Artie the axolotl (Hand and rod puppet)

 


First I tested out the estimated pattern by making a mini EVA foam head. This helped me work out what was wrong and fix the pattern accordingly.





While i still had easy access the the inside of the head, I marked up where the mouthplate was going to go.
The mouthplate itself is made from a flexible plastic chopping board, which seems to work really well!!
I saw someone use elastic to make a mouthplate so 
I decidec to try it out for this build.

(The head plug is now in)


Shaping the body

I had the basic shape of the body but I knew I wanted the body to be kind of a bean shape, so it needed Shaping some more.


I added an extra layer to the top of the mouth to define it better and make it sturdier.


The mouthplate is now properly attached but the eyes aren't .

(1st attempt)

I already attached the fleece to the body but the seams looked pretty bad so I started again. The second attempt looks much better: This fleece still isn't great for hiding seams though.
The best way I found to sew this fleece together was to use a kind of ladder stich, picking up a few fibres on the needle close to the edge, and angling them slightly? I think I kind of made it up as I went along.
Either way it works nicely and I think I'll keep using this technique.




















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