Puppet building Qs & As
My new Behind The Scenes article has gotten a lot of positive response (thanks everyone) and generated a few puppet building queries:
"Latex" is a confusing subject because there are several kinds available and the terms for each are often mixed up and used interchangeably. "Latex Rubber" is used to make puppets and molds and has a rubbery feel and look to it. I believe Steve Axtell's puppets are made from latex rubber and he's posted some good information about his methods here. You might also want to check out Snap Dragon Puppets' article How We Make A Puppet for latex rubber casting info.
"Foam Latex" is widely used by the FX industry for both puppets and make FX. There's actually a lot of good information on foam latex methods available on the videos in the new Puppet Building Resources article. I haven't seen all of these but they are all highly recommended by a number of respected make-up FX artists. I think all of them are in NTSC and while I'm not sure what video format is used in Israel (PAL? SECAM?) I'd imagine you could find someone locally to convert them for you if that's a problem.
The guy who probably knows more about foam latex puppets than anyone on the planet is Tom McLaughlin. He pioneered the use of foam latex in puppetry and formulated the foam for puppets like Miss Piggy, Yoda, Jabba the Hutt, Babe and lots of other famous characters that I can't recall the names of. He has a good article explaining the basics of how to use foam latex on The Puppetry Homepage and the formula for foam latex he invented (McLaughlin Foam) is widely considered the best in the business. It was actually ripped off in the 80s and became widely distributed without his permission among FX professionals. Thankfully a reformulated (and longer lasting) version of it is now available with his permission commercially through Monster Makers.
I hope that helps!
Well I could offend some people by saying this, but I think that the whole "trade secrets" business is just a lot of secretive bull and only propagated by people who are afraid to share information because they don't want other people building or competing with them. It's one thing if someone genuinely invents a special process or technique - like Tom McLaughlin did - and want to keep it secret. That's certainly their right. But people who refuse to share the names of suppliers or general puppet building information are just being selfish and watching out for themselves.
It's been my experience that the really talented people in the business never hesitate to share information because they know the things that really matter - talent, creativity and imagination - can't be taught.
I'm going on a bit of rant here, but most of the tricks with foam puppet construction originated with Jim Henson and the Muppets and I've heard many time from various people who worked for him that Jim Henson always maintained an "open door" policy with his shop and encouraged people to learn, grow and experiment. Everyone who does soft-foam puppets - myself included - is painting on the canvas he invented and can learn from his example.
But that's just my opinion. ;-)
As for your real question, I've never thought of what *exact* things make a puppet more comfortable. I've never seen any of Bob's work and couldn't pull up his site (it's being updated) to take a look so I can't speak to his work or methods really. I do know that he is very well regarded (you have love a guy who was one of Alf's "Personal Assistants"). Myself I just sort of fiddle around with a puppet until it feels good. There's no one right way to build and what I would do is not what 100 other builders might do.
I don't sculpt foam puppets, mostly because I've found they don't have the same flexibility as properly designed puppets patterned from sheet foam and I don't like doing sculpture. I've also found they can be heavy, but that depends in part on the foam you use. I'm not knocking sculpting foam, it's just not my thing. I tend not to like latex puppets either because of the toxic chemicals involved but both Steve Axtell and Noreen Young (among others) do really amazing stuff with latex.
Some of the big differences in the better puppets I've seen and used are weight, flexibility and internal construction. Weight is pretty self-explanatory. You just have to make the puppet as light as possible. It helps to choose light materials. A lot of pro puppets (though not all) are made with microcell foam which is very expensive and hard to find but is extremely light and breathes well. Many puppet builders in theatre are working with what I believe is called carbon fibre, which is also extremely light. Michael Curry's Lion King masks were done with that material and weighed just ounces.
Flexibility is mostly in the choice of materials. I keep several different thickness and densities of foam, leather and gasket rubber lying around and experiment before building something to figure out the best material to make something move. If it's easy to manipulate the puppet it's a lot more comfortable to use. I start with the mouth plate and try to make it as flexible as possible because that's where your hand is and then I sort of build the rest of the puppet around it. Usually if you get the mouth right the rest of the puppet is great.
Internal construction is a very big deal. First of all the puppet should be built inside the way a real personal or animal is built. If you've read my tutorial The Tumbles P. Bear Project (it'll be back online soon) I talk about how arms can be built with dowel rods in a way that mimics bone structure. That way the arms don't (can't) bend in way that is unnatural. Putting boning inside the puppet's body to prevent it from sagging or getting warped helps too. I usually like to sleeve my puppets so that the head turns independently of the body, a subject which I've covered in the updated Tumbles article.
I know it can be frustrating to hear this, but you really just have to experiment and find what works for you, which sounds like exactly what you've been doing. The most important thing in puppet building is design - what the puppet looks like and what the design conveys to the audience (and the puppeteer) about that character. The advantage of a really well designed, comfortable puppet is that a puppeteer can put it on their hand and easily manipulate it to convey a range of emotions and expressions. That's what brings it to life.
If you're arriving at a style you're comfortable with and easy to puppeteer I'd just keep going in that direction and try to hook up with as many people as you can like Bob, most of whom are usually really eager to talk about what they do.
Hey Andrew!Hi Zachi,
I have tried to find any material explaining how to make foam latex puppets but found none. I did find techniques of model making and foam latex casting but did not anything specialized on puppets. Can you help me?
- Zachi (Israel)
"Latex" is a confusing subject because there are several kinds available and the terms for each are often mixed up and used interchangeably. "Latex Rubber" is used to make puppets and molds and has a rubbery feel and look to it. I believe Steve Axtell's puppets are made from latex rubber and he's posted some good information about his methods here. You might also want to check out Snap Dragon Puppets' article How We Make A Puppet for latex rubber casting info.
