Puppet Making, Part 4: Creating Poseable Hands!

My husband Patrick (aka @serapium) is responsible for Bean's poseable hands! He took on the challenge and did awesome things for me, once again.

I have to say that one of the most amazing things about my husband is that he has always ALWAYS been incredibly supportive of my creative endeavors. I really can't think of anything that I've wanted to do creatively that he hasn't supported me in.

I don't just mean being verbally supportive and encouraging, either. Not to discount that, because that has been a HUGE factor in me accomplishing so many things. His unending support, encouragement and always telling me that I am talented/amazing/capable has made it possible for me to keep up the momentum and get things accomplished.

BUT, he ALSO helped me out every time by actually participating. Helping me, almost always in some technical way to make my creation come to life. Whether it was building sets, doing lights or even creating cool special effects for one of my plays that I wrote or directed or building designs that I created for our home or helping with things like making a puppet with me.

In this case, it was creating poseable hands for my Bean. I was at a loss when it came to his hands. I didn't want to just have stuffed hands that couldn't do anything at all. I wanted him to be able to hold a marker or a paint brush. I wanted him to be able to have an open hand to wave... and @serapium was awesome as always and made it happen for me!

Yay! Now my Bean can pose:)

First, cut out the hand pattern in the reticulated foam.

The directions suggest an exacto knife, but for most of it, scissors were better.

The wide razor blades we bought were AWESOMELY sharp

*so much so, that I have a few new cuts from it barely bumping against my finger! NOT a tool to use with little ones running around!

Cut the "palm" of the hand out of hard plastic. We cut it out of a rubbermaid storage tub lid that we didn't need anymore. That stuff is HARD.

_{You can also use chipboard or something like it, but it has to be HARD and it has to be THIN.}

Next, you have to poke holes where the four fingers will connect to the 'palm'. Patrick tried the exacto knife, but it broke. He ended up using his pocket/carpet knife.