Inflating/Deflating Puppet (any ideas?)

[mrhogg]

Possibly foolish question, but will the puppet be seen at a fixed perspective? I imagine it wouldn't work, but if you made the puppet in pieces, you could walk the puppet stomach closer when you need it to get bigger.

That wouldn't work at all if you're doing a theatre performance, which you may be. Is it for theatre, or camera?

 

[Luke]

(C'mon guys, pretend you were a little girl in the 80s).

For the one that shrinks i'm pretty sure you can get valves for balloons that you can open and close each time you want it to escape a bit more. As for something deflating via footpump or sitting on a cactus i have no idea, possibly try tire deflaters - possibly theres some auto powered ones ?

 

[staceyrebecca]

The puppet will be in a fixated position as well as perspective. the thing isn't moving at all during the show. Its only job is to sit there & look pretty...and grow.

Yes, short bursts. The other one shrinks in short bursts.

With the balloon idea, do you think that it would make the balloon squeaky noise?

Also...I know with the beachballs you can get them to *inflate* is there a way that, with a pump, you can get them to deflate?

I'll get a beach ball & foot pump this weekend (Thank goodness I'm doing this during the summer). I'm going to have to play around with the design so he kinda keeps his shape a bit while he's deflated.

http://www.shnnoogletales.com/images/shnnoogBioPhoto.jpg there's a picture, there.


thanks guys for all of your help!

 

[puppetsmith]

Here's a theoretical solution, but admittedly there is still a lot to work out...

The characters themselves will basically have to balloons. As far as finding a material that would suit the finish of the character and be able to stretch like a balloon...that's another story. But for all intents and purposes the characters are balloons.

Each is stationary, sitting on a cactus. That means you don't really have to worry about operating the characters (except the growing and shrinking). That also means you don't have to worry so much about weight.

You could use water instead of air. So, if the large character (at the beginning of the story), filled fat with water, sits at a point on the cactus that is higher than the smaller character (who may be filled with just a little water) and the two characters/balloons are connected by a tube...the water will find an equalizing on its own. It would be similar to how water towers provide water pressure at your sink or shower. You could regulate the transfer of water either by the size of the tube or by way of a valve of some sort inserted in the tube between the two balloon characters. You may try looking around at what is available in the aquarium section at pet store as far as valves go. A valve would allow for the bursts of growth and shrinkage.

It may also be possible, assuming the cactus is hollow, to build a mech that would pull the mouth (where the tube connects) of the larger balloon into the cactus as the water is transferred, thus keeping the "skin" tight. The converse could be done with the small character, feeding more balloon up as the character grows.

Again, still a whole lot to work out. The idea is certainly a tough order.