I'm a beginning puppeteer...

[erniebert1234ss]

Thnaks Buck! I read your blog at Bear-Town! I also joined the Yahoo Group you recommended on there! My name is Gutterball8605 if you want to send me a message- no spam please!

BJ

 

[Show and Tell]

WOW! That was a very helpful link. I think I'm gaining a better understanding of this dart placement thing to make 2D into 3D. Thanks Buck

 

[YoyoYoda]

Thanks, everyone, for all your replies! There's so much to learn... that link sheds a lot of light on it, though, Buck. I'm going to need to find somewhere to get 1/2 inch foam - most of what I have right now is 2 1/2 to 5 inch foam, so far as I can tell, and very difficult to cut.

It looks like you use 1/2 inch foam to make a pattern, much like a stuffed animal, and then pattern the fur or skin on top?

How helpful do you think it would be to go to the library and check out some books on making stuffed animals?

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I've found that most 1/2" foam is too soft (though there are dense varieties of it out there). I try to use 3/4" which seems to work nicely. If you can't find 3/4" foam readily available you can try carefully shaving 1" foam down to 3/4".

Does anybody have a list of good foam suppliers that sell over the net?

 

[ravagefrackle]

maybe one of the only things ill ever disagree with buck on, i find 1/2 inch foam to be great, you can always bulk up areas you need with a sculpted foam pad, or with some boning, its much more flexible, and expresive, but that just my opinion.

granted if you are talking about the common foam u get a fbric stores it is a little week, but reticulated polyfoam (or scott foam) is strong enough

try foam.com, the sell upholstery foam, but i believe they will cut to order

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Yeah, I was referring to the crummy 1/2" poly(upholstry) foam because I assume that's what most people here are finding when they talk about getting 1/2" foam. The 1/2" stuff up here that's manufactured by Eversoft is especially porous and usually won't even support the weight of fur when it's covered unless you heavily reinforce it.

I usually use 1/2" reticulated foam or L200 foam and they're both great, but alas harder to find.