Mary Robinette Kowal sez,
I've been a professional puppeteer for close nineteen years and almost every time I work with a new theater company, I have to explain why puppets are expensive. It's not the materials; it's the labor.I just did a post breaking down the time and material cost to build a simple papier-mache head for the show "There Will Come Soft Rains" and I thought your readers might be interested.
Total material cost? About a dollar.
Total time? Seven to ten hours.
Dog head for "There Will Come Soft Rains"
(Thanks, Mary!)