Muppet - style eye blinkers please!

[whatadoddle]

As per my previous thread I still have the same problem, how do I mount an eye blink mechanism inside a "soft" muppety head? do I make a rigid outer to go round the eyes or what? I am floundering a bit and need to be thrown a lifeline!

 

[ravagefrackle]

As per my previous thread I still have the same problem, how do I mount an eye blink mechanism inside a "soft" muppety head? do I make a rigid outer to go round the eyes or what? I am floundering a bit and need to be thrown a lifeline!

most mech head thing i have seen , and worked on, have a hard skull structure, i made a touan you can see on my sample page, it had a hard fiber glass skull, i was able to mount the platform on the inside with small machine screws, it worked great, was very light weight, they are still using it to this day.

 

[whatadoddle]

Hey, great looking puppets! How on earth do you go about using fibreglass, any suggestions, please! It sounds really good!

 

[Buck-Beaver]

My suggestion is to order Michael Brose's "Figure Making Can Be Fun". It's intended for Vent dummy construction but the techniques in it can be easily adapted to foam puppets. In it he covers off how to make a wide range of mechs.

http://www.puppetsandprops.com/DummyBooks.html

There's also many, many old threads archived here with lots of ideas. Search the forum under "mech" or "eye blink".

 

[whatadoddle]

Thanks, I'm still interested in muppet - style info though, I have looked at the book you suggest before (admittedly before I decided to include mechanics) but find the vent puppets a bit off putting (sorry if I offend ) but I will sure have another go!

 

[ravagefrackle]

Thanks, I'm still interested in muppet - style info though, I have looked at the book you suggest before (admittedly before I decided to include mechanics) but find the vent puppets a bit off putting (sorry if I offend ) but I will sure have another go!

just because its a vent dummy doesnt mean the mech will make your puppet look like a vent, its all about application, most eye mechs are built on pretty similar construction methods, its all about execution, and technique,most mechs in muppet style puppest are tweaked to fit the puppets head , thats the real obsticle here, you need to figure out how to make the axles of the mech move within the confines of your puppets head.

thier is no manual you can really follow , youll have to experiment to find out what works,

as for the fiber glass, im not sure how to describe the process, its something i was taought how to do firts hand, and i simply copy thta, im sure you can find some info about it online somewhere.

 

[whatadoddle]

Yes, I guess you're right, I think that my strange wooden contraption will work as a frame, I still don't know how I will form the sockets around it 'tho but I am assembling the first bits tomorrow after making 3 card prototypes. I have left enough room for the eyes, how far they need to stand out is trial and error too. I guess my first attempt has the capacity to be grotesque but I will learn tons from the experiment.
Thanks for all your help

 

[ravagefrackle]

well to make the skull i was taking about you need to sculpt a model in clay or wood, then do the fiber glass casting over it

that way you can determine were the sockets are and you can build it to fit your fram and your hand

 

[practicecactus]

I'm in the middle of making my second puppet,with a blinking feature.
And I also found the biggest problem was where the eye meets the skin.
Seeing as It's only my second puppet, I'm just gonna wing it ,and hope for the best.
it is just for fun anyway.

Had a little trouble finding info on making the blinking mechanism (read;the net was No help,because you puppet pros won't give away any secrets!), so in the end I just sat down with a peice of foam, a couple of ping pong balls ,some wire and figured out the simplest way to get a finger, to make the eyelids blink.

..and mark my words, I will make a puppet with full up,down-left,right eye movement.Got the eyes ready,and moving..(*hint*roll on deodorants, )just need to make the system that will control it. -but that will be left for a rainy day.

 

[Iokitek]

Took me awhile to find it again. But I remembered this link:

http://www.puppet-planet.com/AnimalBLINK.htm