Date: Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:19:56 -0400
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
From: Hobey Ford <hobeyone-AT-gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Puppet Eyes


Speaking of marbles,  I used various sizes of iridescentmarbles as
gobules in the scales of my Dragon Smaug.  They looked awesome.  His
eyes are clear plastic christmas tree balls, but instead of painting
them I carved foam eyes and painted them.  The foam paints
beautifully.  I carved the iris out and put a light on a dimmer and
covered the iris with red gel with diffusion material.  The plastic
bulb gave the whole thing a smooth shiny lense.  The lid was a larger
bulb cut in half.  It was controlled through the body with a 1/16"
cable running through a rotor router cable housing.  His foam rubber
scales and skin are coated with several coated of sculptRcoat.  It
worked ok but on the reticulated foam it made the ears incredibly
fragile.  It was better on the regular foam rubber, though somewhat
brittle.  It gave the scales a reptilian shine.  The head and neck
were quite heavy but they were on a counter weighted boom, so very
easy to swing up and down and around.  The fire breathing was done
with compressed air and spring loaded streams of dyed silk which were
lit orange with a lamp on a dimmer and coordinated in the control.  He
was used in The Hobbit stahge play at Univ. of NC in Asheville, then
at the state theater of NC in Alladin (thats when they gave me the
Hastings marionettes unkowingly to return the favor)He was then in
Beowulf.  He hung in the atrium of the Center for puppetry arts for a
year as well.  He was by far my most ambitious puppet.  He breaks down
into a minivan for hauling.  He is beginning to come apart here and
there and would require a lot of work to re-enlist into service.  But
I can't let him go yet.

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2009/7/29 Mathieu René <creaturiste-AT-primus.ca>:
>   Last year I tried the heat shaping of fun foam onto wooden balls, and it
>   worked well, providing one works fast, forces the wrinkles away from the
>   main shape, and holds steady all around the base of the sphere. A jig would
>   have helped.
>
>
>   I love using glass marbles, necklace beads made of semi-precious stones,
>   ping pong balls, other plastic balls, and sometimes I use plastic grapes.
>
>   Wooden balls are more work because they usually need to be painted, but hey,
>   paint grabs onto them without any problem, so we get total control.
>
>   Sometimes all a creature needs are shiny, round-headed finishing nails to
>   make the eyes.
>
>   Sometimes the absence of eyes is a good idea, if the eye sockets are well
>   defined.
>


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