Well, I had so much fun building Joshua Junebug I could just sit abound doing nothing so  I've been cooking up a new puppet for the Lilac Hollow gang.  So introducing Professor Ichabod Inch.   Prof. Inch is the school teacher for the Lilac Hollow Elementary School.  Most of the students love him.  And he loves everysingle one of them.  He is the only adult character that I plan on featuring in my stories.  It's kind of like Peanuts.  You know there are other adults but you just don't get to meet them.  Prof. Inch will be the voice of wisdom and maturity helping the others to learn life's lessons.

As you can see I pretty much have the foam body and head complete.  Just a little tweaking.

I don't plan to do a tutorial of my work on Prof Inch but if you have any questions or I run into trouble maybe we can help each other find answers.

Jon

Looks like you are off to a great start. I love the base shape you have going!  The foam colors are different, are they different in type or thickness also?

Yeah, the foam.  I get the 1/2 green foam from Joann Fabrics.  I ran out and they took forever restocking so I took some white one inch foam I had and cut it down to 1/2 inch with a hot wire cutter I made.  The foams are about the same thickness but the white is somewhat softer.  That works out ok in this instance because it allows his body stretch a bit so that he can inch along like an inchworm does.  That being said if Joann's had had the foam I needed I would have made him all green.

Great job again Jon................. I love your creative way of thinking and how you take a simple idea and come up with such imaginative way of building a puppet.
I do have one question............. Where will the entry point for your hand be? I can't tell by the photo.

Billy D.

Thanks Billy.  The entry is at the bottom of the body straight down from the head.  I cut a hole there and reinforced the edges with refrigerator tubing.  I made the tubing more controllable by threading wire through it.  This made it so that I could shape the hole just the way I wanted it.  The head is not actually attached to the body yet.  It just sitting there.  When I fabricate it I will attach it to the body.

Later I post a picture that will make the arrangement of the parts clearer.

Decided I'd post a picture of the entry point for the hand.  If you look close at the opening you can see the side of the refrigerator tubing.  This tubing has wire running though it to made it so that I can determine the shape the opening will have.  I think this part is going to work well.

Looks like that will work! I love the design............. you are just a bug lover at heart. Thanks for sharing.

Billy D.

Can't wait to see the continued progress!!

Wow another great creative inspiration,  thanks for sharing your creative pictures and looking forward to seeing more. 

Daryl H

I was wondering about your choice to use the refrigerator tubing around the entry opening.  I've done something similar to control the shape of an opening but simply used wire that was embedded into the foam edge. To do that I spread contact adhesive on the edge then place the wire down the center of the edge then pinch the foam around it. Is there an advantage that you where wanting by adding the tubing the method?

Shawn I'm not sure if it was in the Foam Book or David Pannabakers videos where they used this method. The main reason was to add support to the opening but I think they stated that it allowed the puppet to stand up when sitting on a flat surface. I know I reccomended it in a earlier post but am not sure why Jon chose this for this puppet build. What gauge wire do you use Shawn?

Billy D.

I could have probably just used the wire but I wasn't thinking along those lines at the time.  I was wanting to use the tubing but wanted a way to hold the ends together without making the joint rigid.  I had the wire and figured that would work.  I also realized that if I made the wire long enough it would make the tubing hold the shape I wanted it to.  So I used the wire and tubing together.  If my thought process had begun with the wire I probably would have never used the tubing.  At any rate it does what I want it to do and I guess thats the most important thing.

ps I've wanted to use that headbanging smiley ever since I first saw it.

I think the tube idea with the wire insert is a great way to reduce the chance that the wire wears it's way through the foam.  Maybe instead of fridge tubing you could use aquarium tubing which is more flexible, so that you still have the wire doing the work and also protect the wire from damaging and wearing through the foam.

Just my thoughts......

Daryl H

@Billy
I use what ever gauge happens to be around that seems heavy enough to work.

Great work Jon...I like seeing the pics during the construction phase.
I wish I could get in the habit of taking pics during a build.
I can't wait to see this one finished!!