Date: Sun, 18 Aug 2002 01:10:20 -0400
Subject: PUPT: Hmm, got a problem. Any solutions?
From: Christopher Hudert <heyhoot-AT-mindspring.com>


Howdy Folks,
 I have a bit of a problem and I am hoping to find a few possible solutions.
Here's the deal:

 I have a puppet that goes out on rental (to another company) as part of a
touring show. It is a hand and rod puppet. The head is made of doll rubber
(a flexible latex) that is covered with fleese. The problem is in the mouth.
Every time this puppet goes out, it comes back with some sort of mouth
problem. First the paint wounld't stay on the inside of the mouth - the part
you see when the mouth is open. After trying several things that normaly
work I finally stripped off the paint and then glued and sewed fabric to the
inside. That seems to have taken care of the problem for the time being.
  Now the last couple of times the puppet has gone out I have had to do
repairs to the inside of the mouth. Originally there was open cell
(reticulated/filter) foam inside to fill the space around the fingers and
give some gripping surface. They managed to mangle that, so I removed it and
replaced it with fabric and stuffed padding which they managed to not only
mangle but pull halfwy out. I think that part of the problem is that the
person operating the puppet is, shall we say a bit sweaty. More likely a lot
sweaty. In stead of letting the puppet air and dry between shows it is put
away wet and/or with baby powder poured down the neck. This, I am sure, is
going to make it very hard to get any glue to stick to the latex to glue
anything in place. Assuming I can clean it enough to get surface adheasion,
I am thinking of putting fun foam on the surface where the fingers grip the
inside of the mouth and filling the void around them with foam or stuffing
that is sewn in place.
 Any better ideas? Any ideas on cleaning the powder out of the mouth area
without harming the latex? I'm getting really tired of disassembling this
puppet for repairs, even when it is on their dime. I only have a few more
days for the repairs before it goes out to get beat up yet again.
 Thanks in advance for your wise suggestions.

Christopher



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