I've just bought a yellow feather boa, and a long ostrich feather. I have a set of peepers and I want to make a puppet on my arm.
Any ideas of what to use as a mouth. I have an Axtell headliner but that gets in the way of the peepers.
Who else does a routine like this?

Maybe for the mouth, you can use a sock or a glove.

Wanlu

Could you not just use your hand?

Dave

Colin,

I think Dave is referring to a set-up similar to Senor Wences:

http://www.makefive.com/images/200907/20f7ee9b1e6070b1.jpg

The exact handling above would not allow for "peepers" however.

A more frontal one would, of course.

Tod

I could just use my hand but the way its set up is that the boa will wrap arround my arm to form the body of the puppet. I want something more beak like.

Yep, that was it, Todd.

I see your problem, Colin - how about making a beak that fits your hand, with the google eyes fixed to the beak?

Just a thought.

Dave

Perhaps take a drive to the Dollar Store or Walmart and see what can be converted into a beak?

Tod

Hey Tod, Maybe next time when you are bored you could have a look for me!
I kind of want to make the puppet out of regular bits apart from the peepers!

I've seen pre-folded and sewn pocket handkerchiefs that come to two points.
Seems like you could create one of THOSE to your "beak" specifications, then load it in your coat pocket with the two points sticking up.
Then, if the idea is that you are building the puppet onstage, you wind the boa around your arm, bring the eyes from your inside pocket (Or use a couple of plastic olives from your "drink"), pull out your pocket square, shake it once and it becomes the beak.

Voila!

Cool. I like the hankerchief idea!

I have seen in a website that sell peepper with a small mouth (including teeth).
But I'm foreget the website address and what the product name.

ANother option might be one of those nylon oven mitts. Very beak-like. I saw someone use one with a set of peepers, and it looked hilarious...

What is the character going to be?

What is going to be funny about that?

I'm just curious what your thought process is.

A bare hand is a naked puppet, obviously it doesn't know it's naked until it gets eyes, then I need to cover it with feathers then it needs ears and a mouth.
Then I have a strange bird like creature to work with.
I'm doing a cruise in the summer and this will be the ultimate pack flat puppet and the cheapest I've ever bought!

Colin,
Ronn Lucas is the master when it comes to "hand" puppetry. He has used his bare hands, sometimes with socks and other accessories, in full-length routines. You might want to check his acts.

He called his technique "working lazy."

ONY

I would go with your hand.

BTW I also have a set of yellow bunny ears to go with the puppet. I think when he sees that he looks like a cross between a rabbit and a chicken he's going to be a fox's favourite fast food!

Things I have used in similar situations...

C/D or MP3 case..with our without duct tape.

cardboard...

with our without duct tape...

side bar...

Check out the hands only version of the Berlin Wall....no eyes no mouth..just music, hands and forearms....a classic...

Try the silicone oven mitts. They look like duck beaks as is, and you can slit the top part to make the Peepers fit. This is a great prop -- My friend Hobey Ford invented the things, but they were ripped off pretty quickly (the wiggle eyes ones are the knockoffs) but they are a great prop.

AHhh yes ! This is what I mentioned several days ago on this thread, but I had the material for the mitt wrong. It is a SILICONE mitt, not nylon as I stated. I have seen a picture of someone who made a puppet using this in combination with the peepers, and it made me chuckle when I saw it. Very funny.

BTW, God Bless Hobey Ford for coming up with the peepers. They rock....

Mark