Better Way To Build Heads

[MuppetLabsBoy]

Hello,
I carve all of my puppets' heads out of blocks of foam; are they going to last longer, or shorter than foam that was cut in thin sheets and glued?
Thanks,
MLB

 

[Melonpool]

The one advantage I've found to making them out of flat foam is that it's a lot easier to make patterns for multiple versions of the same character.

When you carve them out of foam, you're more or less making a one-of-a-kind puppet. When you build from flat foam, you can keep a paper copy of the pieces to use as a pattern so that later on you can rebuild it.

I don't know if one or the other lasts longer. I have a puppet that I made out of sheet foam that's about 9 years old now. It's a little messed up inside, but still works.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

In terms of lasting longer, I think that's more of an issue of how you store and use puppets. I agree with Melonpool that carving is good for one-off puppets, not so good for characters that have to be built over and over again.

 

[puppetsmith]

Amen.