Winston the Rat

This grouchy guy is named Winston the Rat and he is my first professional design puppet. I write, "professional" because he is made the way puppets are for television and motion pictures. He has grips on the mouth plate, the mouth plate is made of wood and the center of the puppet has a spandex arm wrap. His body is a glove puppet with a pot belly that I drew the bodies pattern by hand.

I decided to use two faux fur colors, red and green but then add him a pink nose so it stands out. I treated the faux fur with water and heat to get the texture I wanted and the nose is made out of Anton fleece.

Since the mouth plate has grips on the top and bottom I can open the puppet's mouth from the top more and that gives it a more realistic performance.

This is what is called a Hand and Glove Puppet, the mouth is controlled by my right hand and the left hand is controlled by my left hand. Usually this sort of puppet is performed by two puppeteers. One puppeteer would be working both hands and another the mouth. Think of Rowlf the Dog or Fozzy the Bear.

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