Make Your Sock Talk — Videos & Puppet Resources
Everything that goes with the book.
The how-to videos, plus the puppet makers, teachers and communities I actually recommend. All free. No sign-up. Watch as many times as you need.
How-To Videos
The complete sock puppet build, start to finish — eleven short lessons, about 45 minutes altogether. Watch alongside the book, or just follow along here.
The Full Tutorial Series
Start at Part 1 and work straight through. You can also watch the whole series as a playlist on YouTube.
Sock Puppet Making Tutorial — Part 1
The Dummy Guy
Sock Puppet Making Tutorial — Part 2
The Dummy Guy
Sock Puppet Making Tutorial — Part 3
The Dummy Guy
Sock Puppet Making Tutorial — Part 4
The Dummy Guy
Sock Puppet Making Tutorial — Part 5
The Dummy Guy
Sock Puppet Making Tutorial — Part 6
The Dummy Guy
Sock Puppet Making Tutorial — Part 7
The Dummy Guy
Sock Puppet Making Tutorial — Part 8
The Dummy Guy
Sock Puppet Making Tutorial — Part 9
The Dummy Guy
Sock Puppet Making Tutorial — Part 10
The Dummy Guy
Sock Puppet Making Tutorial — Part 11
The Dummy Guy
More Sock Puppet Ideas
Two more clever builds from another channel, worth stealing ideas from.
How to Make a Sock Puppet (No Sewing)
Woodfish Toys
How to Make a Sock Puppet… as a RAP?!
Woodfish Toys
Puppet Makers
Traditional / Hard Figures
Hard figures, or traditional vent figures, are what we call anything that resembles a wooden ventriloquist dummy. These puppets are typically carved from wood or sculpted out of clay and then cast in urethane, fiberglass, or plastic. Some heads are even 3D printed. Hard figures are controlled from a head-stick accessed from inside the body of the puppet. Levers on the head-stick attach to brass rods or strings that let you control all kinds of facial animations — moving mouth, side-to-side eye movement, blinking, winking, moving eyebrows, wiggling ears, sticking out the tongue, sniffing and sneering.
Phillips Puppets
Austin Phillips is a true artist. His mission is to provide you with the perfect puppet or figure for your act or the centerpiece of your puppet collection. He makes custom figures, fun vent novelties, and restores and repairs figures.
phillipspuppets.com →Dapper Dummies
Tyler Ellis makes custom figures and restores vintage figures for collectors all over the world. His work is coveted by performers, collectors, museums, and hobbyists of every level.
dapperdummies.com →Wolf's Magic & Vents
Chance Wolf makes one-of-a-kind, high-end puppets for performers like America's Got Talent winner Terry Fator. He also has cast dummy head kits and parts you can assemble at home. His magic props are highly regarded too, both used and collected by performers all over the world.
wolfsmagic.com →Selberg Studios
Tim Selberg has been building quality puppets for the vent community since 1986. His figures have been featured in television and movies and are used by many working ventriloquists all over the world.
selbergstudios.com →Puppets and Gore
Damien James is a ventriloquist, magician, and special effects artist for film and TV. He's a student of Academy Award–winning special effects guru Dick Smith, and his behind-the-scenes work can be seen on many TV shows and features. Damien makes all his own puppets and creates figures for other performers. He is the only ventriloquist to fool Penn & Teller.
Talk to Damien →Soft Puppets
Soft puppets are made from soft materials like foam, cloth, latex, felt, fleece, and fake fur. They're manipulated with your hand inside the puppet to make the mouth and body move. Some have eyebrows that move or eyes that blink.
Axtell Expressions
Steve Axtell started building puppets at age 6. He was inspired by Jim Henson, who encouraged him to find his own unique style. Today, Axtell Expressions creates characters, animatronics, latex puppets, AI, and interactive displays for entertainers and venues in over 80 countries.
axtell.com →Handemonium
Barry Gordemer is an award-winning puppeteer, writer, and producer. He's been designing, building, and performing puppets since 1983. His soft puppets are top of the line and full of personality.
handemonium.com →Mat Puppets
JET at The Dummy Shoppe creates one-of-a-kind foam puppet characters, and has a passion for pairing ventriloquists with the perfect puppet.
thedummyshoppe.com →The Original Dummy Factory
Landon Harvey is a performer, puppet builder, and social media influencer. He's built unique, custom characters for himself and other professional ventriloquists from San Diego to Singapore.
theoriginaldummy.com →Pavlov's Puppets
Maria and Ivan Pavlov manufacture unique, high-quality, handmade professional puppets. Their customers are ventriloquists, puppeteers and clowns, plus film and TV producers, advertising companies, children's and adult theaters, educational organizations, and churches. The company is in France, and all designs are drawn by Maria and built by their family.
pavlovspuppets.com →Learning Resources
If you're looking for more resources to learn ventriloquism or puppeteering, take a look at the links below. You'll find both free and paid ways to learn more.
