Happy New Year!

From all of us at Swazzle, Happy New Year! I hope 2007 is fun, productive, and prosperous for all of you.

As a special New Years treat, please enjoy this bonus episode of Frosty's 12 Days of Christmas Podcast.

Merry Christmas!

On behalf of Frosty, Steve, and all of us at Swazzle, Merry Christmas. I hope you all have enjoyed my Frosty the Snowman puppet building tutorial. I also hope you have enjoyed Frosty's 12 Days of Christmas Podcast.



It's not too late to send a last minute Christmas e-card to friends and family with Puppet Greetings. They have a selection of Frosty and Steve holiday e-cards to choose from.

Frosty the Snowman Part 15

Meet Frosty the Snowman!

Check out Episode 12 of Frosty's 12 Days of Christmas Podcast.

Frosty the Snowman Part 14

Frosty's hands, arms, and fingers are made from bamboo. Bamboo is perfect for a snowman puppet because it's strong, hollow, and has a natural stick look.



Cut the arms to the appropriate length. Thread string through each end so that a couple of inches hang out of either end. Use hot glue to glue the string in place.



Cut the fingers and glue strings inside, make sure a couple inches of string hang out so you can attach the fingers to the arm.



Glue foam and felt around the palm and elbow. Use scissors to poke a hole in the puppet's shoulders. Thread the excess string through the hole and use hot glue to attach the arms inside the body.

Check out Episode 11 of Frosty's 12 Days of Christmas Podcast.

Frosty the Snowman Part 13

Machine sew a tube from heavy cotton material for the neck sleeve. Make sure the sleeve is wide enough to accommodate the widest part of your arm. Using Barge Cement glue the neck sleeve to the inside of the puppet's head hole.

Check out Episode 10 of Frosty's 12 Days of Christmas Podcast.

Frosty the Snowman Part 12

Using Barge contact cement glue the puppet's eyes into the sockets.

Check out Episode 9 of Frosty's 12 Days of Christmas Podcast.

Frosty the Snowman Part 11

Using detail scissors snip a shallow hole in the fake snow, just deep enough to expose the foam. Make sure the hole is large enough to fit the coal eyes, and not any larger.

Check out Episode 8 of Frosty's 12 Days of Christmas Podcast.

Frosty the Snowman Part 10

Frosty's nose was very simple. I used a fake carrot that I got at the craft store. To attach it, cut a slit in the face with a razor blade. Apply a generous amount of contact cement to the carrot and insert into the hole, then glue fake snow around the base of the carrot.

Check out Episode 7 of Frosty's 12 Days of Christmas Podcast.

Frosty the Snowman Part 9

Frosty's coal eyes are snipped from foam. Use scissors and snip down until you get the right shape.



Paint the foam with a mixture of liquid latex rubber and latex paint. The latex rubber keeps the paint flexible, and prevents it from cracking.

Check out Episode 6 of Frosty's 12 Days of Christmas Podcast.

Frosty the Snowman Part 8

Now it's time to fabricate the puppet. I'll be covering Frosty with layers of fake snow. Luckily I was building this puppet during December so fake snow was easy to come by. To adhere the snow, I'm using two spray adhesives, Super 90 and Super 77.



Begin by spraying a liberal about of Super 90 over a small section of the body. Once the glue starts to set up, press the fake snow onto the body. It is best to wear rubber gloves so the glue and snow doesn't stick to your hands.



Once the whole body is covered with a layer of snow, spay a small section with Super 77 and sprinkle on glitter, or shinny snow flakes. Continue until the whole body is covered. Once the body is finished, do the same with the head.

Check out Episode 5 of Frosty's 12 Days of Christmas Podcast.

Frosty the Snowman Part 7

Mark the puppets mouth with a pen, and cut it carefully with an electric knife.



Use detail scissors to refine the puppet's mouth shape.



Insert the mouth pallet and glue it in place. Check out this tutorial for more about hand grips and mouth pallets. Usually I like to make the mouth pallet red and the tongue pink, but since this is a snowman I thought it would be fun to use purple and blue.

Check out Episode 4 of Frosty's 12 Days of Christmas Podcast

Frosty the Snowman Part 6

Using the electric knife cut a hand hole in the puppet's head. Be sure to leave some foam in the top of head to support your hand.

Check out Episode 3 of Frosty's 12 Days of Christmas Podcast.

Check out Frosty's homepage for the latest information on Frosty and Steve.

Frosty the Snowman Part 5

Using the electric knife carve a hole in the top and bottom of the puppets body.



It's important that your puppet be as light as possible. Use the electric knife to carve out the excess foam inside the puppet's body.

Check out Episode 2 of Frosty's 12 Days of Christmas Podcast.

Frosty the Snowman Part 4

Once the puppet's head shape is roughed out with the electric knife it's time to refine it with scissors. If I wanted the head to be super smooth, I could sand it down with a belt sander. I'm using scissors because I want the final puppet to have a hand made look.

Check out Episode 1 of Frosty's 12 Days of Christmas Podcast.

Frosty the Snowman Part 3

Just as I did with the body, I'm using an electric knife carve the head. To begin, cut off the corners, then I cut around the top and bottom. Continue to work your way around shaving off the edges until the puppet's head is the desired shape.

Check out Frosty's online store. We've added Frosty and Steve tote bags, t-shirts, buttons and more.

Frosty the Snowman Part 2

Different puppets call for different building techniques. If I were making a fur and fleece puppet, I would most likely use sheet foam, and the darting method. If I wanted a puppet to be super smooth, I would use prefabricated shapes like I did for the peas, or I would use a ban saw and belt sander like Patrick did for Al the Alien. Because I want this puppet to have a natural and hand made look, I'll be carving him from a block of foam with an electric knife.

Electric knifes can be found at most kitchen or home stores like Bed Bath and Beyond. They usually cost about $25.00 or so.



Begin by cutting off the corners.



Continue to carve the foam down until you get the desired shape.



Frosty's body is taking shape.

Frosty the Snowman Part 1

Before I build any puppet, I have to know what I'm going to build. Patrick worked through many different snowman variations before selecting this as the final design.

Frosty the Snowman

From now until Christmas, I’ll be posting behind the scenes photos of Frosty the Snowman. For those of you following the Lady Fromage rod puppet tutorial, I will be picking that up again after Christmas.

Starting Thursday December 14, Frosty will be hosting his own podcast called Frosty’s 12 Days of Christmas. For more information check out his Flickr photo page, Myspace profile, and blog.

Swazzle on The 9

Swazzle was mentioned on Yahoo's online show The 9 on Tuesday December 5. The Swazzle Workshop came in at number 5 in their countdown. Click here to watch, then select Puppet Masters, number 5. You can also vote for us as the favorite in The 9 poll at the bottom of the page.

The Swazzle Workshop Episode 4

Check out the latest episode of The Swazzle Workshop. In this months episode Tiger and Mousedeer demonstrate how to make mice finger puppets.

Lady Fromage Rod Puppet, Part 23

Cut off the excess material. This will eventually be your seam, so try and cut as straight a line as possible.