Recent Posts

Puppet Building: How To Make EVA Foam Look Like Leather

Written by admin in How To

How To Make EVA Foam Look Like Leather

Puppets need to be light, and costuming, especially boots and coats can be heavy. Costumes for puppets can also be difficult to find if you do not make your own.

I’m going to show you how to turn foam into heavy weathered leather armor or other leather pieces, like boots or belts.

How To Make EVA Foam Look Like Leather
How To Make EVA Foam Look Like Leather

I’m going to show you how to take some 10 millimeter HD foam, which you of course can find over at Blick Art materials and turn it into something that looks just completely out of the western frontier.

Materials needed:

  • Heatgun
  • Spray Adhesive
  • EVA Foam
  • Tin Foil
  • Acrylic Paints
  • White Glue

So let’s go ahead and get started. I’ll be using Bristol board or craft paper to do a basic pattern and then transferring that to 10 millimeter HD foam.

Heat up the foam with a heatgun to manipulate it and give it any necessary curves. Remember whenever you’re heating foam, you want to make sure that you wear your respirator and always do it in a well-ventilated area.

You can use spray glue to glue additional strips and layers of foam to give a shape, such as an emblem on the piece. Trim and smooth it with your Dremel.

Once you have the shape of your piece, it’s time to give it the leather look.

Using foil to texture foam
  • Roll up some tinfoil into a ball.
  • Heat the foam with your heatgun
  • Press the tinfoil onto the heated foam
  • Slightly drag the foil across the piece to add texture.
  • If you want your leather to have a stitched, sewn-on effect, you can indent the heated foam using a flathead screw driver, taking care to keep each indentation even and regular.

To give this fake leather some additional texture, use a stone bit in the shape of a cone in your Dremel. This allows you to really control the amount of surface area you affect with the rotary tool. After that’s complete, lightly hit the surface again with a heatgun.

Now you don’t want to add too much heat because it can reactivate the spray adhesive.

How To Paint EVA Foam

Plasti Dip
How To Make EVA Foam Look Like Leather
How To Make EVA Foam Look Like Leather

Next, you will want to color your “leather.” Start with a primer of PVA Glue. I like to brush on two coats. Some builders will use Plasti Dip for a primer. Plasti Dip is preferred if the piece will be bending.

Once you have primed your foam, it is time to paint it. Acrylic paints are perfect for this. Put down a nice base coat and then when it is dry, go over it with highlights.

After you have painted your EVA foam piece, you should seal the paint with a matt clear acrylic sealer.

These are the basic steps that it takes to not only fabricate but distress your foam to make it look like leather. And these are the types of tips that I love putting out there because you can implement these techniques into a wide variety of future builds.

Tips And Tricks For Working With Eva foam.

Some of these tips may seem really simple, but they can make a huge difference to your final result. So if you’re new EVA foam or you just want to improve your foam work and get cleaner results, these tips will be helpful.

Tip Number One

Choose the right kind of foam. Not all EVA foam is the same. There are different kinds of foam, which come in different densities and thicknesses. Softer Eva foam is great for making armor pieces or accessories, but it can be a little bit harder to cut.

Harder or denser Eva foam is great for details and props. It’s more rigid and you can cut into it really nicely. But this also means that it can be harder to shape and form.

Tip Number Two

Use a sharp craft knife to get clean edges. One of the most important keys to clean foam work is using a sharp knife or razor blade. Cutting with a sharp knife will give you a super clean cut and you will slice through the foam like butter. Using a blunt knife will create rough edges and rip the foam, giving you a not-so-nice-looking edge.

So make sure you have some replacement blades or you can also sharpen your blades with sandpaper or a knife sharpener.

Tip Number Three

Try to do one solid cut. Another important tip for getting super clean lines on Eva foam is to try cut the foam in one continuous smooth cut. This will give you the cleanest edges. If you have to come back and cut over the foam again, and again, it can give you edges with weird lines on the side

Tip Number Four

Use contact glue instead of hot glue. Contact adhesive is one of the best glues for Eva foam. It’s super strong and bonds really well. Your seams will never rip apart. Apply a little bit of glue to each side you will stick together and then let them get tacky. You can then press the two pieces of foam with the glue together.

And when they touch they’ll bond instantly. Contact glue can also be applied really neatly so no glue will poke out the edges.

Hot glue, on the other hand, is not really ideal for Eva foam. The glue itself is pretty thick and can often squash out between the seams, which can be really difficult to get rid of it. It also doesn’t bond instantly, so you may have to spend time trying to keep the seams together and fixing the splits.

