Arizona, champion of "Foam-em" (Convention Puppet)

Midnight_Oil

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Feb 4, 2016
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This will be where I discuss and post progress pics of my project for Boston Comic-Con 2017:

A Muppet-style hand-and-rod version of Best Bovine, Arizona

Bill of materials:

In stock:
1/2 inch upholstery foam, 1 roll (Support and structure)
Muslin, 2 yd (Patterning the outer skin)
terrycloth, 2 yd (Outer skin)
Rit™ dye, Cherry Red and Tan (dying pieces for Ari's coat)
Red bandanna
DAP Weldwood™ contact cement (to professionally join the foam pieces together)
Razor Blades, X-acto™ knives and blades (Seriously, foam dulls the CRAP out of knives and scissors)
Fake fur (Details)
Muppet Whatnot™ Arm Rod
Super Sculpey™
Black polar fleece (Mouth covering, eyelashes, eyebrows)

to add for future:
craft foam (horns, hooves)
Nylon serving spoons (Eyes)
Corset Boning (internal support, Body and tail)
"Mouth plate" material (tooling leather, gasket rubber, or thick craft foam)

Between now and the con, I have 14 usable "whole" days, with nibbles on busy days where I can. This should be more than enough, given how simple I intend to make her operation: Mouth and one "gesture" arm.

Some of the extra time will also be used to make patterns for more advanced versions at a later date, or making an alternate palette version for fun or out of better materials, etc. (I'd love to make this with an eyebrow mechanism, but that's beyond my budget, both time and monetary, at the moment.)

The current plan is:
Day 1: Planning and patterning the head and body from foam
Day 2: Assembling foam
Day 3: Patterning the skin in muslin
Day 4: Dyeing terrycloth, craft fur
Day 5: Assembling Skin
Days 6 - 14: details.

Professionals pulled off a similar build in 1 day for Adam Savage; so, hopefully, I gave myself enough time to screw up and learn from it.
 

Redness

The Class Pet
Oct 17, 2016
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Fœnum
www.youtube.com
This will be where I discuss and post progress pics of my project for Boston Comic-Con 2017:

A Muppet-style hand-and-rod version of Best Bovine, Arizona

Bill of materials:

In stock:
1/2 inch upholstery foam, 1 roll (Support and structure)
Muslin, 2 yd (Patterning the outer skin)
terrycloth, 2 yd (Outer skin)
Rit™ dye, Cherry Red and Tan (dying pieces for Ari's coat)
Red bandanna
DAP Weldwood™ contact cement (to professionally join the foam pieces together)
Razor Blades, X-acto™ knives and blades (Seriously, foam dulls the CRAP out of knives and scissors)
Fake fur (Details)
Muppet Whatnot™ Arm Rod
Super Sculpey™
Black polar fleece (Mouth covering, eyelashes, eyebrows)

to add for future:
craft foam (horns, hooves)
Nylon serving spoons (Eyes)
Corset Boning (internal support, Body and tail)
"Mouth plate" material (tooling leather, gasket rubber, or thick craft foam)

Between now and the con, I have 14 usable "whole" days, with nibbles on busy days where I can. This should be more than enough, given how simple I intend to make her operation: Mouth and one "gesture" arm.

Some of the extra time will also be used to make patterns for more advanced versions at a later date, or making an alternate palette version for fun or out of better materials, etc. (I'd love to make this with an eyebrow mechanism, but that's beyond my budget, both time and monetary, at the moment.)

The current plan is:
Day 1: Planning and patterning the head and body from foam
Day 2: Assembling foam
Day 3: Patterning the skin in muslin
Day 4: Dyeing terrycloth, craft fur
Day 5: Assembling Skin
Days 6 - 14: details.

Professionals pulled off a similar build in 1 day for Adam Savage; so, hopefully, I gave myself enough time to screw up and learn from it.
Please post pics soon as posssible, I need to see this! :D
 
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Midnight_Oil

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Feb 4, 2016
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"Day 1" will be Tuesday, 27 June 2017.

