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xkappax β Wembley Fraggle Work In Progress
Published: 2013-03-30 12:51:52 +0000 UTC; Views: 2539; Favourites: 13; Downloads: 0
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This is a Wembley Fraggle puppet that I've been working on since probably 2009 or 2010. I absolutely cannot get the face right. This is probably the closest I've come, so I might actually finish this one. I still have no idea how to make the shirt. Anyway, found this on my camera and thought I'd upload it.Related content
Comments: 65
thank you, I'm glad you think so! ^_^
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Wow- Β seriously amazing- I think the face looks great !
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Thank you so much for saying that! I was really upset with it when I first made it, but it's grown on me now that I have to see it every day.
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Again, thank you so much!
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Oh man, saw your Wem a long time ago and I still love 'im!! That may have been a different guy though.
My Fraggles aren't perfect either, but I can't even imagine making a Wembley, heheh. He'd be the last one for me to try out, for sure 
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thanks. I'm just having one hell of a time with the shape of the face. I feel like if I could get it, then I could finally move on and do something else, lol. I just have wembley bits sitting all over my basement.
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Keep trying. You'll get the hang of it, I think.
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I feel your pain. I'm working on a Wembley puppet now, and the head has been giving me fits. My living room is littered with foam skulls that are close, but no cigar.
I love the hair-splosion! How did you do it? I usually rip the barbs off ostrich feathers and use Fray-check to stick 'em into little bundles, then hot-glue 'em to the head. BTW, if you're looking for less-pricey feathers, I can recommend the seller Crazy Cart on Amazon. I can't tell you how many white 13" ostrich feathers I've bought from them.
As for the banana tree shirt, if you really want to be hardcore you can upload the design for the shirt to Spoonflower and they will print the fabric for you! That's what I plan to do.
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That spoonflower thing is the single most useful thing that anyone has ever told me in my quest to make this puppet. So thank you for that, sincerely! I want this puppet to be perfect when I'm done, so I will DEFINITELY be using that site.
Thanks for the tip on the ostrich feathers, too. I've been buying mine from lamplight feathers (i think that's what it's called).
I have some of my old stuff from when I was trying to make my pattern like a year ago... if you have any interest in seeing what i have, I could absolutely show it to you. Maybe if we combine our efforts, we might be able to crack this thing!
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Something else to consider; I began trying to create an exact replica of Mokey. The result was this [link]
That in turn spawned an entire non-canonical construction of a completly different, though still foundationalized in it, Fraggle world. I have build a few other characters, written several scripts, trained many puppeteers, and seemed to have made a great many people happy. I say this as only as something for you to contemplate. I wanted exactness, but then resigned to fun and joy in the process of creation.
Even though he may not be perfect, I do say well done; and whatever you do, may you persevere with strengh and courage.
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Want to hear the funny thing? I probably could make a mokey because I wouldn't worry about her looking perfect. I could get close enough and be okay with that.
This wembley thing, though, I've always wanted one that looked like the one with the unmoving eyes from the show (there were two of them) ... I just... I'm so awful with foam I cannot get the shape of the head right.
Thank you for your kind words, though.
I've toyed with the idea of making a smaller wembley that is a stuffed animal. I feel like I could handle that better than working with foam.
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One thing I've found is that if you try to get 100% on-model you'll frustrate and sabotage yourself. I've been told many times that the perfect is the destroyer of the good, and it's true. I've made Boober and Sidebottom, and if you look at details you'll find all sorts of flaws: Kermit-like wide mouth, big feet, red hair instead of orange red, etc. But people look at them and see Boober and Sidebottom!
Your doll isn't perfectly on-model, but I look at him and I see Wembley. I think he's cute, sort of a caricature of Wembley rather than a literal replica. He's got a great excited expression and a wonderful head of hair. I'd say go with that rather than redoing him.
I'll warn you, my way of making puppets is expensive and labor-intensive. Hand-dyed antron fleece sewn with the Henson Stitch (which must be done by hand), hands that have 6 parts instead of a simple top and bottom, same with the feet, reticulated foam...I'm trying to be as authentic to Muppet production materials and techniques as I can without driving myself up the wall.
For me, the hardest part of making a puppet is shaping the skull. Wembley's has taken 5 tries so far--all made out of cheap foam, altering the pattern a little for each one--and I think I almost have it. Most of my other puppets have only taken 3 tries, but Wem's a problem child.
