Mainly for Karen Prell

[BorkBork]

...but the rest of you may also join this thread

I have started to think about eyes for my puppets, and i'd like to do fraggle type-eyes, so Karen i wonder if you might remember what you guys used on your fraggles. Were they ping pong balls? or where they fishing floats, as i have heard roumors of. I am actually thinking of using pingpong balls, as i did on this puppet , however i think that pingpongs might be too small...

I know that David Pannabecker sells plastic domes, but i need full balls, and not halfes.

Anyway, thanks for any help.

/Anders

 

[KPrell]

Hi Anders,

We used lots of different things for eyes when we had our own puppet company in England. Fishing floats are good to use. They're sturdy and come in lots of different sizes. They take a lot of preparation though, sanding all over so paint will adhere, filling and sanding the joints and indentation at one end, then anchoring some wire to come out the opening for fastening to the puppet head. But it's worth the extra time and effort.

It's been a long time since I did that work so I don't remember details of types of filler or paint, but I'm sure you'll be able to experiment and find materials that work well. They've just come out with new spray paints in the States that are supposed to stick really well to plastic, so maybe there's something similar over there.

I couldn't open your puppet photo yet - my computer needs some software updates - but it sounds pretty good.

Good luck and happy building!

Karen

 

[BorkBork]

Thanks, Karen for your kind answer. I will most definately experiment with different things, i will go out to some fishingshops and look for floats. I also found pingpongballs online that are 40mm, and afaik they used to be 38 mm, so that larger size is definately to my advantage.

Regarding that paint you are talking of, i don't think i can order it from the states. I tried to order glue, but flamable and preasurized bottles can't be sent by airplane, so i'll have to try and find it in the EU. Do you perhaps know the name or brand?

Too bad you couldn't see the picture, it was my first muppet replica i did. It's supposed to be Beaker. I also did a try on Sam Eagle's head, with fairly good results, but it wasn't a working mouth puppet, only like a model of it. When you are able to view picture links, please look here .

Thaks again, and please, say hi to Red Fraggle from me

/Anders