And because hot glue is activated with heat, if you want to heat up your Eva foam again and shape it some more, the glue can split open, making the seam messy.

Tip Number Five

Use your thumb as a guide to help line up your edges. Making a foam seam lineup completely flushed can be pretty tricky. To help line up your seams, you can use your thumb as a guide and place it on top of your seam as you join them. This will keep the foam pieces from misaligning.

Tip Number Six

Use a heatgun to remove the fluffy edges off after sanding. Sanding Eva foam is a great way to get certain shapes, but it leaves really nasty little rough pieces all over. To get rid of these, you can melt off the little fluffy pieces with a heatgun. You can also press the edges when they’re warm to get them extra smooth.

Tip Number Seven

Heat sealing your foam can help with priming and getting rid of the poorest surface on the foam. When heated with a heatgun, the foam tightens up and the little pores in the foam surface shrink. This makes the surface of the foam a bit smoother and will stop it from absorbing too much of your primer.

Tip Number Eight

Heat shaping foam. Sometimes it’s not enough to just glue pieces together to get your desired shape. And the Eva foam may not always do what you want, but with a little bit of heat, you can easily bend the foam to your will.

Just heat up the foam with your heatgun and bend it into the shape you want. Make sure you let the foam cool down. This is what will lock it into position. You can also use heat to press cool shapes and textures into your Eva foam.

Tip Number Nine

To hide the seams on your foam pieces, you can use Gesso. Gesso is a flexible canvas primer. So it’s great for using on foam. Just take a bit of the paste and smooth it on with your finger. You can also smooth it out even more with some water. Once the Gesso is dry, you can repeat this process until your seam is completely hidden.

Tip Number Ten

All EVA foam is like a sponge. So to get a more plastic, leather or metallic looking surface, you’ll need to prime your EVA foam. Luckily there are tons of options available to prime foam with a few examples of foam primers or PVA glue, modge podge, flex bond, and Plasti Dip. Apply a few layers of your primer to the foam, and then you’ll have a nice smooth surface ready for paint.

https://www.dickblick.com

How to Make Pattern Weights

Written by admin in How To,Patterns

hardware washers for pattern weights

Pattern weights are a great alternative to pins and adhesives.

Using pattern weights to hold your pattern pieces in place can be a much better option than putting pins in or using some kind of tape or other adhesive.

I just wanted to share a quick tip on how to get pattern weights on the cheap. I’ve been searching for pattern roids for quite some time, and I noticed how expensive they really can be.

You don’t want your pattern going anywhere and you can actually keep these in place while you are not only cutting out your pattern, but also making your markings too. You don’t have to use many.

Place your weights along the edges and in the center of your pattern. Now that you’ve got your pattern weights in place. All you have to do is take scissors or your rotary cutter, and literally just cut around it and your pattern will stay intact and in place without using pins. And you can even cut out your pattern markings as well, and everything should stay put.

Depending on the type of fabric you’re using, whether that’s a lightweight or sheer fabric that you don’t want to create runs in the fabric using pins, or maybe it’s a lace that you would have a hard time actually putting pins in, or it’s some kind of full leather or vinyl or something where pins are going to permanently mar that surface, you will want to use the weights.

Now you can find pattern weights at some craft and fabric stores and available online, but you can really easily make your own.

Large washers make great pattern weights

I use washers. I bought the largest washers that I could find at my local hardware store. They’re fairly heavy. They’ve got some weight to them, so they themselves are great pattern weights.

You can use multiple weights in all of the corners or in certain sections of your pattern piece to hold things down so you can cut them. If you find that this is too much weight, you can even go with smaller sizes. Or if your pattern pieces are smaller sizes, you can use these smaller washers. They do not have as much weight to them.

If you want the smaller size, but maybe you want a heavier weight, or even if you want this larger weight or larger size, but more weight to them, you can combine them together and make your own pattern weights and sort of a fun, little pattern, weight bundle.

So here’s a little tip. Hot glue 2 smaller washers together and cover them with fabric or yarn. So it’s double the weight of one and it’s in this nice little fabric bundle that makes it really easy to pick up rather than having to grab multiple weights.

And if you’re worried at all about anything rubbing off from your washer, maybe if you found these out in the garage, you want to make sure they’re protected. You definitely want to cover them in some fabric. So a really easy way to do this is to essentially create a cover around your washers.

You want to start by cutting a circle of fabric that is larger than the washer you want to cover. You can add multiple washers to create a heavier pattern weight.

