Preview of Do It Yourself - Foam Latex Puppetmaking 101

A few scenes from my 1 hr dvd on makin a foam latex puppet for stop motion animation. http://www.angelfire.com/anime4/zungstudio

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• puppet
• foam
• latex
• animation
• stop-motion

[WhiteDragonTile]

where do you buy foam latex?

[zungtrouble]

@WhiteDragonTile You can find foam latex in a few places online. Alconecodotcom and burmanfoamdotcom are the first two that come to mind. :) Thanks for asking.

[Zanejordz]

I bought your video, it was great!! What was the hair and eye brows made of, for the puppets in Celebrity Deathmatch? Oh and also isn't that the body for Sarah Jessica Parker on your website, lol she had to be my favorite puppet you made, what happened to her original head? :D

[zungtrouble]

@Zanejordz :D Her head was stolen from a warehouse in New Jersey! The hair is made from a cold urethane foam, but sometimes it's foam latex, depending on how much it needs to move. The eyebrows were made of clay.

[captain0ldy0da]

So, I make a sculpt of clay, then I use clay around the clay? That's what I'm getting? wouldn't the clay just form onto the sculpt? Or do you use some sort of non-stick coating?

[zungtrouble]

@captain0ldy0da the two clays are different actually. The sculpt is made of a hard, oil based clay. the mold is made using a water based clay that is very soft. there is a coating of clear enamel on the sculpt and the clay bed it's in to separate them from the ultracal mold made on top of them. what i'm doing here is making one half of the mold at a time. thanks for asking! :)

[Essencegrrl]

Pretty epic, i wouldn't mind making myself . One question though, how tall are the puppets from deathmatch? i noticed at the end of your tape Johnny gomez was huge compared to the body you made in the tape.

[Zanejordz]

@zungtrouble Omg that's a shame! Anyways thanks for your expertise, it's really helpful. Your a true inspiration :)

[hyperflexharrington5]

Thanks for the tutorial. I have always heard rocket science mentioned in the same sentence as foam latex. I'm more likely to give it a try with a project of mine now.

[zungtrouble]

@Mrreebo the heads are going to be up to you and your budget. A silicone mold will make a great plastic head that you can tint and paint and make eyes and replaceable mouths for. Or your head could be foam. Some people use sculpey for the head, some rig wires through foam. I'd love to make another video on how to do silicone molds for head making. That's been in the future for awhile. :)

[zungtrouble]

@manonthedollar Hi, thanks for your comment. If you are constructing a puppet for an animated film, or project for school, this is a great dvd tutorial to start with. When I made the movie on my iMac, the microphones were just horrible back in 2002. sorry for the background noise, but the message comes out clear and there is music in a good part of the film. I hope this helps!