Current progress is materials gathered, and a blown-up copy of Lauren's Arizona turnaround from the campaign for rough sizing.

Additionally, trying out my "voice" for performing Ari by smooshing Lawyer Friendly Farmer Equine, Peggy Hill, Janice and Miss Piggy together.

LFFE and Peggy for accent; Piggy and Janice for falsetto structures so folks know Ari's a heifer rather than a steer.

Lemme tell ya, it's weird trying to go from Valley girl to Daisy Duke. (Janice is more comfortably within my range than Piggy.)

My lack of a decent video option or microphone prevents me from posting any examples... yet.
 

Midnight_Oil

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Day 1, Part 1

Okay, here's some pics of my head sculpt before I try to pattern off of it. I just took it out of the oven for curing and I need to wait a bit for it to cool. Also, family stuff interrupting, getting more stuff , sculpting the body, and so on and so on... makes me glad I've got the extra days to faff around with this.

Many Sculpey sculpts start with an armature of some kind, often foil or wire. Less clay to bake through, y'know?
20170627_124625.jpg

These three pics were taken before I put her in to bake.
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The ears, horns and eyes are not needed for this stage. Though I need to get a different camera due to it being a pain transferring from my phone to my pc currently.

FWIW, some of those pics are so blurry you might be better off just looking at the thumbnails. :/
 

Midnight_Oil

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No photos for Day 2, though I did pattern Ari's head. I layered tinfoil over my sculpt and put blue painter's tape over that in thin strips to form a writing/cutting surface.

Funnily enough, my sculpt is exactly 1/4 size for my planned final size. Go me. Based on my experience with the back of Ari's head, I am not looking forward to patterning her body... Though I might have it relatively easy if I separate the forelegs for articulation. (I'm thinking of leaving her rear legs to dangle...

My plan to assemble her head today fell through due to inclement weather that would have soaked the foam and made the glue take forever to cure.
 
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Midnight_Oil

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Day 3 part 1

I gave up on patterning her body, so I'm going to cheat by rolling, slicing, etc a tube of foam the right length for the body and each leg. That said:

ari_pattfoam.jpg
I traced my pattern onto the foam and realized my precut roll may be enough for two puppets, if one of them isn't a proper Ari but an "anthro" Muppet Ari: That is, noodly foreleg/arms on an upright torso. We'll see how it goes.

20170711_154310.jpg

I then took an X-Acto scalpel and cut out the foam pieces. Scraps of foam from the sheet are saved for the next step to spread the glue. Speaking of:

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SAFETY GEAR. That little bottle has some really toxic crap in it, so safety goggles, nitrile gloves, and a respirator. Might be overkill for this amount of the stuff, but, y'klnow I like NOT having cancer, and keeping my functional brain cells.
 

Midnight_Oil

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Day 3, Complete

Okay, the head is glued!

20170711_194243.jpg 20170711_194235.jpg 20170711_194252.jpg

Her jaw needs a bit of work to make it functional and better looking, but a more solid mouthplate than I intended... perhaps even the one I did intend ... will pull her into her intended overbite after a slight trim. A test fit with the spoons I'm using for her eyes has me optimistic for the result.

I'd intended to use an old mouse pad for a flexible mouth to allow a cud-chewing motion... but hey. it is what it is. Next steps, the mouthplate and body... Check back Thursday for day 4.
 

Midnight_Oil

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Okay! Family obligations, locating the "I know I had a mouse pad SOMEWHERE!" and inclement weather screwing with drying time on the glue didn't give me much time to do anything. I'm kinda glad I HAVE the padding to faff around with this. ;)


I got a mouth plate in Ari today, though I may go back and slit it into two pieces, depending on how stubborn the springback is. That said, I roughly placed her eyes by tracing the spoons I was going to use. (Those ovals are the size. Rotations are not final though spacing between probably *is.*) Had to "Mirror selfie" to practice mouth movements.

