Ostrich plume hair question

Schfifty

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Apologies if there is already a thread about this, but is there any way to prevent ostrich plumes from getting in the way of a puppet's face? I've got a couple of puppets which have ostrich plumes for hair, and often times some of the plumes will kind of sag and cover the eyes when the puppet is being operated. It gets a little annoying having to brush the plumes off the eyes a lot, but is there a recommended way to prevent this from happening?
 

D'Snowth

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Maybe trim the plumes above their eyes a little? That's my only thought.
 

ashkent

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I agree with trimming. I think a lot of the direction of the feathers depends on the direction they are attached in. If they are attached so they naturally lie towards the back of the head then they are going to fall back there even if they do momentarily obscure the eyes. Think of them like real hair....if someone has hair that naturally has a parting then it is hard to make the hair go the opposite direction, so if you apply them at an angle away from the eyes then that will help a bit.
 

D'Snowth

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Yeah, that's what I had to do when I was working with ostrich feathers, was basically attach them so that the plumage naturally faced upward (it was the look I was wanting anyway), but there were still occasional little plumes here and there that may dangle downward in front of the eyes, so I trimmed those - think of it like shaping up bangs or something, lol.
 

Schfifty

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I'm kind of worried about trimming them. These puppets were made by Jarrod Boutcher, and I don't think I'd want to permanently alter such a genuine puppet.

I'm wondering if maybe some of the plumes sag because of how the puppets are stored. I keep all of my puppets in clear plastic storage tubs when they're not being used, and I don't use any eye covers or sacks to protect the heads. Could the sagging be because of how the puppets lay in the tubs?
 

D'Snowth

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Could be. I usually have to fix up puppets that have been in storage, such as brushing out Steve's fur from being matted down, or sometimes a puppet's torso may have been flattened so I have to kind of squeeze it back into shape.
 
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