  • Roughly cut out a circle of fabric. One thing about making these weights is that they do not have to be perfect. You can use a bowl, a cup, whatever you have a trace as a template. And then all you need to do is some hand stitching around the outside edge to gather it in.
  • You want to fold over about a quarter of an inch. Insert your needle from the inside, going to the outside, and then bring it back in.
  • You should be doing a running stitch around the outside edge.
  • Load as many stitches as you possibly can on the needle before you pull the thread through and then just continue on going in and out all the way around.
  • Remember to fold over that about a quarter of an inch as you go, and then just load those stitches onto the needle.
  • Continue doing this all the way around the perimeter of the circle all the way around the outside edge.
  • It’s going to start gathering as you go. And that is fine. You are going to gather it in any way.
  • But once you’ve gathered it in a sufficient amount, you want to pull it as tight as it will go.
  • Hold it with one hand. Then tie a little knot.
  • Bring all of your edges together. Before you clip your threads, you want to go across your opening to bring the edges together.

You can put as many washers in a little pattern way as you want, and then you have lots of fun, colorful little pattern weights to hold down your pattern pieces.

Homemade Pattern Weights

Another way to cove the washers is just to sew them inside of a little bag. Add as many washers as you need to get the weight you desire.

You can also just glue a piece of fabric to each side of a washer and trim. This will give you a cute fabric-covered washer to use as a pattern weight.

Using Hardware Washers As Pattern Weights

I was so excited about these. I just had to share this with you. That’s my little tip for getting inexpensive pattern weights.

I Do Real Magic! Secrets Of The Magician

Written by Dennis Regling in Uncategorized

I Do Real magic – Article by Dennis Regling 

There is always one smart mouth little kid who loves to tell the magician, “You don’t do ‘real magic.'” To them, real magic is what you see on Bewitched, Harry Potter or Charmed. They believe real magic is doing the supernatural.

What they don’t understand is that what they believe to be real magic isn’t real at all. It is fantasy, trick photography and humbug. What they call “real magic,” does not exist.

Only God can do the supernatural. Only God could part the Red Sea, raise the dead and walk on water. 

Unfortunately, the ones who claim we magicians do not perform real magic have a misunderstanding of what real magic is. When an audience member suspends their disbelief, they can experience real magic .

When I tie a rope into a loop and then clip the ends leaving an endless loop, free of knots, jaws drop. When I see an audience member’s jaw drop, or her the soft exclamation, “What the ….,” I know that person has just experienced real magic. 

For a moment, they saw the impossible. Reality kicks back in pretty quickly, and in their rational mind, they know it was just a trick. But for one fleeting moment, there was magic. 

About twelve years ago, I saw a flying saucer. My theology and reason tell me that extraterrestrial space ships do not exist, but for a few seconds one summer eve, I believed. I was driving home from church one Sunday evening. As I topped a hill, I saw a huge saucer-like object flying at what appeared to be only a few hundred feet above me. Narrow on the ends, high in the center, lots of lights and moving silently across the sky. 

My mind raced. One part said, “I do not believe in these things,” another part was wondering where it would land and if I should run across the fields to find it. A flying saucer. 

Then just a few seconds later, as it passed directly over me, I saw what it really was. The illusion was broken. But for a few seconds, I got to experience the thrill of seeing a real flying saucer. If I had passed out at that moment, no one would ever have convinced me it was not. Yet just as quickly, it passed. 

When I put a single sponge ball in a lady’s hand and she opens her hand to see two balls, that is magic. Their expression, the wonder in their eyes tell me that for a brief moment, they have experienced real magic.

We know what we see on TV is not real. There are no sorcerors that can manipulate nature and do the impossible.

What I do is real magic. With the audience’s permission, I take them into a world where for just a moment, magic happens. 

So please stop telling me I don’t do real magic. It just isn’t true. 

What Are The Best Types Of Puppets To Make With Children?

Written by admin in How To,Hand Puppets,Sock Puppets

Children love puppets and they love making things. So the question is “what are the best and easiest puppets for children to make?”

The best puppets for children to make will be those that do not use toxic adhesives or hot glue. Sewing should also be unnecessary or easily done in advance by an adult. Some of the ones my girls have enjoyed making are:

  • Spoon puppets
  • Paper bag puppets
  • Simple hand puppets
  • Sock puppets
  • Popsicle stick puppets
  • Simple Marionettes
  • Foam Head Puppets

At age ten, they are also able to do simple sewing by hand and machine, so they have options that may not be available to all parents and teachers to use with their children.

