Hi!

I just finished my first puppet a few days ago and am now looking for a new project. I want to make a lemming like the one in this cartoon:


I want to work with the Roly pattern from projectpuppet.com, since this is what I bought to make Roderick. I think by tweaking that and adding a foam-body it should work out well. However, I'm not sure about the eyes. As you can see they are really big and I think I cannot use ping pong balls. However, I like the consistency and feel of ping pong balls, so I don't really want to use Styrofoam. Any ideas on where I could find some?

Thanks so much!

Wow. Didn't think I'd stumble on one of the "Nicht lustig" ("Not funny", they're quite dark) cartoons here...
Maybe you can get on of those clear plastic balls that are normally be filled with decorations (at a craftstore) and just paint it white from the inside? You could then only use half a ball for a single eye.
I really forgot- Welcome Fabe!

Fabe, Welcome to PandS!  Rikka is right if you want larger eyes you can find the clear plastic balls at hobby/craft stores. In fact since it is close to Easter you should also be able to find clear plastic eggs! The round ones are used mostly for making your own Christmas ornaments but they seem to keep them all year around. The Eggs not always available depending on where you live. Both are great for eyes! 

BTW: Styrofoam is not a bad thing either. The secret to using styrofoam for eyes is to cover it with something.  I've papermached them before and even just covered in fabric like felt.

More expensive, but Plastruct makes clear hemisphere domes from 3/8" to 6" in diameter.
http://www.plastruct.com/Home.html

Welcome to Puppets and Stuff!  Being that Easter is soon as Shawn said you may be able to find the baseball "eggs" that Walmart sold last year. I was able to remove the printed "laces" and use them for rather large eyes.

Sent from my Motorola Electrify using Tapatalk

Wow, thanks for all the hints. I stumbled across the Christmas ornaments hint somewhere else since I posted. I hope I can find those at Michael's or Joann's. I will also keep my eyes peeled for those baseballs. I just want something lightweight, so I don't know about those. But, since they're egg shaped it's probably not what I'm looking for. But it's good to have them as an idea and in stock for future projects. If I can't find what I'm looking for, I might just order a couple of the Plastruct domes.
For Roderick I used white plastic spoons...

@Rikka: I'm from Germany, so you should be less surprised . I just love those lemmings...

And thanks for the warm welcome everyone! I have a feeling I'll be happy here .

Well, that didn't come across yet...
Okay then, greetings from a "Fischkopp"... You should, this is one awesome site!

another thought is using smooth practice golf balls. They are made of a nice dense foam, and cut well with scissors. here's an example of a quickie puppet i did to see what they look like

You can buy them here... or any other sports store or sometimes hardware stores.
http://www.kmart.com/shc/s/p_10151_10104_080W479602110001P?aff=Y&sid=KAx20061023x272xTier3

have a great week!
Kimberly

The baseballs are round not egg shaped. That's why I put egg in quotes. Sorry should have been more clear on that. They call them eggs and keep them with the Easter stuff as a sports themed "egg" even though they're spherical.

I used them when I made my Cookie Monster style hat a while back. This should give you an idea of their size. They're quite light weight as well since they are hollow plastic. Had to glue the halves together of course but they worked well for me.

Toy stores are good places to look for plastic balls.  I remember some lightweight hollow plastic balls like they use in the ball pits for kids, most were colored, but I have seen a few white ones. Dollar stores have cheap toy balls.

Puppetainer, do you happen to know the diameter of these "eggs"? I figured that for the size the head is (I completed that today) I would need 3 1/6".
I'm going to post some pictures later, if anyone's interested in the progress...

Okay Fabe. Only for a fellow puppet maker would I do this at 2 in the morning. Yeah, whom I kidding? I'm up this late all the time. Anyway the baseballs are pretty much exactly 2" in diameter which is going to be smaller than what you're looking for. It seems to me that hey did have bigger ones there but I don't think I bought any because I didn't expect to need them quite that large. Happy hunting!

Thanks. Yeah, that's too small. Still might be good to get a couple for other projects. Maybe they have bigger ones as well. Thanks again.

Re Styrofoam. There is a "foam" usually with the styrofoam but it is much denser and does not squish.  I cannot think of what it is called. I have some upstairs, will check it when I go up there.