Finger tubes? Suggestions?

[greenman]

Hi everyone,

I am trying to figure out some ways I can attach finger tubes on the mouth board so it looks a little more professional than the way I tried on my first two puppets. I was using 1/2 foam rolled in tubes the size of my two fingers and thumb and then glueing them to my mouth board. After that I put some material over them to kind of strengthen them. But it looks too amatuerish or sloppy. Anybody have any suggestions? Also, what are some good materials to use for the mouth board? Thanks to everyone in advance.

 

[puppetpackpepe]

I suppose it doesn't matter as long as it works, eh? Cause it's gonna be covered up, right?

 

[Jinx]

I have always been much more concerned with the functionality of the mouthplate that its appearance. As it is entirely inside the puppet, durability is far more important than cosmetics.

I have made some puppets exactly as you described. (Samples can be seen at http://home.mcn.net/~fantom/pages/puppets.html) On some I've just made a "pocket" of fabric-covered-foam across the upper and lower plates (if they'e not going to require vigorous action).

On one puppet that required extremely fast mouth action I took a jersey work/gardening glove, put it on my hand, slathered it with white fabric glue and then put the puppet on my hand holding the mouth closed until the glue was set enough for me to remove my hand. This puppet now takes a little longer to put on my hand, but he's held up very well for 14 years and has never required re-glueing.

For mouthplates I've used everything from felt to neoprene to gasket rubber (very flexible) to heavy "chipboard" card stock to coroplast (ask your local sign shop for scraps, they'll probably give you some for free) to sintra. These last two are plastic and very, very durable. Coroplast had about the consistency or corrugated cardboard, whereas sintra is an expanded polystyrene wich comes in various thicknesses. (I prefer 3 mil).

Hope this helps!