LINKS

A big thank you goes out to the guys at PROJECT PUPPET. They were the inspiration that led me to build my own puppet in the first place, and now they added a blog entry with some kind words for me and the Texas Chili Cook.
Thanks guys!

trying it on for size

Lookin' good in his new shirt. Still no arms or body to fill the shirt with though...but it's coming soon!

IT ARRIVED!!

The cowboy shirt I ordered on ebay arrived today! I was worried that it might be too big, but the size is perfect. It's even better than I imagined. Now I can go ahead with making his arms, hands, and body.

RED SHADES

An easy way to cover up some sloppy areas....give him shades! I just put the glasses on as a joke, but I actually kinda like it. I like that the shades are very red, to represent the red chili, since he is a Texas Chili Cook. Besides, I can't wear these glasses. If I have them on for more than ten minutes, I see red for the next half hour. Looking at the Texas Chili Cook, he reminds me of Mike Levine, the bass player from the band Triumph.

now with nose

His head is pretty much done. I made a mess attaching his nose with the hot glue gun. I put too much glue between his eyes and there was a very visible glob of glue there when it dried. Then I tried to cut it off and that only made things look even messier. So I might take his nose off somehow and re-attach it a bit higher to cover the mess....or maybe not. Maybe I will leave it the way it is. So he has a bit of crust between his eyes... big deal. It's amazing how many things I would have done differently; this is my first puppet, and I knew he wouldn't be perfect. But it is a blast making a puppet and I am very tempted to start my next one right away. But I better not get ahead of myself, I have to give this guy a body and a hat first.

I hear ya

With his ears on, he is definitely starting to look like the Texas Chili Cook he was meant to be. All that's left to do on his head is his nose and cowboy hat. I found another place for improvement on my next puppet with the ears. Now that I know what I am looking at when I see a puppet head pattern and a fleece head covering pattern I know where the ears would go on the flat pattern. So on my next puppet I will sew the ears on, before I put the fleece over the foam. This time I just hot glued the ears to the head.

EARS

Here's the ear shape I cut out in the pic on the far left. In the middle and the right you see how the ear turned out once I sewed it together at the bottom. Now to stick it on the puppet with a glue gun.