His Name is OTTO!

Builder: Carlos (video567@gmail.com)
Pattern: The Rotondo Pattern and Fleece Head Covering Pattern (from http://www.projectpuppet.com/)

Character: After much debate and also asking a question on the muppet Central Forum called - help me name my puppet!! (http://forum.muppetcentral.com/showthread.php?t=25688 ) many of the members gave us many suggestions. The deal was that I would call them out to my 3 year old and she would choose. We finally came up with the name "OTTO". He is a monster but a nice one. The one problem we have with him is that he is always saying "Elmo had to die, because I needed his eyes!" My 3 year old always corrects him and brings out her Elmo Plush doll and point to him, telling him that Elmo is still here. He likes to talk a lot with children and

discuss their day, asks about school and what they learned. When he doesn't repeat what the children said they learned in school correctly, the children have no fear in correcting him. I don't think he is dumb. I think he does that to reinforce in children what they learned that day.

Technical: I used the pattern the way it said on the instructions. This was my first foam puppet

I wanted to make sure I followed directions 100% so I could learn from it. His skin is made of Blue fur from JoAnn's fabric it was on sale for $3.99 a yard and I used 1/2 inch foam also from the same store. It is hard to find reticulated foam in my area and since I got my pattern I wanted to start right away. The eyes and nose came from an elmo that played the guitar. It was given to me at work since I love puppets, but the arm that was attached to the guitar was cut and the electronics were broken and it would not play, I figured his donor card was filled out and he wouldn't mind donating his eyes to science. I had found some plastic doll arm hinges a few years ago and I saved them, with this puppet I used the hinges for his arms so they can move up and down also. I did not use wires for his fingers.