Puppet Name: Blizzard The Polar Bear

Pattern: None

Materials: Cardboard, hot glue, foam clay, poly fill, felt, cut fabric, sponge, armature wire, paint, magnets (ceramic and neodymium)

Arm type: Double Rod

Features: Removable ears, removable arms, removable eyes

Blizzard was the first puppet I built that I truly felt happy with. He is the product of three generations of experimenting with materials, improving the same character multiple times to figure out the best ways to create shapes and sizes. The pictures used here are of his current day form, with improvements made to most, if not all parts of the puppet.

He is notably heavier than expected due to the materials used, and his arm rods tend to bend when moved with enough force. This is because the wire used to make them is too thin for the application.

His head is a foam clay structure smoothed and sculpted into a squarish shape, all supported by a cardboard skeleton. The ears and eyes are not directly connected to the body: They were moulded separately and attached with magnets at contact points. Removable ears help decrease the size of the puppet when not in use, making storage easier., and magnetic eyes allow the puppet to express itself more freely through changes in eye placement.

The body is felt stitched together and stuffed with poly fill, with a hole cut out at the bottom and a smaller felt cylinder stitched inside. Initially, the entrance hole was located on the back of the body rather than the bottom, a style more suited for walk -around puppets, this was changed as I decided the application made it more difficult to use it as I intended. Having little access to foam or sponge, as well as wanting a flexible and comfortable feeling pushed me to make the body into a plush rather than having it sculpted from foam or built from cardboard.

The arms are felt sewn into shape, with thin pieces of sponge giving them shape. The sponge had notches cut into the middle so that the arm can bend better. The hands are armature wire and the tips of the arm rod sandwiched between sponge cut into hand shapes before being sewn into the rest of the arm. The arm rods are much thicker pieces of wire, stuck into a handle made from a cylinder of chopsticks covered with newspaper to form a smooth shape and painted black.

Overall, Blizzard is a decent puppet. He is able to be performed easily once the user gets used to his weight. Recommended portrayals for him would be a shy, skittish or sceptical individual, shivering with his mouth wobbling open to indicate nervousness.