Want to make a puppet with Miss Piggy coverings

[IvannaPuppet]

Hello I love the soft fuzzy look to miss piggy I have some velour would that work if I want my puppet to have skin like hers? I am relatively new to puppet building and puppetry. My avatar is only my second attemp at puppet building. I her name is Blu and my younger students LOVE her let me know what you think

 

[fragglerockr]

IvannaPuppet,

Miss Piggy is made from foam latex. It is poured into a mold and then "cured". To get the fuzzy texture on her face the puppet is then flocked with tiny fur fibers. That gives the puppet texture.

Fragglerockr

 

[callmemilo]

Foam latex is notoriously difficult to setup for use. You need an oven to cure it, and the fumes from cooking are pretty toxic, so if you absolutely have to use your kitchen oven, you're gonna need all the windows open, and you'll wanna clean it heavily after every use.

That said, I've seen a couple fabric-made Piggies floating around the internet, but getting the pattern right is extremely tricky. I'm trying to go this route myself, but the pattern making is taking up a considerable chunk of the build.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

An alternative to using foam latex would be to use an A/B cold foam. That's sold through SFX supply houses (there are lots of them online). It will not give you the same flexibility that foam latex will, but it's a lot easier to work with, although there is still a bit of a learning curve though.

 

[cute or kill]

You could make a latex skin in the manner of a simpler mask, glue in foam pieces that are cut to fit and flock the surface (I haven't flocked before). If the skin was particularly smooth, you might get away with a very skillful matte surface airbrush. The result would be sort of an advanced version of the old Fisher-Price toy.

 

[Diego Fiorucci]

IvannaPuppet,

Miss Piggy is made from foam latex. It is poured into a mold and then "cured". To get the fuzzy texture on her face the puppet is then flocked with tiny fur fibers. That gives the puppet texture.

Fragglerockr

Hi. I'm curious about these kind of things, sorry for this. Those fur fibers. How you glue them? With spray glue? And what kind of fiber are them? Some synthetic fiber? You need to cut it in pieces or you can get them as small tiny hairs?
I used some soft polyurethane foam once, it made a thin film at the surface, like a skin. It was really smooth. If you use something like this, or even with the original latex foam, do you need to remove the skin before attach the fur?
Thanks anyway and sorry again because my annoying questions.

 

[fragglerockr]

Ok, no. The flocking is applied directly to the puppet head. It is not a covering that can be removed. Think of flocking as thousands of tiny little fur fibers. That is what creates the nap or texture. A layer of glue is laid down over the object to be flocked and then flock is applied. The thickness of the sculpt depends on how thick the head is.

Try these videos. They are not super exciting but should explain the processes with visuals you can understand.

On foam latex -

On flocking -

 

[Diego Fiorucci]

Ok, no. The flocking is applied directly to the puppet head. It is not a covering that can be removed. Think of flocking as thousands of tiny little fur fibers. That is what creates the nap or texture. A layer of glue is laid down over the object to be flocked and then flock is applied. The thickness of the sculpt depends on how thick the head is.

Try these videos. They are not super exciting but should explain the processes with visuals you can understand.

On foam latex -

On flocking -

Ok, thanks. I can't see any video here. When I asked about to remove the skin first I meant the thin skin that the foam produces in contact to the mold, before adding the thin-hairy skin.
On the other hand, this photo caught my eye. See the ears, they're made of other material:

http://picpaste.com/pics/THE_MUPPETS__2011__Wall_-_Miss_Piggy_c-TULVO4db.1390768572.jpg

 

[Diego Fiorucci]

Ok, thanks. I can't see any video here. When I asked about to remove the skin first I meant the thin skin that the foam produces in contact to the mold, before adding the thin-hairy skin.
On the other hand, this photo caught my eye. See the ears, they're made of other material:

http://picpaste.com/pics/THE_MUPPETS__2011__Wall_-_Miss_Piggy_c-TULVO4db.1390768572.jpg

I see the videos now, thanks.

 

[fragglerockr]

Diego,

I understand now. I haven't had a lot of experience with foam latex but it is self skinning so no, you wouldn't need to skim off the top layer. That will become the outside of the puppet skin. Hope that helped!