Attaching Mouthpieces to Puppets' Heads

[muppetfan89]

what do you use to attach the mouth piece to the inside of the head? I tried using a hot glue gun, but it made it look messy, becuase the glue wouldn't hold right away and would cause string-like pieces of glue, as well as huge gungs of glue. what's better to use for this?

 

[Melonpool]

I use contact cement to attach the mouthplate to the foam skull and then hot glue the fleece skin to the mouth palette.

The best way to use hot glue on something like this is to do it a little at a time and have a small cup of water handy to keep your fingers wet (to avoid burning them). I start at the center seam, then one corner of the mouth, then halve the distance until each half of each jaw is attached. The wet fingers keep too many of the stringy bits from attaching, since it will solidify them almost on contact.

It seems to work pretty well.

 

[wes]

contact cement for shure!

 

[muppetfan89]

thank you. funny, cause I was told to not use contact cement on foam, becuase it would burn it, seems weird.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

What kind of foam are you using? You can use contact cement on open cell foam (the squishy, sponge-like kind), but it does melt some types of closed cell (hard) foam, like Styrofoam.

 

[muppetfan89]

it's soft light-green foam and spongy, and easily cuttable, so no it's not styrofoam.

 

[muppetfan89]

oh, one thing I forgot to ask, does contact cement melt sheet foam, the kind that's also sponge-like, but comes in small sheets and in a variety of colors?

 

[wes]

thank you. funny, cause I was told to not use contact cement on foam, becuase it would burn it, seems weird.

who ever told you that must not build puppets, Contact cement is a staple in puppet making.

Contact Cement doesn't melt apolstery sheet foam, maybe styrofoam but not sheet foam.

 

[SesameKermie]

I've used contact cement with fun foam (like foamies) and have not had any issues.

 

[muppetfan89]

ok, but what about fleece, can it be used on fleece of felt?