How To Assemble A Foam Puppet Head

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 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.

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.

Turn inside out

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.

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.