How to Attach Carved Head to Neck Sleeve

Hello fellow puppet builders!

In BJ Guyer's course about making a carved foam head, when the subject of attaching the head to the body comes up, he says that you can't sew to the foam because the stitches will tear out.  Then he mentions that they'll put a piece of twill tape around the inside of the hole to sew onto.  Has anybody done this who can offer more details?  I don't understand how this solves the problem of tearing out.  If you sew the neck sleeve through the foam and onto the twill tape, couldn't the foam still tear out?  Advice on this or any other techniques of attaching a carved foam head to a fabric neck sleeve would be most appreciated. I've attached a photo of what I've got so far just for fun.  I should add that I'm not covering the head, so there will be no "skin" to sew to.

Thanks!

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Comments

  • Kai RottmannKai Rottmann ✭✭✭✭
    Hey Matt :-)

    When i was building a 2,4m height Alienworm out of Foam, i tried to glue some parts togehter by using latex.

    These parts which werent pressed together really good while the latex dried, came off. I realized, that the hardened latex which was soaked by the foam, gave a really good bond to the foam with a semi hard surface and i thougt, that i would be able to attach something at these latex-soaked areas if it would be needed.
     
    Maybe it would be an option for you, to be able to stitch fabric to the foam. 
    Or maybe glue the fabric to the dried latex- soaked- foam surface by using latex again.
    If you arent sure, you could try that on a unused test foam piece.

    I hope it helps a little bit :-)

    Greets

    Kai
  • Thanks, Kai!

    I've considered trying to strengthen the foam with latex or something similar.  I've also considered just attaching the neck sleeve directly to the mouth plate.  That might give me better range of motion anyway.  I have got a lot of experimenting to do!  Thanks for the advice.

    Matt
  • Kai RottmannKai Rottmann ✭✭✭✭
    My pleasure Matt :-)

    Have fun and good luck ;-)

    Greets
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