Introductions and Help

[robot marque]

Hello all!

First let me introduce myself. I am a puppetry major at the university of la verne in califorina. I have been interested in puppets ever since I was a little boy. Now I am actually doing it. I need some help, tho. I am interested in using foam for one of my projects, and do not know how to make a pattern for a round object. Could any of you help me?

 

[Buck-Beaver]

You should use the wedge method. It's explained in my tutorial at http://www.bear-town.com/backstage_pages/tumbles_intro.htm

 

[psiomicron]

Thats pretty interesting how you made that. I would have done it a little differently. I would have got a big styrofoam ball, hollow a bit of it out for the hand and make a hole for the front and sand it down flat on the front, then make the mouth. That way it keeps his shape of the head.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

That works too (I never thought of it to tell you the truth). I still probably wouldn't use that approach though because the drawbacks are that the head can't be flexible (styrofoam is hard and inflexible) and it would probably break under the kind of long term use and abuse Tumbles was intended for. Contact cement also dissolves sytrofoam on contact so it's diffifcult to attach things to the head.

 

[psiomicron]

I found liquid nail glue to work perfectly to attach anything to syrofoam, felt, foam...etc.. Another idea is to isulate the styrophone sphere in a thin foam so it can take damage. Then it should have a little flexibility for his head, and maintain a good circle head.
I used styrofoam for the Grover i made and I'm happy with the results.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Grover is a good example of a puppet you could build that way. In the end it comes down to what materials you have, what materials you like and you find works.

 

[robot marque]

Thank you so much. This will be very helpful.