I commissioned a very talented lady to create a puppet of Hoogie this past summer. As you’ll see from the first photos below, she did a wonderful job. The problem was that as lovely as her puppet was, it didn’t completely look like Hoogie to me. The fur was close, but not perfect; the eyes were a little too big and close together; the face was too thin.
I am definitely not a puppet maker (!), but I visited a fabric store in September with a thought to make some little tweaks in an effort to bring the puppet closer to Dean Griffith’s rendering of Hoogie in the book. The result? I ended up covering the original puppet with friendlier fur, smaller and more widely spaced eyes, a wider face (with whiskers like Hoogie has in the book), a dress that matched the book, etc.
I think both puppets are great (see the photos below), but the new one feels more like Hoogie to me. Let me know what you think!
01-Hoogie Puppet-Just Before We Start
02-The First Pattern Pieces
03-There’s Hoogie’s Mouth
04-Hoogie’s Head
05-Everything but Hoogie’s Face
06-Original Hoogie Puppet with the REAL Hoogie (my daughter Eryn)
07-Just about to start again ( the original puppet was vital as a base for the new puppet)
08-New wider head (old head is under the new head)
09-New eyes (a little smaller and wider apart)
10-Just before I sew on Hoogie’s ears
11-Comparing Hoogie’s new face to the book
12-Her new dress is now the same as the one Dean Griffiths painted in the book
13-Sometimes Hoogie feels like the hole in the middle of a donut
14-Hoogie attends the Vaughan Book Fair
15-Hoogie with Cdn author Helaine Becker and a little princess who stopped by at the Vaughan Book Fair
