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Ventrilotwist
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A couple weeks ago I finished my first puppet since I made a sock puppet many years ago. I spent a lot of time on it and wanted to wait until I could properly post pics to share it. I used the majority of my arts and crafts skills (ranging from clay sculpture to stage make-up) to make one of my own latex-head puppet; a phoenix inspired design.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/twist86/Puppet/IMG_0712_Small.jpg
(Oops...can't seem to get a picture...is it possible?)
Unfortunately I did not take pictures while in the process, but I can give simple info on how I made it.
First, I sculpted the head in polymer clay. I ended up having to sculpt the head twice because the first time I baked the clay (polymer clay cures in a conventional oven) and could not get it out of the plaster mold even though I had covered it with petroleum jelly. The second one I did not bake. I used an aluminum foil bas for the sculpture so I did not need as much clay.
Second, I made a plaster mold of the head and was able to easily remove the unblaked clay when the plaster hardened.
Third, then I cast it in latex. The latex I used is sold as a mold making substance. I colored the head by tinting latex with pigments and then painting many layers of each color on. The original latex head had to be thin as a thicker layer (which I tried after finding the original to be semi-transparent) could not support it's own wait and came out of the mold deformed. The layers of color not only gave the colrs a solid good coat, but eliminated the transparency.
The body is Furry Fleece as the base. I used red tube material (sold for making turtle necks) for the neck tube. The tube runs from the base into the head. A red feather boa makes up the wings and head tuft. In the back of the body I installed a zipper for easy construction but also for stuffing options. I'm glad I did this because I ended up switching from polyfoam to poly fiber filler. This is the first puppet I have made since a sock puppet I made a long time ago.
http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b312/twist86/Puppet/IMG_0712_Small.jpg
(Oops...can't seem to get a picture...is it possible?)
Unfortunately I did not take pictures while in the process, but I can give simple info on how I made it.
First, I sculpted the head in polymer clay. I ended up having to sculpt the head twice because the first time I baked the clay (polymer clay cures in a conventional oven) and could not get it out of the plaster mold even though I had covered it with petroleum jelly. The second one I did not bake. I used an aluminum foil bas for the sculpture so I did not need as much clay.
Second, I made a plaster mold of the head and was able to easily remove the unblaked clay when the plaster hardened.
Third, then I cast it in latex. The latex I used is sold as a mold making substance. I colored the head by tinting latex with pigments and then painting many layers of each color on. The original latex head had to be thin as a thicker layer (which I tried after finding the original to be semi-transparent) could not support it's own wait and came out of the mold deformed. The layers of color not only gave the colrs a solid good coat, but eliminated the transparency.
The body is Furry Fleece as the base. I used red tube material (sold for making turtle necks) for the neck tube. The tube runs from the base into the head. A red feather boa makes up the wings and head tuft. In the back of the body I installed a zipper for easy construction but also for stuffing options. I'm glad I did this because I ended up switching from polyfoam to poly fiber filler. This is the first puppet I have made since a sock puppet I made a long time ago.
