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Hey! I am posting my experience of making my puppet right from scratch. Before I say anything further, I will let you know this is the 3rd poor attempt at making a full-blown puppet that gives out some character (the last time, two times, was an utter fail).
HMM! Moving on.
I wanted to create a puffy character who could express herself primarily through facial gestures. I joined two balsa wood blocks for the head and four for the bottom. Bottom, I kept it purposefully long because I didn’t want to animate the torso if I had to ( The funny part is I realised later that because of that decision, the entire body can not bend or tilt in any manner). Too late; I will just have to be creative with my movements.
I aimed for a small face and large body with proportional hands and legs, respectively. When I initially mediated what I wanted to build, it wasn’t how it turned out in the end, but the looks of it were more or less the same; the personality had a shift and that I consider as massive progress on some levels.
I wanted to add roundness to the main body of the puppet, so I just cut and attached soft foam around the lower parts of the body to give it a good form and help in roughly differentiating the lower and upper halves of the body. I wasn’t sure about wanting longer legs or shorter ones, as the balance of the character’s centre of gravity was unstable.
It was a labour day of constant wood particles and balsa shavings running through everyone’s inner pores; I was losing my patience but apparently not my dedication; how? I have to state that it is an absolute joy to be productive throughout the day.