Paper Puppet People

Paper puppet people. Say that three times fast and your fun has already begun. I made my little folks as characters for a stop motion movie to promote my books. I love adding tiny details, like pockets and buttons. Do you make handmade cards? Consider designing a paper person that looks like a friend or family member. Imagine their surprise when they receive your next 'thank you' card. You could put your perfectly personalized petite person to work in so many neat ways such as: game pieces, bookmarks, paper dolls, in a puppet show style book report, in a puppet show just for fun, or as a prompt for writing a story. Working with children? This project is a great opportunity for older children to increase hand control, imagination, concentration, creativity, and attention to fine details.

card stock or heavy craft paper (colors of your choice, scraps are perfect)

file folder (recycled scrap pieces are great)

sharp scissors

glue (I like a good quality, acid free stick glue, because it will not run or gunk up everything an the table.)

Oven-dry clay (OPTIONAL)

Imagination!

I suppose I should start with a full disclosure :) In my studio, rulers serve to cut straight lines, not as a measuring device. I hope, therefore, that it does not shock all y'all overmuch when I admit that I did not measure anything for this project. There are no prefabricated templates. I cannot tell you exactly how tall to make the trousers or how wide is the shirt. I WILL carefully walk you through each step and give as many tips as I can to help you succeed. (In general, my little folks are about 5 inches tall by, ohhh, 1.25 inches wide at the ankles.)

Pretty good at crafts? Skip along to the BOLD highlights.

Need more explanation? Take your time and stroll though all the helpful details.

First: before touching any tools-- have an image in mind for your paper person. You might work from a photograph, the cover of a book, a quick sketch, or try recreating the person sitting across from you. They do say that imitation is the greatest flattery :)

NOTE: You might have noticed I did not include a pencil in the materials. That is because, for most of us, two things will happen if we use a pencil:

1.We will draw a really cool image that is WAY too small to cut out

2.No matter how carefully we cut, unwanted pencil lines will mar our finished project

(If you prefer to draw and then cut, more power to your whee! :)

Now, I like to start with the trousers. Pick a color, whatever you like. I picked blue. Cut 1 trouser as you see in the image. The waist is slightly smaller than the ankles. (Straight legs are the simplest to cut out.) Use these trousers to cut the second pair. Just set the trousers onto the same paper and cut around them. Take your time and be precise. (If you are not on a first name basis with 'precision', cut a slightly wider 'block' as you see in the image. You can trim it up a few steps from now.)

NOTE: If your paper has a pattern, you will need to set the 1st cutout on the back side of the stock paper. You need the pattern to show on the 1st piece AND on the 2nd piece you are about to cut. Otherwise, your legs won't line up right when you go to glue them together. I messed this up and ended up with a dude that had the front of his trousers all patterned and cool looking, and the back of them inside out and plain white. He was soooo embarrassed!)

SIZE: I know I said I don't measure, but my trousers are about 2 to 3 inches tall. You can make a puppet as small as you like, but they do get harder to handle as they get smaller, and you may need to use stronger paper (or a cardboard center) if you go too big.

Turn your shirt paper face down. Set your 1st trouser cutout along the edge of the shirt paper (see image). You need a little overlap here so you can tuck the shirt into the trousers during the gluing phase. Hold the trousers in place (just for eyeballing the size) and cut the shirt paper from the waist up towards your puppet's shoulder. I do this at a slight outward angle. Cut a collar, V-neck, scoop, or whatever neckline you need. Then cut down the opposite side of the shirt, angling in to meet up with the waistband of the trousers. Take a peek at the images and you will get the idea.

As you did with the trousers, cut a second shirt. (Watch that pattern direction :)

NOTE: When this step is done, your little guy should have 2 trousers & 2 shirts.

Here's the first big step to looking like a person! Woohooo!

Cut a long, skinny spine from the file folder (or any other sturdy paper). This will give the puppet some extra strength to stand upright. Glue this strip onto the back of one of the shirt pieces. Leave a little gap up by the neck. The head will go there later. (see image)

Now, we're about to make a little dude sandwich.

Tucked in shirts: the 'bread' is the trousers, the 'filing' is the shirt.

1. Put 1 trouser cutout face down. Glue a narrow strip along the waistband. Place 1 shirt piece on the glue line, face down. Smooth it down to hold.
2. Glue all over the trousers and the shirt. (NOTE: If you want feet to fit in the trousers, DON'T glue about 1/4 of the bottom of the trouser leg. In the shirt, do not glue the arms shut. See image.)
3. Place the 2nd shirt cutout face up, lining up the edges with the glued half.
4. Put the 2nd trousers on top, face up.
5. Press all surfaces & wait a few seconds for everything to stick.

Un-tucked shirts: the 'bread' is the shirt, the 'filling' is the trousers

1. Same as above, BUT start with the shirt face down, the trousers will go in the middle, and the remaining shirt cutout will top it all off.

Whew! Do you have a set of clothes waking around without a body? Well done!

Those of you who did a little 'rough' cutting earlier, this is a good time to trim everything more precisely.

Already cut to shape? Take one more look. Sometimes the paper shifts a bit as you work. Are all your edges lined up? Are the front of your trousers a little wider than the back of the trousers? Delicately trim them up to match.

Time to arrange some arms. Have a look at the images. I suggest making the arms a little longer than you think they should be. They will lose some length as they are tucked up into the body.

SIZE: Eyeball against the body. Could your dude reach into his pockets? Is the elbow roughly in the middle of the arm?

