Eyelid friction

[Convincing John]

Hi, everyone.

I'm working on a puppet that will have blinking eyes and I plan to use ping pong balls for the eyes and foam eyelids. If I can pull it off, the eyes will blink. Kind of along the same wavelength as Clifford's.

When I cut out the eyelids, though, I noticed that there was some friction between the foam eyelid and the ping pong ball eye, and I'm worried that once I make the mechanism, it won't work right because of the friction.

Should I apply something to the eye to make it slick? If so, what?

Convincing John

 

[ravagefrackle]

well , cliffords eyelids, arnt foam, they are fleece, and they are covering a hard plastic eye lid that covers the eye shape, as for the friction you are getting, you will need to play with it, try leaving a small gap betwwen the eye and the lid, but eyelids dont rrest on top of the lid in the way a human eye does, its very tricky keep experimenting, good luck

 

[Jinx]

Another idea might be to try to glue a slick fabric such as a satin to the back of the foam eyelid. You can get very thin fabrics such as dress and vest linings that would probably fit the bill. Just take your ping-pong ball in with you and start rubbing it on the fabrics to see how well it works. Then be prepared to explain your actions to the people who look at you as though you just stepped of the ship from Mars!

This might help to minimize any friction, although the "near-miss" approach certainly does seem the best way to go.

 

[ravagefrackle]

slick fabric is a good idea, it will also help minimize tears to the foam on the inside of the eye lid