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I already have the antron fleece and it's already dyed. I'm just waiting until I can get the foam skull right.
What size eyes are you using for yours? I found Christmas balls that were 1.5" in diameter and those seemed to be working for me, but they were extremely heavy.
I'm terrible at the shaping of the skull. I can't do a thing with foam. I'm awful at it. So if you have any sort of insight into that, any sort of pattern, it would be greatly appreciated. I'm also not really sure what to do about the body. I want to construct it out of foam, I have plenty of it, but I just cannot figure out the shape.
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I have two choices for eyes. One is 40MM, seamless, unprinted ping-pong balls, and the other is 55MM jumbo ping-pong balls. The 40MM are about 1.5" and the 55MM ones are a whopping 2.25"! I'll have to see which looks better when I get the skull built. He's supposed to have big eyes, but I don't know if that's too big. But then, I'm making one puppet for myself and another for someone whose hands are much bigger than mine. He'll get a larger puppet, and those big eyes might be just right for his.
How did you attach the eyes? I Gorilla Glue a wire base onto the bottom, then stick the wires right through his skull and tie them on the underside, then cover the wires with a bit of fabric to avoid gouging the puppeteer.
What kind of foam are you using? I have a terrible time finding 1/2" thick foam, which is whgat I use for nearly everything. I use 1/2" reticulated foam for the final puppet.
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I got some christmas balls at C&D craft store, so that's what I was using (I Think it was was called C&D, could be totally wrong, I bought them YEARS ago)
I actually cut away the bottom of the eye and glue a doll arm joint in the base of the eye/ping pong ball, whatever. Then I fasten the doll joint to the head by just cutting a small hole in it and feeding the doll joint through. Someone on a puppet forum told me to do it this way and it really worked for me!
The foam I was using came from Joanne fabrics. They have all sorts of foam. I can't remember what thickness I'm using. A friend of mine brings home scrap foam from where he works sometimes, too, so I will just use whatever he gives me.
The thing I am worst at is making the clothes. I have no idea how I'm going to make his shirt when it comes time. I just don't understand how it works, lol!
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Hmmmm. I'm going to have to try the doll joint approach for attaching eyes. It might be more stable than what I've been using. Thanks for the tip.
I know that JoAnns sells 1'2" foam. But there are none I can get to! I travel by bus, and they are all out of bus range. I'm so desperate that I've let it be known that my birthday is at the end of the month, and I sure would like some of that foam, please please please. The only other 1/2" foam I can find is the weird soy-based foam sheets at Hancock Fabrics, and they are stupidly expensive, and I have no faith that the foam will last long at all.
Making puppet clothes is a necessary evil. I'm just glad that Fraggles never invented hemming. They roll the edges of their clothing instead. Makes it easier on the costume maker, not having to hem everything. I had a fun time figuring out how to make Boober's cap, and I was startled when it turned out as well as it did, considering I made it out of cheap fleece rather than knitting it.
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The doll joint thing tends to work REALLY well for me. It's the best thing out of what I've tried. You should have seen the contraption I used to make Red's pigtails, though. My husband engineered it... and it worked, but attaching it was the worst thing ever, lol. It was a wire that was sewn into the head and then poked through the top of the head. I'm really sloppy, so I'm glad you can't see the insides of my puppets. 
As far as the foam goes... you can order the stuff from joann's fabric online, I just checked.
Hm, so they roll the fabric... how do they attach it once it's rolled up so it doesn't come unrolled? I have a wembley that someone made me and he hemmed it. I just assumed that was how the henson people did it!
And my boober's cap... NIGHTMARE! lol. It's still not right and I, for some reason, thought it was a good idea to glue it onto his head, so I can never fix it now!
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Here's a link to the picture . Click on the pic of Wembley right at the top to get a bigger version.
Sewing is something that you just learn by doing it. I've never sewn with a machine; I can control what I'm doing by hand. And there are no machines that do the Henson Stitch, which is really labor intensive, but the result is worth it!
For Boober's bod I used gray luxury shag fur from fabric.com , and dyed it using Teal Blue Rit dye. The fur, which is acetate, won't take much Rit dye--when I tried dyeing white fur for Boober I ended up with ice blue--but if I get a color that's close I can often push it over into the right range. To get that texture I boiled it.
The fur is bloody pricey, but you don't need much to make a Fraggle. On Black Friday I they had an amazing sale, half price and less, so I got a big box of all colors of fur!
