Having got fairly confident with papiermache I thought I would like to have a go at a puppet that could be animated by hand.

It never occured to me that I should have a pattern to do this with. I had found a t-shirt on the £1 rail in our local hospice shop, I brought it home, drew out a shape onto newspaper and then set to building the head.

I have to say that the resulting Leopard has some eccentricities; not least a wonky mouth and several inserts to it's neck. But the front paws and the tail were very successful, they are filled with dried haricot beans and hang very well. The eyes are made from 5ml medicine spoons and the nose is varnished paper.

Glove puppets can seem deceptively simple, but it is worth remembering that Jim Henson always referred to Kermit as a "glorified sock puppet".

Buoyed up by my 'successful' Leopard I thought I would have a go at a dragon. This time I took an existing pattern for a soft toy and adapted it for what I needed.

Silvertongue is one of my favourite puppets, he is made from a shirt that I found in Oxfam, the remains of a velvet t-shirt and a sparkly velvet shirt. He is operated through the back of his head and there are pouches on his front paws which operate his hands.

He is pictured here playing with my two boys, I am not sure what they were talking about but am quite sure that there is mischief being cooked up!

Famous Glove Puppets, and their partners:

Kermit

Shari Lewis and Lambchop

Basil Brush

On yet another of my charity shop trawls (as you can see I have a passion for thrift and charity shops) I found a 1 metre by 2 metre sheet of gaberdine wool. This has made a wonderful series of puppets and toys the first of which was Baby Mouse.

She is a standard childs glove puppet and is carrying a toy cat in her paws that she likes to play with.

My favourite mice are probably the mice on the mouse organ from Bagpuss.

The glove puppet pirates were made as a present for the friend of my son. They were great fun to make but very time consuming as each face had to be stitched on before being painted.

One day I plan to have another go at this puppet and have plans for a wrist band with attached ship that they can sail in.