20170713_223436.jpg

Neutral face.

20170713_223440.jpg
Scroonch


20170713_223444.jpg
A bit of dialogue, playful headtilt.

MEGA SCROONCH!

20170713_223458.jpg


Edit: Fooled around some and I can make her menace plushily by tilting her head down, so I think I've got a good angle on her eyelids. I think a couple binder clips inside will correct my bevel joint errors on her face to make her less "Miss Piggy."


So, yeah. Feeling optimistic. Here's hoping I don't screw up on the dye when I do her "skin ."
 
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Midnight_Oil

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Feb 4, 2016
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Day 5-6 part one. Two days in a row, but family obligations being what they are, yadda yadda.

Here's hoping I don't screw up on the dye when I do her "skin ."
So, yeah. I screwed up on the dye. Kinda. Her lighter coat color is darker than anticipated. I'll have to wait until it's done in the dryer to see just how badly.

But the actual total loss was the fur for her headscruff/poll: Apparently the kind lady at the store told me total hogwash for what the fur was made of, and it did not dye. At all.

So, lesson learned: don't scrimp on the fur trying to save money. It will cost you. A quick trip to amazon and I had to buy WAY too much fur to get any...

Today did, however, have some positive notes.

1: I completely discovered Ari's Ear and Horn pattern by accident while cutting out the neck hole in her torso. Same shape for all 3, just some darts for the horns.
2: "Touch the cow. Do it now."" Will be completely awesome because I got some great soft fleece for her nose and ears. So soft. Much snoot. Very wow.
3. Sharing her unskinned head with people is leading me to a "voice" for *this* Ari: she's a punslinger. "Ya got a beef with me, pardner? Ya tryin' ta horn in on my act? Well, I'm never cowed when the chips are down and the steaks are high."
 

Midnight_Oil

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Feb 4, 2016
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Day 6

Progress pics for today!


20170721_222319.jpg
I pin-fit the horns and ears. My original take on the horns were far too sharp. These will need a trim at the base for rotation and closer fit to the original. I'm rather happy with the ears, actually. These will be attached to the puppet after skinning.

20170721_222439.jpg
Here's the torso and the lower 3/4 of the front legs. These tubes will be the elbow, front "knee", and trotter. I'm pondering whether to completely separate them and string them together or merely notch the joints. A small piece of foam not pictured will form the shoulders. Also not pictured (or completed): rear legs.

cutesnoot.jpg
Here she is, mocked up with her body, and her bandanna to keep my wrist out of the shot.

20170721_222526.jpg
Three shades of brown. The lightest was the tan I was worried about, and the midrange was the brown I was pleased with.. They flip-flopped my opinions of them after coming out of the dryer. The darker will come closer to matching my headfur that is currently in transit. Additionally, I found enough of a frizzy enough fur to make a Sesame Street Yip-yip Alien... but I digress.

My primary concern has been what I call, in my online gaming chats, "family aggro"; every time I try to glue my foam I get snagged for stuff I can't leave the house for. And I'm trying to keep the fumes away from others, ya? Things should speed up when I can do my work indoors.
 

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Midnight_Oil

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Day 7

No pics tonight. I spent most of the day re-drafting the rear legs, and adjusting her body for useful puppetry. What I thought was going to work for her forelegs didn't work at all. So, fiberfill "sausage links" rather than polyfoam notched tube. I'm approximately 4 glue seams from having her underpinnings done.

On the plus side, I figured that I can likely "baseball" seam her head. It's MUCH easier to skin a puppet than make a stuffydoll; you're just wrapping a sandwich rather than hoping you baked the bread so the crust is in the shape of Rodin's The Thinker.
 

