What to use to bond foam latex to underskull

Troy Mccombs

I recently tried making a foam latex puppet, I used smoothcast 65d for the underskull. I attached cables to the underskull using 5 minute epoxy. It somewhat worked. But nothing would bond the foam to the underskull. I tried pros aide, superglue, and contact cement. None worked. I was afraid of the epoxy eating through the foam, so didn't try that. Also, the smile cable would not, under any circumstances, bond to the foam. I used bicycle brake cable. I even tried using a piece of elastic over superglue--nothing.

Chris Ellerby

A contact adhesive like Barge would work.  Apply a coat to the inside of the foam latex, and a coat to the outside of the underskull, then wait for both to fully dry before joining the two together.    I would do this in small sections, as once the two surfaces touch they are permanently bonded and can not be adjusted.  Giving your underskull a light sanding with coarse sandpaper may also help give the adhesive something to grab onto.

That said, you may want to replace the skin or adjust it later, so a fully permanent bond may be a problem down the road.  One thing you could try is gluing one end of small fabric strips to the foam latex at key connection points, and then snap, velcro, sew, or bolt the other end of the straps to the underskull.  

/Chris

Troy Mccombs

Thanks for the help! What kind of fabric strips would you recommend?

Chris Ellerby

You could do anything from elastic stretchy/nylon straps to muslin.  Almost any fabric should work.

/Chris