I'm having difficulty with "puppet manipulation." (Not ventriloquism, puppet manipulation to voice i.e. Muppets).

Anatomically, when our thumb is in the bottom (jaw) and our four fingers in the top, the thumb is much shorter than the four fingers.

I've experimented with many different techniques/modifications w/o success. The puppet I have now has way too much space in the bottom jaw.

From what I've surmised, a bottom jaw with a very shallow and narrow opening for the thumb only seems to be logically the ideal solution but I can't find one like this.

Any suggestions, links, etc. would be most welcome.

Thank you in advance for any help.

Put a thin piece of card board in the bottom jaw so your thumb is below the card and then it will/should have better control of bottom jaw. Works for me and my Characters ( see profile photo). 85, 75 in Vent and Magic. (Japan!! saw a picture of a Clown with a big toe,
it said "Ollie Got(a big) toe"(Thank you)- it was langue book, using pictures to teach. Like pictures of an "Ice Cream CONE - a kNEE - peace if CHEEse a baby cry WAA -('good afternoon') - hope I didn't confuse any one - LOL.. Best to You and Yours - Ralph ROUSSEAU (Russo)

Thank you very much Russo, I'll give that a try.