Building Audrey II (need some advice)

[DreadfulRabbit]

I posted a thread a long time back about building a set of Audrey II puppets for my high school's production of Little Shop of Horrors. I was about 15 or 16 at the time. The show is long over now. The puppets ended up turning out relatively well, considering I had had basically no experience with puppet building prior to this project. Here are a few pictures of the finished puppets and a short video that shows me operating them.

And the video:

Now, a while has passed and I've gotten a lot more experience and completed several other puppet projects. I'll be heading to college this fall and before I go I've made it my goal to make a durable, good quality set of Audrey II puppets that I can rent out. I had no budget and no experience building the first set and I know I can do much, much better work now.
I've already pretty much completed the first 2 puppets of my new set. I carved them both out of eps foam and covered them in spandex. You can see the new Pod 2 (still very much a work in progress) below.

The reason I am posting all of this is that know some people here have built sets of Audrey II's in the past and I would love some advice. What are the best materials for the larger plants? What major problems did you run into? And based on the Pod 2 pictures above, do you think I could realistically build a set that would be high enough quality to rent out? Any tips or advice would be helpful.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I think carving the larger plants out of sytrofoam and covering them would work. You could also try patterning them out of L200 foam and then adding boning or some kind of reinforcing structure. Covering them with fabric is a very good idea for durability.

What makes the plants suitable for rental isn't so much how they look (although, obviously, that's important) but if they are durable. Audrey II plants usually get treated very badly when they are rented out. If they are not constructed in a very solid manner they are going to be destroyed after a couple of runs.

Have you read "How To Audrey II"?

 

[DreadfulRabbit]

Thanks for the reply.

I have a copy of the "How to Audrey II" book and it's been very helpful, although some of the materials mentioned (such as celastic) are just too dangerous/ difficult to get to be practical, so I'm having to improvise quite a bit. I understand that durability is very important, and I'm definitely concerned about that. From a purely aesthetic standpoint, though, do you think the new puppets I'm making could be rented out?

The second pod, like I said, is carved out of eps (which seems to pretty much just be a slightly more durable, less flaky styrofoam). I covered the whole thing in jersey and then a layer of spandex. The inside of the mouth was covered in a layer of cheap fleece so that no foam would be exposed so it wouldn't get corroded by sweat and dirt. The mouth then has a layer of purple faux fur. The leaves and stem were all sewn on an industrial machine. The leaves are attached with glue to the stem/ pot and the stem is attached to the pod of the plant with glue. There are 2 leather straps inside to operate it with which are glued to the inside of the mouth. They are reinforced with two tabs of fabric glued over either end of the strap.
I'm a little worried about the straps coming loose after repeated use as well as leaves falling off, etc. Do the construction techniques I used seem as though they'll be durable enough? Pod 1 is built in roughly the same way.

For the larger pods I was thinking of making either an aluminum or steel frame, covering that in 1 inch polyeurathane foam and then carving the lips/ contours of the mouth out of spray foam or more eps foam.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I think the puppets look fine. That look would be great for school rentals and probably most Community Theatres, which are the bulk of the rental market.

When gluing leaves, just use a very strong glue. Contact cement is great if you can use it in a well ventilated area (not inside a house, especially a basement). They will come off during each run no matter what, so have plenty of spares.

For straps I would not rely solely on glue. It's a really good idea to sew any fabric together and then connect the strap to part of the frame directly. If the strap is glued to the pod and it is made of foam, eventually the strap will rip.

Don't use steel for the frame. It's way too heavy and also you would probably have to weld it. Aluminum is a much better idea (the puppeteers will thank you).

 

[DreadfulRabbit]

The issue with the strap is that the second pod doesn't have any frame. It's just carved foam. But I'll definitely reinforce it per your suggestion. I agree that aluminum would be better for a frame. Maybe fiberglass for the largest one.
I guess it was kind of a silly question to ask if they look good enough, considering I only posted a picture of pod 2 (and the old ones I posted at the top of the thread really do look like crap compared to what I can do now). Anyways, hopefully they'll be at the high end of community theater level when I'm done. I figure any regional theater would just rent the broadway puppets, anyways. I'm hoping to actually be involved in the first couple productions that these puppets are in, so I can do a lot of trouble shooting then, as well.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Sorry I was confused about Pods. Fibreglass is probably best for the biggest one. Personally, I would pattern the 2nd and 3rd pods out of L200 (or maybe L400?) foam rather than carve them, just because that is a lot easier, cheaper and uses less material.

Have you looked at Swazzle's Audrey II page? They seem to have worked out a nice system for renting them.

 

[DreadfulRabbit]

Yeah, I was thinking of covering the metal frame of the bigger pods with some kind of sheet foam and then carving just the snout and lips and other details that are too specific to pattern.

I actually visited Swazzle recently (I live right by them) and they gave me a copy of their rental contract to use a template, so I'll definitely be modeling mine off of that. I definitely feel more confident moving forwards, now. I'll post more updates and pictures once I get started on pod 3.