Bottle Bug Puppet!

by nonabanona12 in Living > Toys & Games

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Bottle Bug Puppet!

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This instructable known as a Bottle Bug Puppet is fun to make, easy to make, and fun to play with! But this is no ordinary puppet. People would expect puppets to be made out of fabric, but this one is made out of plastic bottles!Why out of plastic bottles you ask?Instead of throwing away bottles after your done drinking all the juice or water in them, you can make something creative out of it like this bottle bug. And sure, you can always just put the bottle in the recycling bin, but why do that when you can recycle it this way!

1. Materials

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These are the materials I used to make this puppet.

-  Different colors of craft paint
- Permanent pens
- Paint brushes
- One big plastic bottle (any shape)
- One small plastic bottle(any shape)
- Scissors 
- Bread Knife
- A little help of a parent
- A black glove (optional)
- Hot glue gun

2. Lets Get Started!

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Yay! Now you can start making it. 

 With the BIGGER bottle, draw a circle going around the OUTSIDE bottom of the bottle with a sharpie. Make sure that you don't put the circle to high up on the bottle or else your puppet will be to short. After this, you probably need a parents help unless your comfortable using a knife. Get the bread knife and cut around the bottle where you circled it. This will create a space to put your hand through. (To soften the edges where you cut it, use the scissors and cut off all the jagged parts.)

3. Finger Space

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Now you need somewhere to put your fingers to make the bug look like it's crawling. On the bottom of the bottle, (you can choose any side to be the bottom) draw what looks like an egg on a stick on the OUTSIDE of the bottle with a sharpie. After you've done that, cut along the lines with scissors. The line at the bottom is what leads you to the circle so it wont be so hard cutting it out. Make sure that when you stick your hand into the bottle and out the hole you just made, the hole is big enough for you to stick all of your fingers through  the hole. If the hole is to small, cut it so its bigger.

4. Add the Details

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In this step, you give the bug eyes and other buggish details. Get the sharpie and draw in eyes, spots, and any thing else you want. (instead of trying to draw in the bottle, draw OUTSIDE of the bottle so its easier)

5. Wings

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When your done with step 4, just leave that part of the bug alone for a little because now it's time to make the wings! The beginning of making the wings is basically like the beginning of making the body to the bug. Draw a circle around the outside of the bottom of the SMALLER bottle. Try cutting around the bottle where you made the circle. If that's to hard, you might need to ask your parent to cut it off with the bread knife.

6.

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I know I know, these pictures probably look very confusing. Especially this one. So, I will try to explain this the best I can. Get the sharpie and draw a big oval shape on about half of the bottle, then cut it off using scissors. When you cut that part off, it should look like the second picture.

7. Wing Details

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Now After step 6, draw a line going through the center of the oval shape thingy. But don't make it go all the way or else your wings will be split into 2 pieces! After you've drawn that, cut on the line all the way until the line that you drew stops. To add detail to the wings draw different designs on the outside like lines or swirls. In the end you should have two peices, the body and the wings.

8. Paint the Body!

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When you paint the body, MAKE SURE TO PAINT INSIDE THE BODY SO IT LOOKS GLOSSY, AND DON'T GO INTO THE OTHER LINES! What I mean by don't go into the other lines, I mean that you go around the circles and other designs that you made on the bug. For the mouth, make sure you don't accidentally paint it the body color. When you paint  the details try staying inside the lines so it doesn't interfere with the body color.You can make your bug any color you want!

9. Paint the Wings!

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Now we can paint the wings! I only painted part of the wings because usually, most bugs have clear wings. But if you wanna make your bug a butterfly, go ahead and paint everything! (remember, paint in the inside part of the wings and body so they look glossy!!)

10. Antennas

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 Remember the bottle you used to make the wings? Well, we are gonna use that to make the antenna. Cut off 2 thin strips that are about 3 inches long off the leftover bottle and color in the INSIDES of the strips with sharpie.

11. Attach Everything

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Attaching all the parts to the bug is kinda tricky. I really recommend using hot glue instead of any other glue. First, glue on the wings so they're at a certain angle that makes the wings kinda stand up and not just laying on your bugs back. Next,  glue on the antennas.

12. Puppet Time!

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Now, stick your hand through the opening and stick your fingers through the hole.Your fingers are the puppet's legs. I recommend wearing a black glove when you do this because then they look more like bug legs instead of plain fingers.

13. DONE!

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CONGRATULATIONS! You have just made a bottle bug! If you liked this instructable, please vote for it! :)