Question about foam blocks

[Gonzo's Hobbit]

So, I've been toying around with the idea of trying to carve a puppet head out of a foam block but I have a coupld questions first. The first one being is there a standard dimension that works well for a head or is it just what sorta works? The other question is, I am having a really hard time finding any foam thicker than 4 inches and am considering posisbly glueing two peieces together with contact cement. Does anyone recommend against that or does that sound at all plausible?

 

[MuppetLabsBoy]

I have been carving my puppets out of foam for a long time now so I think that I can help you.

No, there is no standard head size to carve. My advice is make something that is going to be manageable. Often if the head is too big it is also heavy, and is uncomfortable to hold up for more than two minutes. I try to carve all of my heads within the 6"x6" range. If you have an FAO Whatnot, that is a good size reference.

I have the same problem about finding thick foam as well. Gluing the sheets together works as long as you use a good amount of glue. Make sure that you get all of the little edges. Plus, you have whatever type of fleece or fabric covering on it which pulls in the foam slightly and holds everything together.

Hope that helps!
-MLB

 

[Gonzo's Hobbit]

It totally helps. Thank you so much.

 

[practicecactus]

I remember someone posting a link to a place that makes custom sized blocks of foam to order, but generally, you can find something roughly that muppet head size. Try asking about offcuts. My local rubber supplies place has offcuts out front for cheap but other places might even throw them out.
If you can't find a block that is big enough, you can totally use two pieces together. What I would do, is get the biggest pieces you can find and glue them together, but just a smallish section, in the center. Because once you have a carved foam head, you have to split it down the center anyway to carve out the space for your hand and whatnot, I wouldn't bother gluing the whole surface area together to start with. If you did, once you go to split it, you'll be trying to cut dried contact cement, which is naturally much harder than foam. Gluing the two halves back together again as a complete head, you'll have a fresh foam surface area to glue.
Further more, if you have a specific design already planned, you can use a stencil-template-pattern [whatever you wanna call it] of the profile of your design, and trace it onto both pieces and you got a good idea of where your hand is going to go inside. You also save a lot of time already having an outline of where to carve the head.
It's also a good idea to sculpt your puppet with it's mouth open, which not only allows you to make more detail around the mouth, but is easier to puppeteer.

 

[TheCreatureWork]

Foam

Check out my Puppet Building Directory under the foam heading:
http://puppeteersunite.com/?page_id=1059

 

[Gonzo's Hobbit]

Awesome! Thanks for that.