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That's so weird that the stitch is so visible on that wembley picture. Usually you can barely see stitches on henson puppets.
I'll have to look into that shag stuff. Someone who was a puppet maker told me about the fabric he uses for fur and I completely forget what it was called, I'll have to look up his emails and see if I still have it.
so you boiled it? I hadn't thought to do that! I always had a hell of a time getting the texture I needed. I tried dying some white fur for boober and I also got a weird bluish color. I actually had to end up doing something really weird to get it to dye the right color. I can't even remember what I did. I just know that I never want to dye fur again!
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You rarely see seams on the puppet skins (although Fraggle wrists and ankles often show seams, for some reason), but I don't think they were concerned about the stitching on his shirt. It's supposed to look Fragglish, and the visible stitching (which doesn't show up on TV) gives it an earthy, homemade look.
You can buy the same fur at mendels.com. It's called "Punky Muppet" there, and they charge a few dollars more per yard, but it's the exact same stuff. Same colors, same texture. (I've bought from both places, so I can compare.)
I recently got some acetate dye, so hopefully I'll be able to dye fur for real. I'm going to experiment with it this weekend. If it works I'll go back to the pattern I used for my Shonky puppet and try again. You can probably tell who he was supposed to be before the dye job utterly failed.
I see a lot of Derpy fan art in your gallery. I thought it might amuse you that I made a Fraggle puppet named Derpy Toes .
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Mendels is where I actually got most of the fur for my other puppets... someone had told me about that place a while ago. They have good fur there, but yeah, a bit pricey!
Acetate dye, eh? I had no idea that that's what you used to dye fur... I'll have to look into that.
I like Shonky, really cute! And don't feel bad, as I said, my boober dye job completely failed the first 3 times, too.
And yeah, I do a lot of Derpy stuff. I actually make pony shirts over at welovefine.com. Derpy sells pretty good over there, but I also absolutely love her. I'm going to go have a look at your puppet now!
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I got Aljo dyes. You can't order them off the website; you have to call them and place an order that way. I didn't know anyone still did business like that.
Shonky was supposed to be Cantus. However, the fur wouldn't take the dye, and rather than make Cantus look age-faded I made the puppet into another character...who then appeared in a fanfic I wrote about Cantus. Talk about recycling. If these dyes work I'll have another go at making a Cantus.
Derpy is cool. It's a pity that she got unpersoned for the third season. To be honest, I find it at best ironic and at worst offensive that they got rid of her because of a few complaints that she was an insult to mentally disabled people. One, she wasn't insulting, she was just goofy. Two, it's like they're saying "We don't want to upset the differently abled, so get that retard out of the show!" Um...yeah.
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You didn't do a bad job with the dye job if shonky was supposed to be cantus.
And the derpy hooves thing... people get insulted by a goofy pony that messes things up, but they don't get insulted by a barking insane asylum patient pony which insults the mentally ill. Now they're making a figure of Derpy that will be sold in Toys R Us, though, so hopefully she'll be back in season 4.
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Cantus is indeed awesome. I just finished a 62,000 word fanfic about him! So, yeah, I likes him.
I've only seen the first 2 seasons of MLP, so I don't think I've seen the pony you've mentioned, unless he's the Kricfaluci-looking white one who screams "YEAHHH!" over and over.
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I think she's in season 2, the insane asylum pony... it's the episode where Rainbow Dash crashes and breaks her wing and is admitted to the hospital.
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Oh, the one in which she gets sucked into a book? That's one I saw once and didn't think much about. I'll re-watch it.
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yeah, the one with Daring Do. When Rainbow Dash steals the book, the doctors from the hospital give chase, and there's a barking noise that happens, the camera pans over and shows a crazy, insane asylum patient barking. ... I'm not the kind of person to be offended by that, but I just think it's kind of weird that people had a problem with derpy and not that.
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People will seize on anything to get indignant about. You remember when, a few years back, The Hub censored Wembley's "Gee, Gobo," in The Day the Music Died because one fruitcake claimed it sounded like a racial slur? But he got into the news and The Hub folded like a deck of cards. Sheesh.
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Yikes! I didn't know that... that's just silly.
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Yeah it is. Here's an article about the controversy .
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I'm speechless. Seriously. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard ever. This definitely beats the Derpy thing.
