern yields a bit extra to work with around the mouth area....which is actually better than not enough, as you can make adjustments based on your preference.


I understand this a lot to process, but play around with it and see what happens.


As for the body, I just measured the circumference of mine—at the widest point—to be just about 20-21”. Again not set in stone, as his body shape does change a lot. The one at the Smithsonian was given the measurement of approximately 6” wide (6 inch diameter body at widest point—they don’t provide a circumference), which interestingly, mine is just about the very same—about 6” wide. The neck diameter/width (uppermost part of the foam body) is approximately 3.25-3.5” based on extrapolation from references.


I’d be curious to hear how the 2” foam works, as the 1” foam I used was still quite thick to work with—lots of trimming was done to clean things up, and to make sure the openings were big enough to stick an arm through!

Here’s a new pic of him being festive :D

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Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

Excellent! Thank you for the additional information!! Awesome picture! "After all there's only one more sleep 'til Christmas..." :)

I started my Kermit last night based on the additional information you posted. Man that Henson stitch takes some time!! Took me the better part of 1.5 hours to cut and sew just the head together! I definitely see what you mean about needing to cut down material around the mouth plate to make the head look correct. I'm probably going to cut another one or two heads out and sew them together before picking one to move forward with. One valuable lesson I learned last night was to START each stitch at point that perfect alignment is most important. I made the mistake of starting the back of head seam at the neck, and by the time I got to the lip, I was off by almost a quarter inch. I went the opposite way for the neck seam and still had some drift, but was more easily able to hide it. This sort of skewed the whole head a bit, so I'm going to give it another go. When you were doing the stitching, how did you pin the parts together? Just how you showed in that early picture where the head halves are straight pinned back to back? I found it sometimes difficult to do the Henson stitch in that orientation. What were your experiences like? Also, how many stitches would you go before pulling tight? I was varying between 6 and 10, which usually worked out ok.

Other questions for you, if you're so kind to share!...
- For the eyeballs, did you just cut one ping pong ball? In one of the photos it looks like the cut might be slightly off-center, giving a larger eye than the other. Curious which spot you thought worked best for the cut - and also, what method did you use to cut the ball? I used an x-acto knife, but wasn't totally satisfied. I might use a cutting bit on my dremel. Also, what did you do to find perfect center of the ball?
- When gluing the fleece to the mouth plate, did you fold the lip under itself? Or just glue it flat to the mouth plate?

I'm sure I'll have many other questions - if you'd prefer I can message them to you - but I figured asking them here helps anyone else who is also trying to make one themselves!

Thanks a ton!
 
Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

Excellent! Thank you for the additional information!! Awesome picture! "After all there's only one more sleep 'til Christmas..." :)

I started my Kermit last night based on the additional information you posted. Man that Henson stitch takes some time!! Took me the better part of 1.5 hours to cut and sew just the head together! I definitely see what you mean about needing to cut down material around the mouth plate to make the head look correct. I'm probably going to cut another one or two heads out and sew them together before picking one to move forward with. One valuable lesson I learned last night was to START each stitch at point that perfect alignment is most important. I made the mistake of starting the back of head seam at the neck, and by the time I got to the lip, I was off by almost a quarter inch. I went the opposite way for the neck seam and still had some drift, but was more easily able to hide it. This sort of skewed the whole head a bit, so I'm going to give it another go. When you were doing the stitching, how did you pin the parts together? Just how you showed in that early picture where the head halves are straight pinned back to back? I found it sometimes difficult to do the Henson stitch in that orientation. What were your experiences like? Also, how many stitches would you go before pulling tight? I was varying between 6 and 10, which usually worked out ok.

Other questions for you, if you're so kind to share!...
- For the eyeballs, did you just cut one ping pong ball? In one of the photos it looks like the cut might be slightly off-center, giving a larger eye than the other. Curious which spot you thought worked best for the cut - and also, what method did you use to cut the ball? I used an x-acto knife, but wasn't totally satisfied. I might use a cutting bit on my dremel. Also, what did you do to find perfect center of the ball?
- When gluing the fleece to the mouth plate, did you fold the lip under itself? Or just glue it flat to the mouth plate?

I'm sure I'll have many other questions - if you'd prefer I can message them to you - but I figured asking them here helps anyone else who is also trying to make one themselves!

Thanks a ton!



You’re welcome! I’ll just post my responses here, as it might help others too who encounter the same issues. My threads often end up becoming tutorial-like, so that’s ok haha.

The Henson stitch does indeed take quite a lot of time, but it does get easier the more you do it. Pulling the stitches around the 5th-7th stitch is fine—tends to make it easier to see where to make the stitches that way. After a while, I was pulling them tight after every couple of stitches, but it works fine either way.