"Foam Latex" is widely used by the FX industry for both puppets and make FX. There's actually a lot of good information on foam latex methods available on the videos in the new Puppet Building Resources article. I haven't seen all of these but they are all highly recommended by a number of respected make-up FX artists. I think all of them are in NTSC and while I'm not sure what video format is used in Israel (PAL? SECAM?) I'd imagine you could find someone locally to convert them for you if that's a problem.
The guy who probably knows more about foam latex puppets than anyone on the planet is Tom McLaughlin. He pioneered the use of foam latex in puppetry and formulated the foam for puppets like Miss Piggy, Yoda, Jabba the Hutt, Babe and lots of other famous characters that I can't recall the names of. He has a good article explaining the basics of how to use foam latex on The Puppetry Homepage and the formula for foam latex he invented (McLaughlin Foam) is widely considered the best in the business. It was actually ripped off in the 80s and became widely distributed without his permission among FX professionals. Thankfully a reformulated (and longer lasting) version of it is now available with his permission commercially through Monster Makers.
I hope that helps!
Hi Andrew,
You mentioned (once) that the very high-end, expensive puppets have (I'm paraphrasing) a, luxury, shall we say, to them, particularly inside. We've been self-taught-building for awhile now and are arriving at styles we're comfortable with and easy to puppeteer. We had the great good fortune to spend some time with Bob Fappiano at his studio and get our hands inside his work, literally, and his methods turned out to be the same as our own, entirely by accident as we had found our own way through experimentation with no mentoring at all. His work feels the same as ours inside - but - I would not term the interior feel as luxurious.
My question to you is, what are the distinguishing interior characteristics that afford the better feel? I want to stress that I'm not asking you to reveal trade secrets, so if you're not comfortable answering this that's perfectly fine! I should add that we now do foam sculpture almost exclusively, which is certainly a factor. The puppets are not soft, "floppy", if you will, squishy guys.
- Laurel
Well I could offend some people by saying this, but I think that the whole "trade secrets" business is just a lot of secretive bull and only propagated by people who are afraid to share information because they don't want other people building or competing with them. It's one thing if someone genuinely invents a special process or technique - like Tom McLaughlin did - and want to keep it secret. That's certainly their right. But people who refuse to share the names of suppliers or general puppet building information are just being selfish and watching out for themselves.
It's been my experience that the really talented people in the business never hesitate to share information because they know the things that really matter - talent, creativity and imagination - can't be taught.
I'm going on a bit of rant here, but most of the tricks with foam puppet construction originated with Jim Henson and the Muppets and I've heard many time from various people who worked for him that Jim Henson always maintained an "open door" policy with his shop and encouraged people to learn, grow and experiment. Everyone who does soft-foam puppets - myself included - is painting on the canvas he invented and can learn from his example.
But that's just my opinion. ;-)
As for your real question, I've never thought of what *exact* things make a puppet more comfortable. I've never seen any of Bob's work and couldn't pull up his site (it's being updated) to take a look so I can't speak to his work or methods really. I do know that he is very well regarded (you have love a guy who was one of Alf's "Personal Assistants"). Myself I just sort of fiddle around with a puppet until it feels good. There's no one right way to build and what I would do is not what 100 other builders might do.
I don't sculpt foam puppets, mostly because I've found they don't have the same flexibility as properly designed puppets patterned from sheet foam and I don't like doing sculpture. I've also found they can be heavy, but that depends in part on the foam you use. I'm not knocking sculpting foam, it's just not my thing. I tend not to like latex puppets either because of the toxic chemicals involved but both Steve Axtell and Noreen Young (among others) do really amazing stuff with latex.
Some of the big differences in the better puppets I've seen and used are weight, flexibility and internal construction. Weight is pretty self-explanatory. You just have to make the puppet as light as possible. It helps to choose light materials. A lot of pro puppets (though not all) are made with microcell foam which is very expensive and hard to find but is extremely light and breathes well. Many puppet builders in theatre are working with what I believe is called carbon fibre, which is also extremely light. Michael Curry's Lion King masks were done with that material and weighed just ounces.
Flexibility is mostly in the choice of materials. I keep several different thickness and densities of foam, leather and gasket rubber lying around and experiment before building something to figure out the best material to make something move. If it's easy to manipulate the puppet it's a lot more comfortable to use. I start with the mouth plate and try to make it as flexible as possible because that's where your hand is and then I sort of build the rest of the puppet around it. Usually if you get the mouth right the rest of the puppet is great.
Internal construction is a very big deal. First of all the puppet should be built inside the way a real personal or animal is built. If you've read my tutorial The Tumbles P. Bear Project (it'll be back online soon) I talk about how arms can be built with dowel rods in a way that mimics bone structure. That way the arms don't (can't) bend in way that is unnatural. Putting boning inside the puppet's body to prevent it from sagging or getting warped helps too. I usually like to sleeve my puppets so that the head turns independently of the body, a subject which I've covered in the updated Tumbles article.
I know it can be frustrating to hear this, but you really just have to experiment and find what works for you, which sounds like exactly what you've been doing. The most important thing in puppet building is design - what the puppet looks like and what the design conveys to the audience (and the puppeteer) about that character. The advantage of a really well designed, comfortable puppet is that a puppeteer can put it on their hand and easily manipulate it to convey a range of emotions and expressions. That's what brings it to life.
If you're arriving at a style you're comfortable with and easy to puppeteer I'd just keep going in that direction and try to hook up with as many people as you can like Bob, most of whom are usually really eager to talk about what they do.
Posted by Andrew at 6:37 AM | Permalink
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