Midnight_Oil

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Feb 4, 2016
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Day 8

Important note: this stuff is harder than it looks. Draping Ari's head took HOURS. I'm anticipating similar for her body. Hopefully by the end of day 9, I'll have minimally acceptable puppet (head and necksleeve) finished. At least this stage is easier to do some here, do some there whenever I get the time.

I did manage to make her head's brown patch all one piece. I wasn't quite so lucky on her face, but two pieces isn't bad. I blame the snoot.

As far as memes go, here's something to try and make a good Kermit and evil Kermit meme from.....
20170728_010954.jpg
 

Redness

The Class Pet
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Day 8

Important note: this stuff is harder than it looks. Draping Ari's head took HOURS. I'm anticipating similar for her body. Hopefully by the end of day 9, I'll have minimally acceptable puppet (head and necksleeve) finished. At least this stage is easier to do some here, do some there whenever I get the time.

I did manage to make her head's brown patch all one piece. I wasn't quite so lucky on her face, but two pieces isn't bad. I blame the snoot.

As far as memes go, here's something to try and make a good Kermit and evil Kermit meme from.....View attachment 1917
Looking good, I love the 'Snoot'! :D
Side Note: Judging from the image... The next Assassins Creed game is looking great! :D
 

Midnight_Oil

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Day 9

So much stitching! I apparently overdid it on her seam allowance. Thus, I'll be tucking it in as I do the eyes. I draped her back as well, that's the blue thing on the table. I'm not done for the day just yet. I just wanted to post some pics of the progress.

20170801_131425.jpg
20170801_162733.jpg
 

Midnight_Oil

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Completed!!!

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Mom helped me as a hand model again.


I'm looking forward to the reaction at the Con!

That said, a few "after action" musings:

  • If I do this again, I'd use a different sculpt philosophy for the head. After covering, her snoot feels too short, and, well, far too complex a pattern when something simpler would have had just as good results.
  • Flat. Eyes. The curvature of the spoons is too much for a relative novice like me to control well.
  • Use. The. Freaking. Sewing. Machine. Save the hand sewing for when it's absolutely necessary.
  • Puppets get heavy quick. Owwie.
 
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Midnight_Oil

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Feb 4, 2016
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Well, Boston was a bit of a bust... I had maybe 2 people recognize Ari. Most folks were just "Cow Puppet!" "What's with the Cow?" or "Get out of my way, dill weed!" I probably got more chuckles when I had her stuffed into a backpack with her head and hooves over my shoulder, flopping on a pool noodle support.

Though I did at least get chuckles from "Touch the Cow, do it now." And she got a ruff skritch from Don Rosa, longtime Disney comics artist. Best reaction was for headbanging to random DJ music before a Stan Lee panel.

Some minor lessons learned: The foam I used wasn't all that great for a long-term puppet. as irritating as it would have been, the high-density green upholstery foam would have been the best bet of what I had available locally. Again, the head design wasn't *quite* right.
 

Midnight_Oil

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Feb 4, 2016
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Yoooooooo, nice! (Also pics or it didn't happen)

I hope you brought a copy of L&T for him to sign, too.
My copy of Life and Times was sadly damaged in a move by ... enthusiastic "he's not packing FAST enough" family members who basically dumped drawers and swept bookcases into banana boxen while I was at work. (! "boxen" doesn't trigger spell check!) I would have been too embarrassed to show it to him to get it signed.

I did get a swell Scrooge/Magicka print with a personalized sig. So ya!
 

Anukan

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My copy of Life and Times was sadly damaged in a move by ... enthusiastic "he's not packing FAST enough" family members who basically dumped drawers and swept bookcases into banana boxen while I was at work. (! "boxen" doesn't trigger spell check!) I would have been too embarrassed to show it to him to get it signed.

I did get a swell Scrooge/Magicka print with a personalized sig. So ya!
Still neat.

Hope to get to see Arizona puppet in action if we ever cross paths at a con or an event of some kind.
 
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