How to Get Cheap & Free Puppet Making Materials

My boys and I love puppets. If you’ve read any of our recent articles you already know this. Sharing what I’ve learned, you can find plenty of free puppet making materials just by looking.

When I first started looking into puppets, Dmitri Carter from Northwest Puppet Center explained that if you really want to puppeteer, you need to build your own, and that it’s easier than you think.

Making puppets may seem a tad daunting, but really it’s quite easy. You just have to dive in head-first and don’t be afraid of failure. You first few might be weak, but you’ll sharpen up quickly if you watch YouTube videos on how to make them. Some are great, others are so-so, and some are downright terrible, but they might still teach you a trick or two… so, you know, victory!

crazy-puppet-headsI didn’t believe him, so I went out and bought a couple puppets. Good values, too, I don’t regret them, but he was absolutely right. I like my off-the-shelf puppets, but I love the ones I’ve made myself.

If you’re making your own puppets, here a bunch of real world examples I’ve done myself to keep each new character from breaking the bank.

This clever red guy was our first attempt at making a puppet, and he came out pretty darn well. We had hoped he’d be a dog, but that simply didn’t happen. He’s still fun, but he’s surely no dog whatsoever.

Foam Backing: Free

A 24″x36″ piece of half-inch foam commonly used as backing in puppets costs $10.99 at Joann Fabric. That adds up quickly if you’re going to be making more than a couple puppets.

This may look like carpet padding, but only because it is, and it can be had at a fraction of the price of conventional puppet foam, assuming 0/0ths is still a fraction.
This may look like carpet padding, but only because it is, and it can be had at a fraction of the price of conventional puppet foam, assuming 0/0ths is still a fraction.

But what if you could get hypoallergenic, human-safe foam at a fraction of the price? 0/10ths is still a fraction, right?

It took me less than a day looking on Craig’s List to find someone looking to dispose of spare carpet pad. It was enough to fill a garbage can, and more than enough to make 50-100 puppets.

If you watch Craig’s List for a few weeks and come up empty-handed, consider calling a local carpet installer and asking if you can have a garbage bag of spare carpet pad scraps. People canĀ click to read more here to know about different waste management techniques.

This will save you $5-10 per puppet. If you find the texture irritating, just add some spare cloth to the inside for greater comfort.

Mouth Inserts: Free

Some puppet-makers use cardboard, cereal boxes or recycled plastic milk jugs for the interior mouth-plate. Paper products will degrade over time, and jugs are too thin for my taste, and have serious size constraints.

Corrugated plastic, as in the case of roadside signs, and very flat and can be as big as you need.

One week after the International Festival ended, signs were still up. I counted about ten of them, so I picked up three of them. That’s what I call cleaning up litter, and the material is perfect.

puppet-value-mouth-pieces

Arm Rods: Free

Arm rods online can be as cheap as $4.95 or so, often plus shipping. Adding a $5-8 expense to a single puppet is steep, but I found a way to get arm rods for free.

Remember the roadside signs I just mentioned? They’re stuck in the ground with 3-foot steel rods. Just bend the end into a hook and you’re done. You can spray paint it black, clear or both. With the three signs I picked up, I got six free arm rods. Just had to bend them, which takes some doing.

I wanted to show the full transition. To the left is the FREE rod, to the right is the $5 rod. In between should be the free rod bent over to be equal to that one more costly.
I wanted to show the full transition. To the left is the FREE rod, to the right is the $5 rod. In between should be the free rod bent over to be equal to that one more costly.

Googly Eyes: Cheap

Buying eyes online, you might find prices as high as $1 per pair, or even $1 per eye, including shipping and tax. Buying packs of eyes at Joann Fabric or Michael’s will cost on average $3.99 per pack.

I found a Googly Eye combo pack at the dollar store. Guess how much it cost? I’ll give you a hint, it was a dollar. There’s no such things as “high quality” or “low quality” Google Eyes, cheap is as good as it gets.

these-are-googly-eyes

Felt: Cheap

I make puppets using fur because my skills are so poor. It really hides the mistakes and shortcuts. So I only use felt for eyebrows, mouths, uvulas, tongues, etc.

If you buy squares of felt, it’s going to be about $5 for five 12″x12″ squares. That’s absurdly expensive, skip it.

puppet-value-felt-fabric

Joann Fabric let’s you by felt by any size you want. I’ve bought three different colors of felt at 1-foot by 6-foot slice costs about $1.50. So I bought a lifetime of red, black and pink felt for $4.50… that’s pretty darn cheap.

Fur by the Less-Than-Yard: Cheap

Whether at Joann Fabric or Fabric.com (great site, by the way, very fast shipping,) you can buy less than a yard.

The cost may seem prohibitive when you think the minimum purchase is $15-25, but most puppets can be made with far less than a yard, it starts to get affordable.

puppet-value-one

As I said, I bought all my felt from Joann Fabric in one-foot increments. If you buy $35 from Fabric.com they currently give you free shipping, so I loaded up on everything I wanted in 1/2 to single yard increments. I got some amazing stuff. Enough to last me at least a year for just over $35 buckaroos… that’s cheap.

Odds & Ends: Free

You don’t know what odds and ends you need, but if you have them, you’ll use them. My mom gave me a bag of stuff she couldn’t use anymore and it’s already come in handy.

The weird rainbow elastic became the anchor on the top of a mouth. The yarn became hair. She’ll never use the tacky little American flag, but I just might.

Ask around your parents, aunts, grandparents, anyone you know that might have had a sewing habit in the past. If you ask them for a bag of oddball thread, buttons, fabric scraps, and whatever they have, you will almost surely find some takers.

If you don’t find anybody with stuff to spare, try FreeCycle.com or the FREE section of Craig’s List. Just by asking, you might find a flood of random stuff. Maybe only a little bit of it is useful, but that’s enough.