CUT 1 arm. Test it out. Do you like the fit? Great! Use that as a template to make 3 more arms. Be careful not to let the paper slide around as you cut. You need 4 arm pieces altogether. (You can fold a scrap of paper in half and cut two at once :)

NOTE: Watch out for the pattern papers. You can see on my green sheet that I had to place the arm cutouts face-to-face. This way, when I glue them, the arms will face the right way with the pattern out on all sides.

GLUE the arms together. DO NOT glue the 1/4 inch or so down by the wrists. This will let you add hands later.

TRIM: Trim the edges if need be (just to line everything up).

Remember we did not glue the shoulders together? This is why. Gently insert the arm you just made into the shoulder of the body. Look in the image and you will see me opening that joint. You won't need to open it that much, just enough to slip the sleeve in place.

Carefully shift the arm to lower and raise it. You may see the shoulder end of the arm jut out a little from the body of your little dude. That's alright. You can snip that little protrusion off, which will help the arm move more freely and just look better. You can see my scissors pointing to the spot.

Everybody needs a nifty noggin. It's always nice if it's glued on straight too :)

Basically, make a lollipop shape out of the file folder paper (or any other sturdy paper). Start a little bit big and trim it down to size a little at a time. Make the neck a little long. My puppet's head is roughly an inch wide. You can set the head on the body to eyeball the shape and trim as needed.

When you are ready, put a dab of glue on the front and back of the neck. Slide this into the shirt just like you did for the arms. Tuck it right in there and then hold it in place for a second or two.

(My image shows the neck on the outside. This is just so you can see what's about to happen. It goes on the inside for real :)

Now that you have a noggin, let's put on a hat!

Glue your hat paper of choice right onto the head. Be sure to set it down only when you like where it sits. If you set it down, and then drag it to a new spot, the smeared glue will show up on the final project.

Trim the hat slightly larger than the head. This will help give the impression that he is wearing it, rather than it gripping him like a swimming cap.

Glue another piece of hat paper to the back side. Line up the bottom edge and trim to match the front piece.

Let's face it, your little dude needs a fantastic face.

You can use many things for the eyes: googlie eyes, buttons, a marker, the dot from a hole punch. I happen to use paper, and my eyes are too small for a standard hole punch. I start with a square, snip the corners and keep snip, snip, snipping in a general oval shape. I do the same for the colored irises. Glue the two together, and then glue the whole eye onto the puppet.

The mouth can be many things too, but I like a really thin bit of black paper because it stands out clearly.

Whatever you choose, glue your mouth and eyes in place.

NOTE: If you are planning to use your puppets for stop motion, consider attaching the eyes and mouth using blue tack. This way you can take off a frown and swap it for a smile, or swap open eyes for closed eyes.

Add decorative details! A belt, cuffs, buttons, pockets-- whatever!

As you can see in the pictures, to get things like a belt to be just the right size, I let the item overhang the body a skosh and glue it down. After it dries, I trim it down to size. I also used the same bit of scrap for both cuffs so they would match. Tiny details can be the answer to prayer-- provided you have been praying for a lot of patience :)

Take your time and enjoy making your dude just the way you want.

Hands, hands, hands! (okay, you got me. I couldn't think of an alliteration for this one.)

Nevertheless, hands can be many shapes: open, fists, pointing. etc. You decide!

Cut two hands from the file folder paper (or other sturdy paper). I drew on the fingers, but you can cut them instead. Again, start a little big and pare down to size.

Insert them into the sleeve ends.

NOTE: You may glue the hands in place if you want them to be permanent (such as for a bookmark). HOWEVER, if you leave them loose you can remove them and swap them out for other hand shapes any time you want (such as for puppets, paper dolls, and stop motion.)

NOTE: Try hands with only three fingers and a thumb. They will still look good and you will have more room to work.

Shoes, two will due! But which shoe is for you?

Clay. The black ones here are made from an oven-dry clay. I shaped them and followed the product directions for cooking. The benefit is that the shoes are a touch heavy, which helps the dude stay up on his feet. Before cooking, I made a thin slit with a pocket knife in the upper part of the shoe. When cool, I shimmied the bottom of the trouser leg into the shoe slit.

Prop. You can see a brown support piece in the other photo. This is like one of those plastic clip on doomaflitchies you get in a board game to hold up your playing piece. I used a sturdy piece of paper/file folder with a slit cut into it about halfway down. I opened my slit up so you could see it. You will only need one, neat snip of the scissors. Make another snip in the bottom of the trouser leg and slot them together. Make one for each leg.

Paper shoes/feet. Would you like your paper person to sit flat on a greeting card or between the pages of a book? Paper may be for you. Create barefeet in the same way you did the hands and slide them up the trouser legs. You could also cut out a pair of paper shoes and glue them onto the ends of the legs. Remember: it will take 4 pieces altogether for the shoes, just like the arms.

It's a paper people puppet! I hope you take this process and make many unique characters of your own. You can make working people, book readers, skateboarders, bakers, golfers, maybe even a shinty player! It's up to your imagination, so go grab some more paper, a fresh glue stick and have a whole heap of fun! You could even have a paper people production party! I look forward to seeing what you make and truly hope you will share your images.

NOTE: I left the shoulder joint without glue, so the arms can be moved. The hands can also be removed, as well as the mouth, eyes, and (possibly) feet. This will allow your puppet to have a range of movement and expressions, perfect for doing plays or stop motion. If your project is stationary, feel free to glue up all the moving parts. It's up to your particular needs.

For those of you thinking about doing a school project, a stop motion, a puppet show, or just wondering what in the great green world anyone would do with a paper doll these days-- feel free to take a look at my stop motion video. It's not perfect, and it wasn't meant to be. But it is creative, and it kept me busy for two days, and it was a whole heap of fun!

To learn more about what I do, please visit:

smashwords.com (search: Jane MacGregor)