The head pattern was the most complicated to work with. I myself went through half a dozen head pieces just trying to get it right! You’ll be able to make adjustments just by trimming the mouth area after test fitting. Sometimes it’s a test of patience for sure, but the pattern does work out with a little bit of coaxing.

Yes, pinning the pieces well is VERY important!! In fact, try to use as many pins as you can to ensure that the pieces don’t move, and then you’ll remove the pins a bit at a time as you move along with the stitches. I know exactly what you mean about the alignment—that happened to me quite often early on, and caused me to redo a lot. The only way I was able to solve that issue is by being more detailed with pinning the pieces together. Also, try to minimize movment on the fabric, meaning, try to not grab or bend the fabric too much as you saw, minimizing most of the movement to just the area around the needle. Keeping the piece mostly flat on the table as you sew helps with this. Just make sure there’s as little shifting as possible. The act of stitching naturally causes tiny shifts in the fabric, so things seem ok until you get to the end and it can be off (mostly if the pinning isn’t secure)! For the head halves, I did just pin them together flat. It is awkward feeling to stitch this way, but this was the best way—for me at least— to minimize shifting of the two pieces. You don’t need to pin super close to the edge of fabric; leaving some breathing space from the edge will help make sewing easier. The arms and legs for example, are just single piece, with the edges being pinned to form a flat cylinder shape, then sewn straight down the line.

Eyeballs: I ended up using two balls to make both eyes. The reason for this is pretty much as you’ve described! It’s not easy to cut one ball perfectly in half. What I did was cut one slightly taller than halfway mark, and then ran the cut edge across some sandpaper (200-300 grit works fine) until I got a nice flat, smooth edge. This also gives you more control. Shifting from circular and straight motions across the sandpaper works well, just don’t push too hard into the sandpaper as the ping pongs are super flexible and can bend a bit (but they’re also very resilient). Then I used another ball and did the same. Kinda wasteful, but at least ping pong balls are cheap! I found it difficult to cut through the ping pong ball neatly, so went ahead and did this. I used an exacto to first make an initual puncture mark, and then a pair of small scissors to make small cuts around the whole thing. Although, with the scissors you’ll make little teeth like cuts which is why the sanding is necessary. As for finding the center, you’ll see that the ping pongs themselves seem to be made from two halfs—hold one up to the light, and you’ll see a darker band running across the center. I just used this line as a guide for where to cut down to.

When glueing the fleece to the mouth, I did not fold the lip under itself; just pretty much glued flat to the mouth plate. From my observations of the real kermit, this is also likely what they also did, as it’s quite flat around that area; folding it would make it very thick. Since you’re using Antron fleece, you’ll see it’ll perfectly fine flat, as the fleece fluffs up really well, and even a cut edge will look nice and clean. I’m going to draw up a diagram of how to make adjustments to the mouth-to-fleece fitting. This is one of the more baffling and annoying parts of the build, but I’ve a few tips I can point out easier in a drawing!
 
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Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

Here’s a diagram that might help for attaching the mouthplate to the sewn head. I’ll have to add these diagrams to the first post of the thread to make them easier to find.

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Also an updated hand diagram:

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Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

Hey ecl, I absolutely love this build, the attention to detail and the craftsmanship is perfect. But I must ask, how you got large photos on your build journal. When I insert mine, you can't really see what's going on. Any advice would be much appreciated :)
 
Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

Hey ecl, I absolutely love this build, the attention to detail and the craftsmanship is perfect. But I must ask, how you got large photos on your build journal. When I insert mine, you can't really see what's going on. Any advice would be much appreciated :)

Thanks Gaby, I appreciate the comment!

Did you mean how I attached the diagram photos above? I just click on that little button in the reply/post bar (the little icon that looks like a little picture with a tree in the middle of it), then choose upload from computer, and it’ll attach as a thumbnail in the message, where people can click to see the large/original size of the picture you uploaded.


Sometimes I also post pictures via my imgur account (as you see in the first post), for showing larger pictures within the message. But I figure uploading files to RPF is probably more archival friendly....and sometimes outside picture links get disconnected over time. Bascially, click on the same icon, but choose the “from url” option instead, and paste in the link for the picture—you’ll have to upload into a place like imgur.com first though. Copy and paste the “direct link” of the picture you want to post into the post feature here (also uncheck that little box that says something like “retrieve remote file”)
 
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Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

Hi ecl,

So thanks to your guidance, I've been making progress on my Kermit - slow progress, but progress nonetheless! I've done two full stitched heads, and I'm concerned that I don't have enough neck fabric on either one based off the main pattern. did you find anything similar? I think I may just do a third head form and cut the neck long so I can tweak it. Also, did you find you cut off a LOT of material around the mouthplate? As I'm test-fitting using the tape method you suggested, I'm finding I'm curling in a large amount of fabric into the mouth to give the overall head the right amount of tension.