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Yep. After almost 30 years one jerk claims he hears an obscure slur, and The Hub just caves in. And then he takes their spinelessness as proof that the slur was real, because why would they give in otherwise? (When I watched the interview, it looked to me like this scuzz--and it is scuzzy to wear an undershirt when being filmed for a news interview--was enjoying the attention a little too much.) It's a good thing this didn't happen during the original run of the show, otherwise they might have had the scene re-dubbed and changed on all the copies except already-printed DVDs.
Y'know what? "Derpy" is a pretty close synonym for "goofy". Maybe we need to get rid of the Disney character, who has been insulting dimwits since 1932.
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My husband and I just had that conversation not too long ago about the whole Goofy thing. Might as well get rid of screwy squirrel, too, and all the other wacky characters.
Seriously. that thing about wembley disgusts me.
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Screwy Squirrel? Wow, I didn't know anyone else remembered the Tex Avery character.
I'm all for not offending people needlessly, but you have to look at complaints to see if they have real merit. For example, someone complained to Children's Television Workshop that The Count was a dangerous character, that they ought to be teaching children to fear Dracula and other monsters. And there were complaints about Marjory being unflattering: she sounds Jewish, so that's equating Jews with trash! Never mind that she provides wisdom and guidance and is highly respected by the other characters. Thankfully, nobody caved in to those complaints.
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yeah, i remember Screwy Squirrel. My grandfather used to babysit me before I went to school and he LOVED old cartoons... so he'd put them on and force me to watch them, LOL.
And yeah, I don't get any of those complaints. I mean... Marjory isn't really unflattering at all.
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I used to watch The Tom & Jerry/Woody Woodpecker Show after school. There were six cartoons, and there were always two miscellaneous cartoons, one MGM and one Lantz. The MGM ones were often old Tex Avery shorts. This was waaaay back in the '80s, before they censored those episodes seven ways to Sunday. I hate to think what censors would do to Avery's stuff.
There are people who will complain about anything at all. If something is represented, then it's an insult; if it's not represented then it's an insult by omission. I remember shaking my head when I read a bit of vitriol about the Muses in Disney's Hercules. One of 'em was short and fat. The writer said she was insulting to fat people because she was "a fat frump." What? She was every bit as lively as the others, she wasn't portrayed any differently. There was no frumpiness to be seen. The mere fact that she was fat was offensive to the person who was protesting. Yeesh!
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People are offended by everything nowadays. I also watched those cartoons in the 80's, and they were definitely uncensored. I saw a lot of the tex avery ones and old looney toons... tom and jerry, droopy, etc. They were all extremely politically incorrect, but people forget that at the time they were made, those things were more acceptable in society.
I don't think it's a bad thing that they cut the racist jokes out... that's really not too cool, but they had talked for a while about taking speedy gonzalez out because he was a stereotype. But speedy was a good guy! I could see if he was an evil character or something!
I don't know... the rod up society's butt just grows longer and longer with each generation. In a few years, the word "butt" in this reply is probably going to be censored for being insensitive to people who have butts.
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Hee hee, I heard that they showed that episode in the Fraggle Rock marathon yesterday, and "Gee, Gobo made it through intact and unchanged. HA!
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Sooo...did you see my all-finished-but-the-shirt Wembley?
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funny story... I was doing a random google search for wembley for a picture I was doing, and your wembley came up! He looks great. I still have no idea how to approach the shirt. Yours looks perfect! Great work!
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Ha, that's cool! And, actually, my Wem shirt needs work. The neckline is too wide and the shirt is too short. (Both are caused by my misunderstanding how much extra fabric to leave for the "roll" edges.)
I think it was you who mentioned using aquarium tubing for the rolled edges. Well, I got some, so I'll be tubing up the final shirt! Whenever I get my baloobius in geat and make the shirt fabric.
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let me know how the tubing works out. I have to actually go to the pet store today for crickets for my lizard, so I might try to pick some up today.
I think the shirt looks great, though!
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I used the tubing on Gobo's shirt, and it works fine.
Speaking of shirts, is that banana tree design over at Threadless yours?
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No, I wish it was. I considered contacting the person who created it and asking them for their pattern, lol!
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Hee hee, great minds think alike!
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yeah, it's REALLY REALLY good. I'm still having issues with mine. can't get it perfect.
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I haven't started on mine. I need to. Lately I've been working on Gobo's clothes. Painting stripes, ugh!
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