From: Widerman-AT-aol.com
Date: Thu, 22 May 2008 15:20:05 EDT
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Teeth


I make teeth from lots of things. Plastic eating utensils are great for  
this. I just made a set of ten very long fingernails from cut plastic spoons.  You 
can also purchase fangs at any party/costume store, sometimes on a bracelet  
or necklace. 
 
One of my favorites, however, is surgical tubing cut on a diagonal and  
painted white. These make very durable, fierce-looking teeth that will never  break 
or hurt anyone your puppet may happen to bite.
 
     -Steven->
 
 
 
 
 
In a message dated 5/22/2008 12:49:35 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
steve-AT-axtell.com writes:

On some  puppets like rabbits and squirrels I 
sculpt teeth first then mold  them.  Then I inject 
opaque hot melt glue into the mold.  The  teeth 
look great, never chip and you can find a wide 
variety of off  white colors out there.  It also 
has the advantage of melting the  mount side of 
the teeth to the puppet head.   There are some  
real intense ways of insert casting white resin 
or polymer teeth into  pink polymer gums for full 
sets of creatures that the special effects  houses 
doing regularly.  Jim Boulden is a great go-to 
guy for  realistic processes like this.
Ax


At 08:50 AM  5/22/2008, Mathieu René wrote:
>Hi all.
>
>How do you make  teeth that are chip and break resistant, easy to paint in a
>durable  fashion, and lightweight?
>Speed of execution is also a good selling  point...
>Let's share, to see what people do.
>
>Here's one  approach:
>
>I was thinking about various ways of making teeth for  a mouth puppet, but
>each method implied problems either in strenght  (chipping, breaking),
>painting, or weight. As is often the case, a  natural material is the best,
>simplest solution.  So...
>
>I'm carving some teeth out of wood for two mouth puppets  I'm building. These
>puppet heads will be hard paper mache strips  shells, articulated.
>
>I found that I don't really need hardwood,  the soft wood is as strong as I
>need it to be for teeth, especially  considering I'm going to improve surface
>strenght with the sealing.  I'll seal them either with Shellac(diluted with
>methyl alcohol) or  Weldbond(diluted with water). The sealing step will also
>be the  coloring, as I will tint my sealer with pigments or paints. Using  
the
>soft wood also makes it possible for me to work twice as fast. It  carves,
>sands and cuts faster. I use my craft knife and a piece of  sandpaper to
>carve a dowel end into a tooth, then using a saw in a  vise, I cut it to
>lenght. Carving the tooth on the dowel provides a  better grip. I would be
>even faster if I had a belt sander, or a  sanding disk on my bench grinder.
>No time to get one, but soon, for a  future project.
>
>I'll only intall the teeth once the paper mache  skull is assembled and
>functional. That way, teeth will have a strong  support underneath, and I can
>make sure they don't get in the way of  closing the mouth.
>
>I'll use a very small drop of hot glue  underneath each tooth, to hold  them
>in place while the paper  mache twists sets around their base, acting and
>looking like gums. The  paper mache twists are just a lenght of paper, pasted
>on both sides  with diluted white glue, then twisted and pressed in place
>around each  tooth. A smooth metal tool is used to press it tighter and
>burnish it  smooth. It dries fast, and really  hard.
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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Steve Axtell Expressions,  Inc.
****************************************
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