The Eyes Have It??!!

[Nick]

Hey Kids!

So... I spent a minor fortune today on fleece, thread, foam, buttons, and every other thing you can imagine! (Hancock Fabric is closing near my house! It could not come at a more perfect time... their loss, my GAIN! WOOT!) Opps was that typed out loud? erm...

OK, so I also went to Wallace World (aka Wal-mart) and bought a bag o ping pong balls... Great deal... but there is printing on one side... fairly large, how do you remove this? Alcohol? Nail polish remover? Acetone? Any ideas?

Otherwise, I will be wasting half a pong ball... my eyes will only be pinged... and not ponged! heeheehee... sorry, I am just giddy with excitement at all the puppets I will be making in the next two days!

Thanks Again!
Nick

 

[Teenager's]

I just paint the ping-pong balls......but I also had never thought of what you have suggested...so...I don't know....but paint works well....

 

[ravagefrackle]

here is a littel tip, not sure aboit avalibilty , but with easter soon approaching start looking for one little sport balls in the easter egg isle, they are about the same size a s the regular palstic eggs,

but the cool thing is they split in half nice and evenley , they alos come in differnt sizes depending on the store, so check you Targets, walmarts, oddlots, and michaels , they all have them, some are made of better plastics than others, but its worth the time looking for them

 

[Nick]

Hey thanks for the tips! I will definately keep my eyes peeled.

 

[TheCreatureWork]

Just a little sand paper

Hey Nick,
Use very fine sand paper and the writing should come write off- you shouldn't even have to press hard. If you have a female companion or friend ask if you can have a nail file. I purchased some ping pong balls at a dollar store and was able just to wipe it off with a soapy cloth. If you use acetone or nailpolish it will melt the ping pong ball plastic...colle eh....but probably not the effect you want

 

[wes]

Nail polish will work but most of the time I just spray paint it, make sure you do it evenly so no drips occur.

 

[Sad Sad Monster]

I can vouch for the nail polish remover melting the ping-pong ball, and it does not smell good at all.

 

[Jinx]

Years ago I made a puppet w/ ping-pong ball eyes. I simply chose to glue a black felt pupil over the writing on the ball. Made short work of that problem!

 

[ravagefrackle]

i would also suggest after sanding with the fine sandaper , u should use the Plastic Fushion spary paint made by Krylon, besure you do not over spray , be patient it might take several coats

 

[Da Dogster]

my type of eyes

I use diffrent types of eyes for most of my puppets,
For big eyes like Gonzo i use ping pong balls or styrofoam balls and silk.
For more realisic eyes, like The first Miss Piggy, I take plastic spoons and carve them into the shapes that I like.
But some times when I want some cartoon type eyes I use the new type of foam sheets that can be cut into eyes, or white plastic lids from the bowls that you can get at Wal Mart.