Question about eyes

[buckshot]

i just finished making an experimental puppet out of some materials in my house (old fleece blanket my dog chewed on, pillow stuffing, cardboard, tshirt, ping pong balls...). i made the mistake of using crazy glue on the mouth and eyelids. not cool. it bleached the color of both the mouthplate and eyelids.

my question is this...is there an easy/good way to cut eyelids to fit the eyes, and how do you attach them? because the eyes are on the top of the head, i found it difficult to cut the eyelids precisly. i'm pretty happy with the outcome, but am just wondering if there's a better way to cut and attach the eyelids. any input is appreciated.

(FYI...i did a search for eyelid conversation in the puppetry forum, but didn't find anything to answer my question)

 

[scarylarrywolf]

Well, whenever there's something I can't use stitching to attatch to a puppet, I always resort to contact cement. If you use too much of it it'll obviously still soak through the material like the super glue, but a reasonably light coating does just the trick. Sometimes I also use spray-on Elmer's glue (the amout of which you also have to be careful with). It helps to get a nice even coat, whereas dabbing on a glob of contact cement can cause some of the glue to splooch out the sides of the material once you press it on.

You said something about the eyes being "on the top of the head" -- do you mean they're popping out like Kermit's eyes? In that case, to get the eye lids rounded just the way you want to fit the eyes you'll have to cut out a couple triangles of the fabric (probably 3) and sew them together. This opperates on the same principle as a beach ball or an umbrella -- any rounded shape can be broken down into triangles.

Hope this helps -- GOOD LUCK!

 

[Buck-Beaver]

There is a company in the U.S. - for the life of me I can't recall the name - that sells plastic spheres in a wide variety of sizes. These are great to cut and use and eyelids and eyes. Again, I can't recall the name but I know a lot of professional builders buy from them.

Maybe Toastcrumbs knows?

 

[buckshot]

You said something about the eyes being "on the top of the head" -- do you mean they're popping out like Kermit's eyes?

yeah...it's eyes are kinda like kermit's, but i want eyelids to look like gonzo's. the puppet's head is shaped kinda like a mix between a fraggle's and bert's, and the eyes are on the top/front of the head. i'm playing around w/ different building ideas, so this puppet wasn't really plotted out too well.

i'll definitely try the triangle idea, and i'll look for spheres, too. thanks, guys.

 

[buckshot]

thanks for your help...i ended up pulling the crusty ol' super glued eyes off, and fixing them. it looks a lot better. thanks!