Rod Puppet Sculpting

[Giddry]

Hi everyone! My name is Kristin. I'm a newbie to this forum but I've made several puppets already. They've all been different kinds and now I find myself in a situation where I need to make a few rod puppets and I have no idea how to sculpt a head.

Do I use plaster? Paper Mache? I don't know how to make it smooth because I'm used to putting fleece over it and these need to be sort of shiny and a little "wood" looking. Do you have any suggestions? I appreciate it in advance!

 

[practicecactus]

Although I haven't tried it, I've got an old puppet making book that recommends a product called 'Plastic Wood'. Sculpting a head out of plastacine, covered with petrollium jelly so it doesn't stick, the plastic wood is applied thinly over it and left to harden, then cut a section out of the back to scoop out the plasticine and apply the mechanisms to nod or whatever. There must be a few products like that out there someone here could recommend.

 

[Sidebottom]

I've had some success doing papier-mache with blank newsprint and acrylic matte medium. A few layers of that make something quite smooth, lightweight, and super hard.

Like this head I made:
http://theabstractions.com/progress17.html

-Grant

 

[SesameKermie]

I believe that you can also use a fine sandpaper on it to gently sand down paper-mache once it is completely dry. IIRC, you use the standard water-glue-flour flour mix and blank newsprint, chop your paper up really fine (a cross-cut paper shredder can help with this to save your hands) and then build your head. Once it is completely dry, use a fine grit sandpaper to gently sand and smooth it. Since the paper was chopped so fine, it should be fairly smooth to start with.

For wood grain effects, I recommend a faux-finish techique.

 

[Teenager's]

You might also consider using paper-clay. It's exactly what it sounds like....clay made out of paper, so you can sculpt it and it remains light. What works also is if you create a base or armature out of tin-foil and then cover that with paper clay making it even lighter. Like paper mache it can also be sanded with sand paper. The upside is that this material is really easy to work with and can be found at Michaels.

Interestingly enough though practicecactus....the material "plastic wood" is no longer produced because of its chemical properties. There is a current knock-off version, but I've heard from other puppet builders that it's not as strong or easy to work with as its predecessor.

 

[lynxminx]

Hi everyone! My name is Kristin. I'm a newbie to this forum but I've made several puppets already. They've all been different kinds and now I find myself in a situation where I need to make a few rod puppets and I have no idea how to sculpt a head.

Do I use plaster? Paper Mache? I don't know how to make it smooth because I'm used to putting fleece over it and these need to be sort of shiny and a little "wood" looking. Do you have any suggestions? I appreciate it in advance!

Apoxie-Sculpt would work, but it would be heavy. You could try laying it over a lighter armature...it'll bond permanently to any material. There's another product by the same company that I haven't tried yet...it's more like a clay, but dries like a plastic putty, called Critter Clay (for taxidermists). Both can be sanded, drilled, etc.

Whatever material you choose, you can get a glossy wood-like shine from it by spraying on a couple topcoats of clear acrylic.

 

[TheCreatureWork]

Sculpting

To learn how to create a foam structure from scratch I would recommend "PlaySoup" video series.
http://www.playsoup.com/store/video.htm

Dr. Puppet also is another amazing video series you can download.
http://www.drpuppet.com/video_tutorial_page_1.html

For paper mache' I would recommend Creaturiste' Blog TV Page.
http://www.blogtv.com/People/Creaturiste
If you scroll down you'll see all the videos. You can also subscribe to his videos so you know when Matt comes on to broadcast.

 

[TheCreatureWork]

one more site...

Stiqpuppets also is on BlogTv here is his foam sculpting video.
http://www.blogtv.com/Shows/736892/buZEY2NGaeVwYeZtZX&pos=ancr

Hope these help you.