What do you use to build a puppet's mouth?

[Brian Kendig]

The mouth of my Muppet Whatnot broke! The whole tragic tale is here. Basically, inside the felt is a bent piece of plastic to make the upper and lower mouth rigid and provide a kind of 'hinge', but that 'hinge' is where the plastic snapped in half. Now it snaps and crunches when I operate the mouth.

So, the only solution is to somehow undo the stitching and get inside the Whatnot and replace that plastic inside the mouth.

My question: what should I replace this plastic with? I'm going to replace the single bent piece with two separate pieces, one for the upper mouth and the other for the lower mouth, cut to fit. Trying to bend the plastic every time I wanted the puppet's mouth closed was tiring. I'm not going to bother with hinges or anything.

Should I put thin pieces of wood in there instead? Or cut new pieces of plastic? Or do your puppets have nothing in there but your hand against the felt? What works best, looks best, and is the most durable for normal use?

 

[D'Snowth]

Should I put thin pieces of wood in there instead? Or cut new pieces of plastic?

No, no, no, absolutely not... if you're talking about like basla wood, that would break too easily.

Depending on what you're wanting to go with, there's two possibilities for you...

1. If you want just a simple mouth that can open and close and nothing else, I would recommend some sturdy cardboard - most "professional" hand puppets have cardboard mouths anyway... depending on the material cover the mouth, that might still leave you with that "snapping" noise you mentioned, but that's nothing to really to worry about.
2. If you want an expressive mouth like that of Kermit and early incarnations of the AMs, everyone I've talked to here recommends using gasket rubber, which you would probably find at an automotive shop - some say the plastic from ice cream containers work well, but I don't see it keep its shape very well.

 

[Scooterthegofer]

*OR* use foam. It always works!

 

[D'Snowth]

*OR* use foam. It always works!

I haven't had luck with it, I've tried it with a puppet once, and the jaw lost its shape made the puppet look like he had a permanent scowl.

 

[Scooterthegofer]

Well...sometimes that happens. Still, if properly made, it can work great!

 

[Super Scooter]

2. If you want an expressive mouth like that of Kermit and early incarnations of the AMs, everyone I've talked to here recommends using gasket rubber, which you would probably find at an automotive shop - some say the plastic from ice cream containers work well, but I don't see it keep its shape very well.

When I went to an automotive shop, they didn't have gasket rubber... or rubber gasket... or whatever. Anyway, I got mine at a plumbing store. Works good.

Either use that or some plastic sheets. I wouldn't reccomend cardboard as it gets wet and sweaty and gross after a while. (hey, some Muppets even have wooden mouths)

 

[Fozzie Bear]

Home Depot has gasket rubber.

I always use corrugated plastic, like the stuff you see political signs made out of. I cut one for the top, one for the bottom pallette of the mouth, and duct tape them together (put the against one another when you tape the back side or it won't shut properly).

 

[D'Snowth]

I wouldn't reccomend cardboard as it gets wet and sweaty and gross after a while.

That's usually why the back of the mouthplates are covered in fabric as well to prevent breakdown of the cardboard.

That was one of my earliest mistakes with Steve, and I had to replace his mouth entirely after a while.

 

[wes]

I love to use Plastic Ice cream pales, cut them and there very flexible and there cheap and pretty easy to obtain.

I got that from Terry Angus.

 

[spcglider]

If you have a traditional hardware store in your area, you should be able to buy gasket rubber there off the roll. It'll be about 12" wide and cost much less than the pre-cut stuff in packages. Its toilet gasket. Its strong and flexible and salmon colored. It'll probably be between 1/16" and 3/32" thick. Maybe even as much as 1/8" thick.

You can use contact cement on it to adhere it. But be sure to wipe it down with an alcohol swab before you apply the contact adhesive. That'll remove any manufacturing releases from the surface.

Use the original pieces from your whatnot as a template.

-Gordon