Traveling with puppet

[Jinx]

I brought Garth to the same auditions Fozzie mentions. I actually packed him in my small carry-on bag. I did remove the arm rods (spring steel; very small hook ends and dowel handles) and packed them first, running them from diagonal corner to diagonal corner where they tensioned themselves and held in place. I was concerned while going through security, but no one said anything. For the trip home, it was the same story. I was prepared to demonstrate their use, if asked, or as a worst-case scenario, surrender them.

One would hope that if they could see the intended use, they'd be fine, but those rotten terrorists have changed the face of the world in which we live. At the end of the day, I'd rather be on the side of safety.

 

[Melonpool]

I took Mayberry to New York about a month ago. Unlike other puppets on here, his arm rods are permanent, so removing them wasn't really an option. The puppet is old and falling apart, though, so I tried a little experiment.

I packed him in a suitcase for the trip there, but we were in a hurry on the way back, so I just put him in a big plastic bag and walked it on as carry-on. I'd done that a few times with an earlier version of the puppet pre-9-11, but I wasn't sure what they'd say this time. I figured if they made me throw him away, it wasn't a big deal, since I have to rebuild him from scratch soon anyway.

Well, they didn't even stop me. The rods are 18-inch welding rods, but I know they have relaxed security a bit here in the states (they allow 4-inch or less scissors on a plane, now), so maybe that's why it was allowed. I wouldn't try it if it's an important puppet, however.

Steve

 

[puppetise]

melopool when u build mayberry next make the rods detachable but u shouldnt post that security has relaxed a terrorist organisation might be watching lol but can u email me on how u built his eyes i have an i dea for smaller ones on a lion

cheers
-wayne-

 

[Melonpool]

I'm pretty sure I already posted how to make those eyes... I may even have e-mailed you directly. It's a plastic lens for a yard light.

Since these puppets are mainly for live convention "meet and greets" I don't like the idea of the rods coming undone while the puppeteers are on the floor talking to people, so permanent rods are the only way to make sure that doesn't happen.

The arms are attached at the shoulder with doll joints, and the original idea was to make two sets of arms (or maybe three) for each puppet. One set would have rods, one wouldn't, and one would have wire throughout. Depending on the shot in a film, you could pop the whole arm off and replace it with the one you needed. the arm would be kept in place by a rubber grommet inside the body.

It works great until the hole in the foam starts to elongate, then you pretty much have to put a real lock nut on the doll joint to keep it from constantly falling out. This hasn't been a problem, though, since we haven't made any films since we started using the puppets at conventions, and for the walk-arounds, this seems to be the best solution.

Steve

 

[Melonpool]

Okay, I found the answer I posted before. I know I've answered this for people a lot over the years, so here it is again:

There are these plastic globes that people can use to replace the big yard like fixtures (they're usually made of glass, but they do make a plastic version). It's like the one at the top of the Sesame Street sign. They're about 10 inches around and come molded in smoky white.

I cut out the shape I want for the eyes with my Dremel, sand the edges and then paint it white from the back. Whenever possible, I paint eyes from the back, because I hate it when I get a huge scratch on the eye (which always seems to happen).

Then, I take that self-adhesive black felt and cut off a 1/2 inch strip I carefully but the edge of the strip along the edge of the cut plastic (it's about 1/8 inch thick) and follow the contour of the eye. I fold the excess over the back so that the white eye pops off the face.

Then, I glue and sew the whole thing to the head. You can actually sew into the black felt to secure it -- it's not really going anywhere.

The one drawback -- and the reason I'm trying to find an alternative -- is that it adds a bit more weight than I'd like it to. I'd also like some division between the eyes. I think I'm looking for something that can be vacuformed into a shallow "butt shape" -- sort of like a ball with a groove running down the middle -- that I could then cut with scissors based on what character I'm making. I'll have to look into that.

****

I think I'm going to stop telling people how to make these types of eyes. I think it's much better for people to come up with their own techniques than to limit themselves to what others have done. If people didn;t use their own creativity, all of our puppets would have half a ping pong ball with a felt "flying saucer" on them.

 

[wes]

When I went to Toronto I took my puppets with me and they past through costum fine with no problem, but on the way home they stopped me throught the x-ray to see what it was they all got a laugh out of seeing the puppets.

Yeah, My father went to Bogta, Columbia they had some one make a huge duffel bag out of canvas for the puppet stage and had a Big Trunk for the puppet it made it to and from ok and keep evrything that was about 10 years ago though, maybe that helps