Puppet Mouth Material

[hobbestheprince]

I noticed a few of you had a distaste for a show called, "Wonder Showzen" in some threads. I thought the show was alright, but what I thought was interested was the mouths for the numbered characters, and the alphabet characters.

Does anyone know the materials used to make a mouth like that? The lower lip seems to be pulled from a string by the puppeteer below, but when not pulled, it retracts back to a closed mouth. I could only find one clip, the guy in the middle has that sort of mouth:

 

[jomama]

It looks like they might be hair ties. To use attach the corners of the mouth to the puppet, tie clear fish line to the center bottom, attach a round plastic ring to the end and pull away.

 

[hobbestheprince]

Thanks for the response You have a point, I think it could be a hair tie ... it would explain the very low-budget look of the show. I have to admit though, I do like those unique mouths ... I have never seen that used on any puppet before, and it's cheap and unique.

Anyone else have any ideas or know exactly what it is that makes up the mouths? I do like the hair tie idea.

 

[SesameKermie]

Rubber bands would also work. Basically the item used just needs to be elastic and stretchy. I've seen this used for several of the letter/number puppets on Sesame Street too.

 

[CoOKiE]

hey, i dont mean to be a jerk... at all.. i promise... but there is something VERY VERY VERY disturbing (or so i feel) on this video. Can you PLEASE edit your first post... and put a warning above your post with red letters.

 

[Blink]

hey, i dont mean to be a jerk... at all.. i promise... but there is something VERY VERY VERY disturbing (or so i feel) on this video. Can you PLEASE edit your first post... and put a warning above your post with red letters.

Agreed. I was unhappy to have, without warning, watched an animal carcase decaying. I stopped the video quickly, but a warning would be highly recommended.

 

[practicecactus]

heh, you guys must not venture out too far into the internet if that offends. ;-P

The mouth might be a strip of foam with a slit cut in it, but just doing a little test here, the top part stays straight if you'd glue the ends of the mouth down. Pulling the bottom makes the bottom lip move like it does in the video. You'd have to cover it with something for a different colour though, I guess.
Looking at a sesame street talking letter, it seemd to have black behind the lips, so you'd have to paint just the width of the lips or slightly less to have the black appear as the mouth opens.
My two cents anyway.

 

[Blink]

heh, you guys must not venture out too far into the internet if that offends. ;-P

I am not sure how taking a jab at people for sharing honest feedback is warranted. Since you don't know anything about me and what I have seen, I will let that go. A warning is a very reasonable request and I'd like to think that most people would understand that.

Anyway, back to the discussion.