Puppet Head Skins!

 OK. I've had some feedback concerning the length of time I'm taking to get to the "Good Stuff"! The actual forming of these puppet's features and faces. What I have been trying to show you is the sometimes very Tedious process by which this final goal is achieved.

 Advanced Puppetry is not for the Impatient!

Above you will see the sculpted heads with their felt "skins" being attached. Since the felt will stretch, it isn't necessary to form an exact pattern, just an appropriately sized oval of material. The contact cement applied to both frame and felt will allow the felt to be stretched over the frame with
minimal wrinkling of the fabric .A small amount of cotton batting around the brows before the final attachment will soften the face. Any wrinkling of the felt around the edges of the face will be covered by the Hair or the  Hat in the costuming stage.

The Back of each head must also be prepared. Because these puppets have Eye and Mouth Animations, the front of each head must be assessable if any repairs have to be be made.  So the backs of the heads are separate and hinged on top. The Hair of each character will hide the join, with Velcro fastenings to hold the head together.

Here you see the head backs being glued together with a hard cardboard inner facing to match each character's head shape.

The back covering will be of a material to match the Hair of the puppet, and not the face.