Maher Studios
Maher Ventriloquist Studios has been a respected name in the ventriloquism community since 1934, and continues to serve ventriloquists around the globe under Tom Crowl.
maherstudios.com →Learn-Ventriloquism.com
A virtual private-instruction online video course hailed by many as the next generation's Maher Course. Tom Crowl's ventriloquism course is a powerful way to learn how to become a real live belly talker.
learn-ventriloquism.com →Ventriloquist Academy
The "Ventriloquism 101 Video Course" was created by Lee Cornell back in 1997. Lee received his first ventriloquist puppet at age nine in 1966, along with an instructional LP by Jimmy Nelson. He began performing at age 10 and completed the Maher Course in 1979. He converted the Ventriloquism 101 DVD course into an online academy that has become one of the best-selling vent video courses on the internet.
ventriloquistacademy.com →Gary Owen
Gary Owen has gained worldwide recognition and credibility as the ventriloquist coach who helped Darci Lynne become the season 12 winner of America's Got Talent. Gary has been Darci's personal vent coach since 2014 and continues as producer-director of her national road tours.
garyowencomedy.com →Puppeteers of America
Puppeteers of America has been sharing knowledge and inspiration with the puppetry community since 1937, through its National Puppetry Festivals, regional festivals, and quarterly magazine The Puppetry Journal.
puppeteers.org →How to Be a Ventriloquist
Several years ago Jeff Dunham released an instructional DVD of ventriloquism lessons called "How To Talk To Yourself." It was included with his Little Jeff dummy, and that was the only way to get it. The lessons feature Jeff and his cast of characters and show you the ventriloquial basics in 10 easy parts.
Watch now →World Vents
The oldest ventriloquism group on the internet. It used to be an email-only list and is now a popular Facebook community. Led by legendary figure carver Conrad Hartz, this group is a fun place to learn and visit.
Join now →Ventriloquist Workshop
Learn from ventriloquists and figure builders as they share their projects, puppets and skills. A thriving Facebook community of over seven thousand performers, builders and enthusiasts.
Join now →Puppet Making Resources
Interested in making your own soft puppet or building your own hard/traditional ventriloquist figure? The resources below can help. There are also many puppet-building groups on Facebook — like Ventriloquist Workshop and Puppet Makers Workshop — where you can get ideas, help and support from fellow vents and puppeteers.
Project Puppet
Project Puppet offers DIY puppet patterns, puppet-building supplies, and custom puppet design and construction services. Build your own puppet character with expertly crafted patterns, or have them design and deliver a television-quality custom puppet for your next project or production.
projectpuppet.com →Puppet Pelts
This website is amazing for getting supplies for soft puppets. You can buy eyes, noses, fleece, fake fur and all sorts of puppet pelts. So many cool things to bring your puppet to life, all in one place.
puppetpelts.com →Pocket Peepers
These fun googly-eyed finger puppets are perfect for on-the-go ventriloquism, or even puppet building. With Pocket Peepers you can instantly turn your hand into a puppet and put on a show anytime, anywhere.
kidology.org →The Fred Project
Al Stevens' website hosts a valuable resource on hard figure making. He documents his process for building a figure using a precast puppet head — how to design, build and install the mechanics, and how to paint your puppet and get it ready for the stage.
Check it out →The Knot Heads
Ventriloquist Lee Cornell and puppet builder Dennis Acosta brought back an old idea made popular by former Maher Studios owner Clinton Detweiler. A simple, small ventriloquist puppet that comes ready to go in a few cool and goofy characters. There's also a DIY kit with video instructions that walks you through building your very own Knot Head.
Get a Knot Head →Vent Haven Museum
Vent Haven Museum is the only museum in the world dedicated exclusively to preserving and showcasing the art of ventriloquism. It is an amazing place to visit.
The museum has more than 1,000 dummies used by ventriloquists from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. There are thousands of photos, scripts, memorabilia, playbills, posters, recordings, books, and more.
Vent Haven's founder, W.S. Berger, spent more than 40 years amassing a personal collection of vent-related memorabilia that continues to grow to this day.
Every year there are workshops, lectures, and shows by performers, experts, and professionals on all manner of topics related to ventriloquism and performance. The ventriloquist community is like none other in the world — you'll meet and interact with pros, beginners, collectors, and enthusiasts, all with a passion for ventriloquism, puppets, and performance. Conventioneers also get to visit the museum during the ConVENTion.
Learn more & support Vent Haven → Register for the ConVENTion →These are independent companies, teachers, and organizations. I'm not affiliated with them and I don't earn anything if you buy from them. They're listed here because they're good.