Here's something that I've meant to post for a while: It's something that I started building a few months ago and have stalled on a little bit.  Mostly that's because the show that it was being built for fell through, but also because it's been too cold to paint outside.  The project was to make a giant head with moving eyes and mouth that could swallow smaller puppets and cry them out.
I started with some design drawings, then moved on to a full-scale pattern in full view and profile:

Then I started laying out little wooden beams in squares and rectangles.  They're easiest to build:

Things got more complicated when I moved up from the flat construction, but it's still basically the same thing:

Here it is with even more wooden beams:

And here with the separate jaw piece built:

Once I had the wooden frame, I started to cover it with foam sheets.  I didn't really measure that much or make a pattern here, I just eyeballed it.  In some places I used extra foam to bring features out, like the lips and chin.  The nose is thick foam laminated together and carved with scissors and electric carving knife:

Then I spray-painted it grey as a base:

And finally I built a stand for it:

Now I need to wait for the spring thaw to be able to paint more.  I also need to figure out the eyes, but it's not really a priority right now.  In a few more weeks, perhaps.

Wow! That's pretty cool! How does the mouth work?

Can't wait to see some more pics!

Great job! Nice technique!

Well done,

the idea looks great... hope to see how things work.

Johan

Totally Awesome!    I love seeing process pictures.

What a wonderful concept......................... Looks Great!

Billy D.

what a great work that you can build it....................

Here's how the mouth works:

The wood that forms the jaw extends out of the back of the head-frame on either side.  It forks just before the frame so that the jaw won't slide around  A hinge is made from dowel and holes drilled through the various parts.  Binder clips hold everything in place.  Move the levers and you move the jaw.  I'm thinking of adding a single crossbar to bridge the ends of the levers and make the controller easier to hold onto, but that might make the jaw unremovable, so I haven't done that yet.  Wait, I just got an idea:  I'll give the crossbar a connection similar to the pivot points, and so allow it to be removed at any time!  Thanks, everybody!

Looks really cool!

Here's how the mouth works:

The wood that forms the jaw extends out of the back of the head-frame on either side.  It forks just before the frame so that the jaw won't slide around  A hinge is made from dowel and holes drilled through the various parts.  Binder clips hold everything in place.  Move the levers and you move the jaw.  I'm thinking of adding a single crossbar to bridge the ends of the levers and make the controller easier to hold onto, but that might make the jaw unremovable, so I haven't done that yet.  Wait, I just got an idea:  I'll give the crossbar a connection similar to the pivot points, and so allow it to be removed at any time!  Thanks, everybody!

Oooh, so simple! The levers are a very cool idea