Eleanor made a simple hand puppet.She sewed the puppet on a machine.

Spoon puppets

Wooden spoons make quick, fun stick puppets.

Decorate them with google eyes, felt or craft foam hair and noses. Even use markers to create a quick and easy puppet.

You can also use pom-poms or yarn for hair. Animal ears can be made from craft foam or felt. Pipe-cleaners can make nifty whiskers or mustaches and eye-brows.

6″ Wooden spoons – Great for crafts with kids
Wooden spoon puppets

Paper bag puppets

Lunch bags make simple puppets. The fold makes the mouth. Just put your fingers inside the fold and open and close.

To make your mouth more pronounced, draw lips above and below the fold or a beak or other mouth features.

You can even cut out lips or cheeks from construction paper or craft foam and attach with glue or double-sided tape. Don’t forget to make a tonge for inside the mouth.

Legs or wings can also be made from construction paper or craft foam and attached.

Paper bag owl puppet
Pom-Pom Eyes

Simple hand puppets

My girls can use the sewing machine for simple stitching, so there were able to make the bodies for their puppets on the machine. You may want to sew the body for your child or have them glue the two sides together with Fabric Tac.

Any fabric can be used, but we used some inexpensive JoAnn Fabrics fleece.

  • To make a simple hand puppet, fold over a piece of fabric so the “good side” is inside, or place two pieces of felt together.
  • Pin the fabric so it stays in place.
  • Trace the pattern to the fabric.
  • Sew along the lines you have drawn, leaving the bottom open.
  • Cut out your body about 1/4″ outside the stitch line.
  • Turn body right side out.
  • Decorate with eyes, nose, whiskers, etc.
  • Put on a play.

Free Hand Puppet Patterns HERE

Bunny hand puppet

Sock puppets

DIY Puppets for Kids

Popsicle stick puppets

Popsicle stick puppets are similar to spoon puppets, but you will be cutting out a head from construction paper of craft foam and gluing to the top of the stick.

Eyes, Noses & Ears For Your Puppet

The easiest eyes for children to put on their puppets are googly-eyes. They attach easily with Elmer’s glue or double-sided tape.

Eyes can also be made from craft foam. Cut a circle of white (or your desired color) for the eye. Then add a smaller circle of a different color for a pupil.

Ping-Pong balls make big round eyes. They reall bring character to a sock puppet.

Place the pupils so they are slightly cross-eyes and that actually makes the puppet seem to be focused ahead.

Pom-Poms make fun eyes. Place a smaller Pom-Pom on a larger Pom-Pom to create your eye.

Noses can be made from Pom-Poms, twisted pipe-cleaner or felt.

Rabbit Sock Puppet
Pom-Pom Nose, Felt Ears and Pipe-cleaner Whiskers
Ping-Pong ball eyes and EVA foam teeth

Ears can be cut from felt or craft foam. Placing a smaller piece of contrasting color to a larger ear cut out makes an interesting ear.

Yarn and feather both make great hair for your puppet.

Double-sided tape is great for attaching eyes, noses, and other features when you don’t want to wait for glue to dry.

Simple Marionettes

Marionettes are fun to make and a great way to develop manual dexterity.

How to Make a Toilet Paper Roll Puppet

What You’ll Need

  • 2 toilet paper tubes
  • Water paints
  • Brushes
  • Hole-punch
  • Plastic straws
  • Yarn
  • Craft foam
  • Pipe cleaners
  • Craft sticks
  • Double stick tape
  • Googly eyes or other eyes
  • White glue
  • Scissors

Instructions

  • Paint the toilet paper tubes or cover with colored paper
  • Cut one tube in half for the head
  • Cut the ears out of craft foam or cardboad
  • Glue two Popsicle sticks together to form a cross
  • Punch four holes on the bottom of the body for the legs
  • Thread two 6″ pieces of yarn through the leg holes, adding cut bendy straw pieces for the feet. Knot at each end
  • Alternatively, you can make feet from craft foam and glue to bottom of the legs. A double thickness will help give them some weight
  • On the opposite side of the tube, punch holes at both ends of the body; thread a long piece of yarn (approximately 24″) through the body and head. Tie it to the Popsicle stick-cross
  • Glue on a pipe cleaner for a tail
  • Attach eyes with double-stick tape or glue

You can also make different ears for different animals and even add a trunk to make an elephant.

Based on an idea from the October 2013 issue of Parents magazine.

Foam Head Puppets

Foam head puppets and arm and rod puppets like the Muppets can be fun to make. Both my girls started making them when they were 8 years old.

