soft foam marionettes?

[muppetfan89]

is it possible to make marionettes as a muppet type puppet as opposed to wood or clay?

 

[ravagefrackle]

yes but you need to work with the material , and add weight other wise it is hard to make them move(look at Emet Otters Jug Band Christmas , lots of marrionette work

 

[staceyrebecca]

I'd imagine its very possible! The Great Az Puppet Theater uses carved styrofoam covered in Paper Maiche, and then they add weights to the puppets. The idea of a sewn and/or carved foam puppet makes me more attracted to marionettes only because I'm afraid of knives cutting off my fingers when carving wood.

 

[muppetfan89]

Where would I add weight to it? What do I use as weight?

So far, all I can think of is adding weight to the bottom jaw in order to operate the mouth.

 

[staceyrebecca]

Washers...rocks..fishing weights...

I'm sure you'd want a weight in the feet. I'm not a marionette puppeteer, but I'd also think one in the hands or the forearms would be good. Torso, maybe?

I'm calling PuppetFest Midwest today to tell them which workshop I want to take...I'm *planning* on taking Nick Barone's, but man I really want to take Phillip Huber's (I just know I won't use the knowledge as frequently and let's face it, I need some building help)

 

[Buck-Beaver]

You could also carve the puppet (or parts of it) out of a hard closed-cell foam. There are some pics of a marionette that was made this way here.

 

[biblebetty]

I hear a lot about carving foam. what kind of carving tools do you use to carving foam. I've tried everything i can use and the blades just get dule really fast or they don't work. how does one carve a block into such detail without using an electic knife?