Fleece To Foam

[Squigiman]

Hey Gang,
I've been progressing a bit more with my first, and very experimental, attempt at making a puppet, and I've mostly been following advice from the Foam Book and its videos. I've just cut a fleece neck for the puppet, but before I go further, I want to dye it, alongside the face fleece. However, I'm not entirely sure what cuts of the fleece I'd need, exactly for covering the face properly. This is also because I am uncertain of what is the best way to cover a foam head with fleece. I know it's best to sew fleece to fleece, but I can't imagine the fleece should actually be sewn into the foam.

The guy in the video hot glues the edges of his neck to the foam, but I can't imagine covering the head in hot glue and placing the fleece down, as it would leave bubbles akk over the place. I also am unsure of using the Foam Fast 74 I use to connect foam to foam for this purpose for similar concerns as to hot glue. Not to mention, do I attach all the individual fleece pieces, such as two halves of the upper head, first by sewing, or do I just place them as closely together as I can when applying them all to the foam?

I figure someone out there must have experience with this simple issue, as opposed to more complex questions I have waiting in the wings, but those are for another time. Right now, I just want to move along adding skin to my creation, so that the other features, such as eyes, may fall into place, and he can finally be a bit more "fleshed out". Get it? Skin, flesh? Wokka wokka wokka! Anyways, any help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.


-Squigiman

 

[ravagefrackle]

read thru the posts here their are many discussions about covering a foam puppet , or go and check out Sean's Blog, Puppet101, he did a tutorial of how to covera head in material,

http://swazzle.com/blogs/2006/03/puppet-building-tutorial-ratchet.html

 

[Arislan]

That site uses terrycloth instead of muppet fleece. I'm uncertain about the differences in material porosity.

 

[puppetsmith]

I think sewing the fleece and then covering the head is probably going to be the best way to get the results you are looking for. You can definitely use the tutorial Ravagefrackle mentioned on the Puppet 101 Blog for the patterning process. For sewing the fleece, check out the Project Puppet tutorial on working with antron fleece.

I usually just attached the fleece at strategic places on the foam head, mainly around the mouth and the neck.

 

[Arislan]

Thanks for the link. I should probably look deeper into this whole glue/fleece relationship.

 

[gfarkwort]

How bout this.......Use Contact Cement....and that way you apply it as flat as you like.....

 

[ravagefrackle]

your best results will be a combination of sewing, and limited gluing , , read thru the blog and the other source that was listed above, its got all the information you can get , now it will be amatter of trial and error to learn how to use the different skills needed

 

[Buck-Beaver]

If you're just starting out I would not recommend using contact cement with fabric. If you do be very careful, because it's easy to spill on your fabric and ruin your puppet. In the blog Ravagefrackle mentioned I believe spray glue is used and that is probably best. I've also used hot glue and found it works if you're careful.