Do do this with children, you need to know what you are doing. Contact cement or hot glue is used to attach the foam and construct the head and body, so an adult will need to help and supervise this step.

It is really a 2 person job, with both the parent and the child doing parts according to their abilities. When finished, though, your child will have a wonderful memory and a great puppet.

Eleanor made a foam head lion puppet. She made the eyes from plastic spoons and teddy bear eyes. Fleece body, fur mane

Basic Hand Puppet Patterns

Written by admin in Uncategorized,Hand Puppets

These are simple patterns for hand puppets.

Free Puppet Patterns to use, but please share a link to this page, not the patterns. Thank you.

My girls can use the sewing machine for simple stitching, so there were able to make the bodies for their puppets on the machine. You may want to sew the body for your child or have them glue the two sides together with Fabric Tac.

Any fabric can be used, but we used some inexpensive JoAnn Fabrics fleece.

  • To make a simple hand puppet, fold over a piece of fabric so the “good side” is inside, or place two pieces of felt together.
  • Pin the fabric so it stays in place.
  • Trace the pattern to the fabric.
  • Sew along the lines you have drawn, leaving the bottom open.
  • Cut out your body about 1/4″ outside the stitch line.
  • Turn body right side out.
  • Decorate with eyes, nose, whiskers, etc.
  • Put on a play.

How To Assemble A Foam Puppet Head

Written by admin in Uncategorized

To create a great puppet, you need to construct a great head.

The steps to constructing a foam puppet head are:

  • Trace your pattern onto your foam
  • Cut out the pattern with a sharp razor blade
  • Apply contact cement to the outside edges of the pattern and in the darts
  • Let cement dry to a tacky feel. Use a hairdryer to speed this up
  • Pinch darts closed
  • Pinch the outside edges together to form the shape of the puppet head
  • Turn inside out
  • Attach mouth plate to puppet head

Patterns are available on our patterns page. Foam and other supplies are available on our Tools and Materials page.

Trace pattern onto 1/2″ foam

Trace your pattern onto your foam

The pictures in this article are of my Pear Head Puppet Pattern.

With a Sharpie, trace your pattern onto 1/2 ” foam. I have marked the edges that will not be glued with a dot.

Cut out the pattern with a sharp razor blade

Never use your good scissors to cut foam. Foam will dull scissors and razor blades very quickly.

Use a fresh razor blade. When cutting the foam, keep the blade perpendicular to the foam. You want a nice square edge.

When cutting, if you start right at the edge, the blade will sometimes tear the foam. Start from the inside and cut outward.

Apply contact cement to the outside edges of the pattern and in the darts

How To Apply Contact Cement To Your Puppet Pattern

  • Apply contact cement to the foam with a brush, or dab it on with a scrap of foam.
  • Do not apply to thick. A thin coat is best.
  • If you want a stronger bond, apply a second layer of cement after the first layer dries.
  • Apply the contact cement to BOTH edges that are to be joined.
  • Allow the cement to dry until it is just tacky. You can use a hairdryer to speed up the process.
  • Pinch the edges together for a permanent bond.
Apply contact cement to both edges to be attached.

What is the best contact cement to use? See what the experts say: CLICK HERE

Barge vs weldwoon contact cement
What is the best contact cement to use?
See what the experts say: CLICK HERE

Pinch darts closed

Once the contact cement dries to tacky, pinch the edges together. Start with the darts.

Pinch the outside edges together to form the shape of the puppet head

Once all the darts are closed, attach the outside edges of the head together to get your final shape.

Pinch the darts closed, then attach the outside edges to finish your puppet skull.

Turn inside out

Turned inside out, the ridges on the darts disappear.

Turn the puppet head inside out and the darts will smooth out. This is optional, but sometimes when pinching the darts closed, you get little ridges. This will hide them.

Attach mouth plate to puppet head

Apply contact cement to the edges of your mouth plate and to where the mouth plate will attach to the head. Let dry until tacky.

Attach the mouth plate and you are ready to cover your head with fleece or latex.

Pear Head Puppet Covered
With Antron Fleece

You can now put the inside of the mouth in, attach your facial features and hair, attach a neck and connect it all to a body.

Go to our VIDEO PAGE for instructions on each of these steps.

To learn how to make a professional quality puppet mouth plate go to: PUPPET MOUTH VIDEO

You can purchase the Pear Head Puppet Pattern and complete instructions by clicking the pic below.

Click to purchase the Pear Head Pattern