Keep reading to see how I made a Piece and Jam Puppet. (American translation: Jelly Sandwich) I got inspired when I found the bread looking fabric. What else would I make but a piece and jam?
I used 1/2" foam and cut a bread shape with a hole in it for my hand to fit through. I did this twice. These will be the bottom slice of bread . I hot glued the outer edge together, leaving the centre hole free for my thumb to fit in for controlling the puppet. I cut another two bits of foam in the same bread shape for the top piece of bread. Only one of these has a hole in it. Again I glued around the outer edge leaving the edge by the hole unglued to allow my fingers in for controlling the puppet. So with the foam we have this arrangement. My hand goes right through the bottom slice of bread with my thumb inside the bottom slice and my fingers inside the top slice of bread. The upper side of the top slice of bread has no holes in it to form the top of the puppet. Next I took my bread looking kind of fleecy fabric and cut out another bread shape using the foam as a template. This one is around an inch wider on all sides to allow for a seam. Tracing through the hole on the bottom slice of bread I marked a circle on the wrong side of the fabric where the hole is. I then made a number of cuts from the centre of the circle to the edge of the circle. I tried to make these even, but the fabric was a bit too springy. I just did my best being careful not to cut over the circle line. I cut a long strip of bread fabric roughly the width of the two slices of bread foam. so, four pieces of foam wide. I took my crust looking brown ribbon (25mm), pinned it on and sewed up each side of the ribbon - with a sewing machine (I'm not a hand sewing nut.) I pinned the crust around the side of the bread and tried it on over the foam to check it fit. I then sewed around the edge with the sewing machine and did the same for the other side of the bottom slice of bread. I then had to squeeze the foam into the material bread shape through the hand hole. As its foam it will squash up no problem and then can be flattened out once its inside the material. To neaten up around the hole I tucked the fabric around the edge of the foam and sewed it on by hand. This required a bit of stretching the fabric, but not too much so that the foam was buckled inside. I followed the same steps to cover the top slice of bread. To make the jam I knitted some chunky yarn into a square with a large button hole big enough to fit my hand through. I chose to knit this to create a sort of lumpy look like jam, but this could easily be done with fabric if you are not a knitter. I knitted two of these squares with a hole in, one for the top slice and one for the bottom slice. I sewed one side of the jam onto the bread. I tucked in the corners to prevent having a point at the corner and to help with the lumpiness. I then sewed the second bit of jam on to the first around the hole. This covers in the gap when the mouth of the puppet is opening and closing. My hand sits in through these two bits of jam so it is not seen. Lastly I sewed the outer edge of the top bit of jam onto the outer edge of the top slice of bread. This is quite tricky, but it worked out ok. |
The very last touch was to add eyes. I had these acorn shaped polystyrene balls and I fixed on two safety eyes hot glued into the polystyrene balls. I then hot glued the eyes on to the top of the top slice of bread. And done!