This character was really fascinating to me. Paul Van Dijk came up with the whole idea for the jester, (and sent over some great drawings to kick the process off) and I really wanted to make sure that the finished product matched the idea he had in mind for his character. So I took great care in the building process to make sure the puppet matched the final design that we worked out.

This puppet has a moving eyebrow mechanism. Here it is installed into the foam skull which has all of the extra features such as cheeks and eyebrow ridge attached.

After the arms and poseable hands were positioned on the body, I started pinning the fleece on the head to get it ready for hand stitching.

Here is the head completely covered with fleece. I like to take my time during this phase to get a really smooth finish. The bags under his eyes were dyed darker to make his eyes really stand out.  You can also see that his eyebrows are attached. I loved this black  fur–I think the texture is a nice contrast to the smooth fleece. At this point, I started working up the hat in muslin to make sure the patterns for the satin version would work out well.

Paul wanted the Jester to have teeth, so I made these out of make-up sponges. They give him a slightly demented smile that really fits the character.

After the puppet has basically been completed, it was time to start working on the rest of the costume. I used purple and black satin, in conjunction with  ruffles on his neck and sleeves, to give him a royal flair.

And here is the finished puppet, with a nice red tongue, and complete with a stick that bears his likeness on the top. His hat is finished off with jingle-bells so that you can always hear him approaching. 

I hope that he will get lots of use and that Paul enjoys using him as much as I enjoyed building him!

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