Building Process Page 1 - Page 2
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Before I begin, I would like to thank my begining and advanced puppetry and my costume design class teacher, Mimi Mace, of Humboldt State University. Most of the puppetry making techniques I know today I can attribute to what I learned from Mimi. She was an excellent teacher and a fantastic advisor. Thanks, Mimi. The first step of building the puppets was collecting enough foam for the heads. Foam can be expensive, costing around $25 a yard. I got lucky and found two old single foam mattresses. I glued them together and then cut out the blocks of foam needed for the project. |
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The next step involved using my drawings as a guide
and sculpting each piece of foam. For sculpting tools I started with an
electric carving knife (the type you use for carving turkey), and for the
detailed work, I used a pair of scissors. Pinching the foam and ripping
it off is a good technique as well. Needless to say I made a huge mess
of foam pieces. |
Some of the heads, carved and ready for the next step.
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After carving each head, I would also cut out the mouth and chin. This would have them ready for the next step: "Skinning the Head." Or at least that's what I came to call it. To skin the head I would wrap the sculpted foam with a large, loosely fit piece of muslin. Then with patience and time you fiddle with the fabric enough to get it to fit the shape--creating a pattern. Actually I started to get pretty good at it by the 11th head. |
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Building Process Page 1 - Page 2