Bex’s Blog Takeover Week 6 - Shoulder Puppet

Hello hello Boom! Friends and Followers!

Its Monday again so it’s time for the Bex Takeover. This week we are making jointed paper puppets, that’s right we going to turn an old photo into a unique poseable figure.

Let’s get started.

You will need a head shot picture (magazines can be used if you don’t have any old photos), stiff paper or card, decorative papers (some you’ve made in our previous projects perhaps), coloured pens or pencils, scissors, glue and split pins (if you don’t have split pins you will need a hole punch and a straw).

First you need to make your face stable (insert bad joke here). Cut out and glue to card. Leave it to dry, under a weight if needed.

Once dry and secure you can personalise your photo, adding colour or sharpening lines then trim off excess card leaving just your face.

I decided I wanted my puppet to look like it can speak so I carefully cut out the lower jaw and part of the neck.

Now you need a body. It doesn’t need to be realistic or even human. (Somebody please make a sphinx version with fully articulated tail – perfect for guarding your bedroom) I kept it simple this time for the instructions.

Main body, thighs, calves, feet, upper and forearms – I tried adding hands but didn’t like them and left them off the final. Once you are happy with the shape and size it’s time to get decorating. You can use decorative paper, glitter, tapes, paint whatever works for you.

Now we need to join this body up. If you have split pins use them to carefully join all your body parts together. Overlap at hips, knees and ankles. Shoulders and elbows, push pin through leaving a suitable amount of space around all the edges to prevent ripping. Once happy with the location, split and secure.

If you don’t have split pins you will want to snip off some short lengths of straw, one for each joint. Then carefully use a hole punch or scissors to create join points.

Cut each straw short lengthwise and push the sniped bits out till it looks a little like a daffodil. Layer the paper joins on top of it then cut the top side the same way and press down firmly. Be careful when cutting the straw that you don’t cut all the way through otherwise it won’t hold.

Once you are happy with your body attach your head. You can either glue it or if you want it to move use one of the above join techniques, your choice.  

I decided to make mine a motivational speech bubble to help remind me to be all creative, I also added some last touches before posing it the way I wanted.

Now I have a mini me reminding me each morning to Make Art!

Now you have a puppet you can use it in lots of different ways. Like me as a moveable notice board, As a puppet and create little shows (tiktok for the shy?)You could use some card boxes to create a proper theatre, maybe create your whole family and make a special family portrait. Maybe use them as characters in a game of Who Dunnit? A puppet is as versatile as you are. Show us your creativity.

See you next week...