Quick Hand Puppet Head Patterning

This is a guide to making a quick hand puppet head pattern using tape, styrofoam, and a razorblade. We will not be making perfectly symmetrical pattern pieces, so buckle up buttercup! This is intended to be fast and cheap.

1. 3" styrofoam ball (or whatever you want your head to look like)
2. masking tape
3. toilet paper tube
4. fabric to cover head (I am using felt for this guide)
5. fabric, buttons, etc for face and features
6. fabric scissors
7. regular scissors
8. needle and thread
9. sewing pins
10. marker
11. thick cardstock paper
12. hot glue gun

Using masking tape, cover the entire shape. I am using a 3" styrofoam ball, but your puppet head can be whatever shape you want.

Did you attach a neck yet? If so, tape that up too. If not, we'll deal with that step later.

Using your marker, draw 4 equidistant lines on your head that go all the way around. This divides the head into 8 pieces. On a sphere, this will look like lines of latitude on the planet Earth. The ball will look like a pumpkin once all 4 lines are made.

IMPORTANT: number the pieces with big fancy lettering that shows Future You which way is up.

Hard Mode: follow this guide if you want to make perfectly equal pattern pieces. You'll need a compass and math.

First, mush the tape into the ball hard so that the tape sticks to itself. This will ensure it doesn't come apart in our next step.

Second, take a photo of the entire ball so you can clearly see the numbers. This may come in handy later if you are using non-symmetrical shapes.

Using a razor blade or X-Acto Knife, cut the tape on the marker lines you just made. Cut every single line before moving on. You can cut into the styrofoam a little bit, it doesn't mind.

Carefully peel each of the masking tape pieces off and stick them to a thick piece of cardstock paper.

Remember to do this slowly and carefully so the tape doesn't come apart as you are separating it from the styrofoam.

Once all the tape pieces are on the cardstock paper, trace them with a pencil or marker. Then remove the tape so you are left with just the shapes on the paper.

Using regular scissors, cut the pattern pieces out of the paper.

Notice in my bad example photo that I didn't use a fancy "1"? Either end could be up! Bad teacher! No cookie. Remember to use fancy lettering so there is no mistaking which way is up.

Place each pattern piece on the material you chose for the head. I used felt because I like the way it looks, and we have a ton of it just laying around. Some puppet makers use Antron Fleece or a toothier fabric so you can pick out the seams with a needle, but that stuff is currently super expensive.

Pin the piece to your material, or just hold it real good and gently trace it with a marker. STOP! Remember to write the number on the material in the same spot using the same fancy lettering. Then put the paper pattern piece in a sealable bag.

Repeat for the rest of the pieces.

BONUS: leave a little bit extra-extra allowance on the edge of the final piece that will connect with the first piece. We'll need that when attaching those pieces later.

Once you have all the fabric pieces drawn on, it's time to cut them out. Remember to cut on the OUTSIDE of the marker lines to give yourself a few millimeters of seam allowance.

When all the pieces are cut out, pin together the first two. Remember how they connected when they were tape pieces stuck to the ball? This is why we took a photo before - use that as reference if you need. Also, remember that you are making a three-dimensional shape.

Sew the first two pieces together. I like to hand sew but you can machine sew too. Once the first two are sewn, pin the third piece on and sew that. Your three dimensional shape is coming together!

Remember that all the numbers should be facing the same way. We'll turn it inside out in a bit to cover them up.

Finish sewing the final piece on BUT! do not connect the final piece to the first one. Leave that final seam open for later.

Flip the entire head inside out - so the good, un-markered side is finally facing outwards. How does it look?

Are the seams visible? If you used fleece, you can pick at the material next to the seams with a needle to hide the seams.

Now, if you are keeping the styrofoam inside the head, then just place the material onto it. Does it fit? You could also pack it with Poly-Fil instead.

If you chose to pattern just the ball (and not an attached neck), it's time to add that.

First, make sure that your head material is inside-out, so you can see the numbers and markered bits.

Next, put the styrofoam ball inside. Scrunch the material so that it perfectly fits on top of the ball, no open seams.

Then, take your toilet paper tube (after comfortably fitting it to your index & middle fingers) and place it on top of the material-covered styrofoam ball - right in the center top or bottom where all the eight pieces connect. Gently trace around the toilet paper tube with a marker.

Remove the fabric from the styrofoam.

Now, peel back each of the pattern ends (you may have to cut the thread a bit) so that each piece can be peeled forward (see photo #2). Use a hot glue gun and glue those into place - make sure they are glued onto the marker side.

Your fabric piece should look more like a discarded orange peel now, with a big hole in the bottom for the neck. Test it by putting the fabric back - right-side-out - onto the styrofoam ball and place the cardboard tube neck in the fabric hole.

With the fabric now allowing for a neck, it's time to make everything permanent. Use hot glue on the styrofoam head and place the fabric on top. While the glue is cooling, quickly make sure to pull the fabric tight and make sure it is in the correct place. ALSO make sure that both sides of the final seam can connect.

If you left some extra seam allowance for the final seam, congratulations! The next part will be easy.

Sew or glue together the last two pieces of fabric so the head is complete.

Note: if you aren't using the styrofoam ball for inside the head, you can just sew the final seam together (inside out) and then pull it through the neck hole so it is right-side out. Then pack the inside with the cardboard tube neck and add Poly-Fil or whatever to get the shape correct.

Now that your head is covered, it's time to add facial features!

I decided to match the felt of the face with felt eyes, mouth, nose, etc. I eyeballed the shapes and cut out pieces of felt, pinning them to the head. Don't hot glue anything until everything is pinned on so you can see how it all looks together.

What will your character look like?

I used a bit of foam for the nose, but cardboard or anything light weight will work. First, I covered it in felt and hot glued that together. I held it up to the face, which was all pinned together. Did it look good?

When you feel confident, hot glue everything to the face, piece by piece. This might be the hardest part as there are no do-overs.

If you would prefer to sew everything on, that is an option too (as long as you didn't hot glue the fabric to the styrofoam yet).

Once the head is done, all facial feature attached, put it onto your hand and try it out!

Use a sock for a quick costume by cutting holes where your fingers need to pop out.

I use Two-Finger Style for hand puppets, so my puppet looks like this.

Did this guide help you? Let me know if you have any feedback.

Also, if you are interested in learning proper hand puppet technique, I wrote two "how-to" manuals for all kinds of moves including advanced movement, fighting, and building a traditional booth. Check it out here:

https://www.wondersparkpuppets.com/shop