Shelly

At the theatre where I work, we have a yearly live cooking show. The chef, who works for a nationally know magazine, is always a blast to work with. She is a fiery red head with enough sass to knock the heat out of a bottle of Tabasco sauce. As a gift a few years ago, a friend and myself decided to make her a mascot of sorts and therefore Shelly was born. If you compare the pictures below, you'll notice Shelly and Michelle (the culinary specialist) both have the same hair color and occupation. I guess you could say she's a chip off the old (cheese) block. Hardy-har-har.

Here you see the proud creators- Amanda (on the right) made the clothes and the "inspiration" in the center.

Shelly and Michelle.

 

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Nimsey

I have not really made any puppets in the science-fiction style.  I've made creatures for shows in the past, but most of these were costumes that could be worn by a specific actor as a full-bodied character.  So, after watching Henson's The Dark Crystal movie (the last time I saw it was when I was in the fourth grade- very different to watch now) I decided to make a creature/ character/ personality that might fit into that world.  What I came up with was a gentle reptile something-or-another named Nimsey.  Her kind can live to be several centuries old and spend most of their time digging in the earth for herbs and roots, thus her four arms and long fingernails.  Going with the whole earthy/ root idea, I knew she needed to be mostly green in color and have big, shiny eyes.  Probably, she does most of her work at night, so to see in the dark, she needs those eyes.  Below is a photo progression of the process to create Nimsey.

 First, pick out the fabric.  Loved that metallic camo in combination with the heaviness of the fleece.

I wanted to give her a wrinkled underbite.  I extended the jaw a bit, but made the mouth plate short to allow the extra fabric in the chin area.

I then did a gathering stitch along the edge of the lower mouth to make her chin pucker and curl upward.  I really liked the wrinkles it created on the lower jaw. 

After getting the basic shape of the head, I started to work on the body proportions.  I had a picture in my head of her as being a short, plump creature with a bit of a tummy. 

I knew I was going to cover the body in the metallic camo and add clothing, so the lime colored fleece was just to get a smooth layer on top of the foam.  The stitch lines didn't matter because they would be covered.

A little dress and the start of a jacket.  It really wasn't until this point that I decided four arms would be fun.  

Then after quite a bit of stitching and gluing, Nimsey came to life.  I painted her face and hands with gold paint to calm down the camo pattern, but still allowed the texture to come through.  With some teeth from carved make-up sponges and a few fake fingernails, pointed ears, a tail and a hat, she was ready for a photo or two.