Thanks to everyone for the answers.

Subject: RE: Anyone here make hand-puppets?
From: Genie - PM
Date: 17 Apr 09 - 01:10 PM

"I made some when I was in grade school (back in the Jurassic period) and we made the heads by covering a light bulb in water-soaked strips of newspaper, then covering those with papier-maché and sculpting that. When that dried thoroughly, we'd tap the head against a hard surface, breaking the lightbulb, then shake out the broken glass and remove the metal core.   Today people use baloons instead of lightbulbs, because we are wimps and schools fear lawsuits."

We did that, too. I remember the gray, lightbulb-shaped thing I made. I think it was supposed to be a maraca. I think there's a reason why lightbulb maracas are rarely found in Afro-Cuban percussion sections. And at home, I made an elefant using a balloon. It was also gray. I believe my mother kept it for quite some time.

"We made the clothes for the puppets pretty simply and glued the neck of the garment to the base of the head.   I think that would probably still work, and there are better glues for that now than we had back in the Jurassic period."

Really? I would have thought dinosaur bone glue would be quite sticky.