Puppet Makeover

Okay, sorry it took me so long to get this started. Let's recap............. :)

I purchased this puppet a little over a year ago for my own collection from a great puppet maker named Luna's Puppets. Quality was superb and the price was right, BUT, I was only buying a red monster puppet , not an Elmo. So once he was built and shipped over, I added the nose (about as far as I ever got in puppet making at the time) permantently attached the legs it came with and called it a day.

So there it sat, and four puppets later I pulled it out of box, looked him over, and decided that before I started my next project I would finish this one..........and turn him into a real Elmo puppet.

One thing that really stood out was the width if the arms, very long and almost ape-like. First thing I did was remove the arms and remove about an inch, while they were off I also added wire in each finger to make them now bendable. Once turned back rightside out I placed a piece of foam in the palm and added a tube for the arm rod so it could be hidden.

The arms were then re-attached with doll joints and I moved on to the body. Looking at the puppet, I could tell that I needed to remove about 3 inches of foam from the length. Excess fur was not cut off, but instead folded inside and glued. Later I may add an arm sleave and will need the extra to attach to.

Moving onto the legs, my first plan was to cut the feet off of the existing legs and attach new feet, but once they were off I could see that they were alot shorter than I had thought. So out with some paper, 5 minutes later a new pattern, 30 minutes later I had a new set of legs! Downfall, the feet turned out a little bigger than I needed, what I get for measuring them against my green monster and not this red one! But I didn't want to waste them, so it is what it is.  :)

Feet and legs now attached, I trimmed the fur down some around the neck and botton jaw, added a new permanent nose, picked at the feet for a bit, and am now enjoying my totally redone Elmo...............until my next one!



Hope you enjoy the pics!