First Puppet, First Lesson Learned

[cjspiteri]

Hi All,

I just finished two foam heads and wanted to share my first experience with you. I have been wanting to do this for many years (about 10 that I can think of).

My first head I love, its perfect in my eyes. Except for one thing. I didn't measure the neck opening for my hand. I couldn't get my hand in without it tearing the foam. My wife could barely get her small hands into the puppet head, and it tore. I am going to get the pattern enlarged so that I can use it. I like the shape of the head and think its going to make a handsome puppet.

The second head looks like its got goiter or something. The neck is too thick (rather lack of neck). I may do some surgery on this. Maybe give the puppet a whiplash collar. I am not even attaching pictures of it as I am not a fan of it. I will take some before I rework it.

(This leads me to ask: Where can I post pictures of this experiment?)

Notes on my materials and situation:
I live and work in South East Asia and I have difficulty (GREAT difficulty) finding anything that one could easily find in North America at a craft shop. Here if you want to find foam you have to go to the "district" where they sell that product. I mean its 3 city blocks of just that product. I still have not found where they sell foam yet. So I have bought some 1/2 inch foam rectangles from a construction store. They use them for wiping down concrete or "whatever". The hot glue gun I am using is subpar, the first one I bought the insulation on the power chord melted and it shorted out and blew the breakers.

I hope to get better at this.

Thanks for reading and posting replies if you have done so.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Some good sites for hosting photos:

• Imgur
  
• Flickr
• Photobucket

 

[cjspiteri]

Some good sites for hosting photos:

• Imgur
  
• Flickr
• Photobucket

Thanks for the links.

 

[cjspiteri]

Here is a picture of the foam that I have resorted to using until I can find a source for larger sheets. It is 1/2 inch thick. I can get 1/4 inch from a local seamstress.

http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums...t experiments/20141019_172255_zps2e677f52.jpg

This is two sheets glued together to make the puppet head that I use as an avatar.

http://i1371.photobucket.com/albums...t experiments/20141019_173121_zpsb8dbc048.jpg

 

[cjspiteri]

Update and call for help.

I have finished the head and I have attached a sleeve to the "neck part" of the puppet and I want to attach in to the body that I have made. I was wondering if the dimensions are off. Its only a torso, head and arms and wondered if the dimensions are off. The head is about 9 inches as is the body. I have some extra length (3-4 inches) tucked up in the lower part of the body that I can pull out. Should the body and head be separate or sewn together?

The arms are still under re-construction as the first one I made looked more at home on a T-Rex than on this creature.

Any help or suggestions are appreciated right now.

 

[cjspiteri]

My arms are almost finished - had to restart again. I didn't use the right thickness of foam for my body and am regretting it. I will stick to 1/2 inch next puppet.

I tried using magnets in the hands for arm rods, either I need stronger magnets or just a regular type of arm rod. I will see how I feel at the end of the week.

I hope to have both arms finished and mounted this week and then I will post pictures. Wish I had more time to work on this. The learning experience is good. I only got really frustrated once with the EYES, and I bought way too much material (2 meters - should have gotten 1, don't want to do another purple creature puppet just yet).