Gorilla puppet making with soft foam

I recently made this gorilla puppet using a technique I’ve wanted to try for ages, but have only just had enough free time to really experiment with it. 

The first puppet I ever made back in 2009 - my orangutan puppet, linked here - has an opening mouth like a muppet, but generally the puppets I tend to make these days don’t have moving mouths.

Doing the Fugglers commission has been so fun and I’ve been really enjoying the comedy of “talking” puppets, and the challenge of lip syncing and exploring different voices. So, I thought I’d make more talking puppets!

This puppet hasn’t been made for any reason other than to help me experiment with this new method - making a plasticene model, then creating a masking tape “pattern” from it, and then cutting out the pattern pieces in soft foam.
My intention with this puppet build was to take photos of every stage for sharing on this blog post… However, I completely forgot to do this during the first few stages, infuriatingly! Here’s a link to the Youtube video I mostly used as reference for the first couple of stages - making the plasticene model, covering it in masking tape then creating a pattern; then increasing the size of the pattern on a photocopier and replicating the pieces in soft foam (I made the head and body separately): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N04DqW9OpBg&t=550s

I used this type of foam: https://www.efoam.co.uk/blog/cot-safe-nursery-foam.php

I wasn’t totally sure what kind of foam to use, but it needed to be “polyurethane” foam, that has a “open cell” structure so it is really flexible. This one linked worked well, and is about half an inch in thickness. It is really easy to cut with scissors (though apparently it damages nice scissors, so don’t use your fave fabric scissors!).

I joined the foam head pieces together separate from the body, sticking each piece of the pattern together with contact adhesive.

I also stupidly didn’t take photos of the mouth pieces either! But the method I used is quite similar to this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDfrHcGlVvg&t=233s

I cut two half circle pieces out of plywood, with a “hinge” of stretchy jersey fabric. I then created “handles” with worbla (thermoplastic), for opening and closing the mouth from inside the puppet.

(I’m kicking myself that I didn’t take photos! But I’m planning on making another puppet using the same technique, and I’ll try and take photos of every step!).

I added extra features and details to the face using offcuts of the soft foam, cut into eyebrows, nostrils, ears etc and glued on with contact adhesive. I cut holes where the eyes would be, and glued in some large wooden beads.

I covered the face with small pieces of muslin fabric, dipped in latex. This was a bit of an experiment, and I like how it came out! It has quite a rough grungy look, which is definitely more my style than the smooth fleece that is often used on these “muppet” style puppets.

I painted the face with acrylic paint, with some latex mixed in to help it stick to the latex and muslin covering. 

I used some small scraps of chamois leather for the eyelids.

I painted the eyes with acrylic, covered them in shellac varnish then added some black nail varnish for the pupil. Having really glassy eyes makes a big difference to a puppet, and really brings them to life! I then stuck on some fake eyelashes, using latex for glue!

I wanted to give my gorilla teeth, too, without making him look terrifying. I ended up just painting little white lines inside his lips to suggest the top of teeth, and I think it’s given him so much more character!

Next, I glued on some fake fur to his head, using shorter black faux fur for the “sideburn area”, and longer black fur on top and down the back of his head. He ended up with an eighties mullet, which I initially planned on trimming but I realised I loved it, and also added to his character! I am consistently inconsistent as a person, and used both contact adhesive and latex when gluing the fur onto his head… Also used a glue gun in some areas!! Generally, though, latex sticks to latex, so I mostly used latex as glue on the latex-and-muslin-covered parts of his face/ crown, and used contact glue on areas where I was sticking the faux fur straight onto the soft foam, at the back of his head for example, I found the glue gun was also fine for this though, and didn’t seem to melt the foam at all.

I made the gorillas arms from a pair of old tights, stuffed with teddy-bear stuffing (thanks to all the Fugglers sacrificed to make puppet versions of the Fugglers, I have a huge supply of Fuggler innards for stuffing), with the gusset of the tights stuck onto the back of the gorilla’s body, where the “shoulders” are. The arms are covered in fabric too, sewn on. The body is also covered in the shorter faux fur, covering where the tights are attached to the body.

One of his hands is my left hand. His other hand I made from some of the soft fabric, cut into shape, dipped into latex, and then painted with acrylic mixed with latex.

He’s almost finished I think… His body is a bit shoddy, but depending on how he gets used, that won’t really be seen I don’t think. I’ve ordered a petrol-blue coloured glove on Vinted for his other hand (which will of course be my hand, wearing the glove).

I’ll update the blog once I add more to him etc!