Valentine Puppet Tutorial

My son also likes to impress his friends. He gets it from me. So every Valentine's Day, we try to come up with something creative & unique, instead of handing out the extremely run-of-the-mill valentines you find at the supermarket.

After wandering around Michael's Valentine's Day section for 30 some-odd minutes,  we came up with the idea of making a clothespin puppet that, when it opened its mouth, you would see that it is eating a tiny, white heart.  Nothing says, "I love you," like cannibalism! And no valentine would be complete without a witty pun, so we came up with something about eating.  (Earlier I had made the mistake opening my mouth before I thought things through and said, "I'm hungry for your love." To which my Aspie said "YEAAAH!"  without realizing that maaaaybe that's not so appropriate for 9-year-olds to be saying to other 9-year-olds to anyone. I convinced him this pun is way better. It's not. But I convinced him it is, and that's what counts.)

What? You want to make some, too!?  Well okay then!  It's a good thing I had my friend Jordan help me take pictures yesterday!  Otherwise we'd all be lost in a sea of not knowing what to do. Whew.

For 30-40 clothespin puppets, you will need:

• 2 sheets of stiff, red felt.  We chose the glittery kind. Because shiny.
• 1 sheet of stiff white felt for the tiny heart inside. We chose glittery. Because double shiny. 
•  30-40 Spring-type clothespins
• A metric ton of non-adhesive googly eyes (pretty sure 60-80 of them equals one metric ton)
• White glue
• A pencil
• Your favorite pair of scissors
• Pinking shears (These is optional. I like it because they make the hearts toothy)
• Paper and a printer (or other writing utensil) for your special message.  

Step 1

Draw or trace your favorite heart shapes over, and over, and over again onto the back of your felt.

The white hearts should be about the size of a dime, or smaller.  You can use the template below that should be about the right size. (Template was an afterthought. Test it out. Tell me if it works)

Step 2

Cut out the hearts in both red and white felt.

Step 3

Cut the big heart in half with pinking (zig-sag) shears.

Step 4

Lay the clothespin on its side, and put a small strip of glue on the top and bottom edges of one side.

Step 5

Place the top & bottom half of your big red heart on the side of the clothespin, being sure that the edges meet where the clothespin opens.  Open the clothespin up while the glue is still wet to be sure they meet in the middle and that you haven't accidentally glue your clothespin closed. That would be a catastrophe.

Step 6

Turn your puppet over, and glue the white heart to the lower jaw of the clothespin puppet. 

Step 7

Slap down some glue & googly eyes any ole place you please. 

Step 8

Om nom nom nom nom

Step 9

Print up your favorite punderful Valentine's Day message and place it in the puppet's mouth!

Ta Da!  

There you have it!  Have fun & have a happy Valentine's Day!

Lessons from the Muppets

The Muppet exhibit at the Arizona Museum for Youth closes on Sunday, so I did one last trip today with a friend. I looked for specific things today & how I could apply them to my own work. I did find techniques that I might use, but more importantly, looking at the puppets & Jim's doodles, I realized that there's a beautiful lack of perfection to most of it.

While the puppets are well more than what I can muster, they're not the models of perfection that I had built them up to be in my mind, from television, or from the initial exhibit visit, at which I was just amazed to be in the same room as these great works of art (not to mention Dave Goelz).

This time around I was looking for imperfections and I found them. Just like I can for anything in life, especially my own work. While I won't ever be content with my work, seeing all of these wonderful imperfections from people so highly revered encouraged me to go a little easier on myself.

I think the perfection that has been built up in my mind was due to the excitement & energy that Jim Henson & his cohorts put into it all. I've got that...holy crap, I've got that! So I'm just going to go with it. I'm not going to worry about what so-and-so might think....My own style & better building will come with time & with practice. I don't need to be perfect, I just need to do what I'm doing with the joy that it brings me. And if that doesn't make me successful, then I'll be having too much fun with what I'm doing to know that I'm miserable, right?

Just because I like to throw in photos, my carrot army is at the top there...its me..having fun with what I do!