Hi guys, it’s been a while. I want to start crafting more again and this project was a happy medium because it’s for work.
I’m finishing up a sensory theatre for my job that I started before covid, it’s spring themed and I knew I wanted one of the stimuli to be a butterfly. After looking for and not finding an affordable puppet I made one myself. (Apologies for the messy background)
I started from the design of those wooden birds that flap their wing when you pull a string on the bottom. However I wanted the body to be soft so I could have the butterfly land on the participants. So I made a cloth body with a popsicle stick as a center support. I used a sketch to figure it out as I went.
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The wings are painted cardboard, I was going to cover them with fabric first but I think this works just as well.
She has little legs made of pipe cleaners that I also used to attach all the string to, the ends are covered with dots of hot glue so they’re not sharp when she lands. The hold is another popsicle stick and on the bottom there’s a piece of string with a bead that makes her flap her wing when you pull it.
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I’m really happy with her and I hope she’ll work well during the activity.
Make one! Very clever!