A few rapid fire questions for you:
- For the mouth plate, did you separate it and reconnect with tape or just fold? I found the fold was too tough, so I just scored most of the way through it. Just curious what you did there.
- How did you cut the pupils out so cleanly? (also the tongue/throat cutouts)
- Any tips on getting the fold at the corners of the mouth to look right? Just play with it?
- Any guidance on eye placement? Just eyeball it? :). sorry...that joke wrote itself.

Thanks, and Happy New Year

PS - here's a photo of my progress so far...quick temporary eyes just taped on for now...This is head #2, I think I'm going to have to do at least a #3 and maybe 4 before I lock it in - but I like where I'm at so far! Any comments welcome.

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Re: Custom Kermit the Frog puppet replica!!

Hi ecl,

So thanks to your guidance, I've been making progress on my Kermit - slow progress, but progress nonetheless! I've done two full stitched heads, and I'm concerned that I don't have enough neck fabric on either one based off the main pattern. did you find anything similar? I think I may just do a third head form and cut the neck long so I can tweak it. Also, did you find you cut off a LOT of material around the mouthplate? As I'm test-fitting using the tape method you suggested, I'm finding I'm curling in a large amount of fabric into the mouth to give the overall head the right amount of tension.

A few rapid fire questions for you:
- For the mouth plate, did you separate it and reconnect with tape or just fold? I found the fold was too tough, so I just scored most of the way through it. Just curious what you did there.
- Any tips on getting the fold at the corners of the mouth to look right? Just play with it?
- Any guidance on eye placement? Just eyeball it? :). sorry...that joke wrote itself.


Thanks, and Happy New Year!

The neck looks “short” on the pattern, but the interesting thing is, once you pin/fit it to the body, the neck is actually surprisingly long looking. I would suggest after you finish work on the body, to use pins to fit the head on there first to get an idea for the neck length. It’s possible to trim it if necessary at that point (you can trim around the stitch so you wouldn’t have to re-stitch anything).

I did indeed have to cut off a decent amount of fabric from the mouth; this pattern I used was a modified one that another member created. It’s a great starting point, but far too loose around the mouth as is. BUT, it’s much better to have too much than too little to work with! I’d say I probably trimmed over half an inch off from the inner mouth area, but this would be subjective as even with the same patterns, pieces can have slight variations. Just go with what feels right. It sounds to me that you’re doing it right.

-The mouthplate was indeed in two pieces (the styrene parts). Split right down the middle. For the fold, I initially used a large piece of tape that was then reinforced with the red ultrasuede material. I used contact cement for that as it’s really tough stuff. However on my later attempts, I didn’t use any tape at all, but just glued the ultrasuede first, and then on the other side, glued another piece of ultrasude or felt (feels nicer on the hand when operating the puppet). I’ve found this to be plenty enough support to create a strong fold for the back of the mouth. A tip for this process would be to glue the ultrasuade in the “closed” mouth position. The reason for that is because if you were to glue the two halves of the styrene flush and flat, the mouth won’t sit perfectly flat when closed—it will just spring right open. If you cut out a longer piece of ultrasuede, glue it to one piece of the mouthplate, then fold the ultrasude closed, then glue the second styrene piece on top of that, a small fold will appear there to allow the mouth to fold flat—kind of like a hinge. Hope that makes sense! I can draw a build diagram for this when I have some time.

-The mouth corner folds is interesting. They just sort of “appear” after everything is attached, and especially after the mouth plate is glued in place and either stuffing is added to the head or when operated with a hand. It’s mainly the effect of the top part of his head being pulled up and forward, causing the excess fabric there to fold in on itself, creating that iconic look around the corners of his mouth!

-haha, yes, eyeballing the position of the eyes is pretty much what I did. Based on studying a lot of references, I kind of got a pretty good idea of where they should go. One suggestion would be to stuff the head with some stuffing first, so that you can get a better idea of where to set the eyes. It’s very very hard to do that with the head flat and empty! Also, use the seam down the center of his head a guide. The inner edge of his eyes are spaced approx. 1 cm from that line, give or take. In the shows/photos, sometimes his eyes appear wider apart, and sometimes closer, depending on how the hand is positioned inside it, but I’ve found that 1cm yields the “kermit” or “just right” look. As for how far back his eyes are supposed to be, I’ve attached a diagram showing the observation I’ve made after seeing a bunch of reference photos. The great thing about having his head stuffed during this process is that you can “dry fit” the eyes to get an idea for positioning. But I think generally using this guide will get you within ballpark.


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Hope this helps! And Happy New Year to you too! Your progress photo is looking really good! You’re on the right track.
 
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