EVERY puppet builder around has been inspired by Jim Henson and his incredible body of work. One of my absolute favorite Henson productions is Fraggle Rock. The client approached me with an idea for a Fraggle type character that would help teach kids math on his upcoming internet series. Instantly I was excited. Who doesn’t love those wonderful Fraggles? Now, obviously, the design we came up with had to still be at least a little original. I couldn’t copy them directly.
So, off to work I went sculpting and creating the pattern for this guy. The client asked if I could dye his skin the shade of purple used on Crash from the Disney series Crash and Bernstein.
The client also asked that the head and neck be separate pieces, for smoother, more relaxed neck articulation without the movement of the entire puppet.
After assembling the puppet’s body, I hand dyed a beautiful ostrich feather boa and gave it to him for hair.
And that is the story of Stuart the faux Fraggle. If you want to contact me for questions or quotes on your own puppet design, please email me at [email protected]