I have a couple of customers asking for life size camels....Oh boy.....I can't even (well maybe) imagine how long that would take. LOL  I keep telling myself just say NO.

.....but the challenge is to much fun and the end result is to big to not say YES! 

I have been there.

Daryl H

That's what I keep telling myself, but think of the scale.  This giant puppet took up my whole work table and was to tall for the ceiling once you put him on.  So I'm not sure where I'd work on the camel. 

Many years ago, my uncle worked in the theater district.  The production they were working on was folding and they were throwing away everything.  Puppets, props.  Horrible!!!!! He rescued a life size camel, elephant as well as about 18-20 puppets that were about 10-12 ft tall.  There were magnificent.  We receive the elephant and most of the giant puppets, but unfortunately we were unable to keep them due to storage issues.  After being given to several organizations.....the elephant was offered back to us, but had been badly damaged.  Didn't matter...I still wanted it, but we couldn't find transportation and storage for him, think full size bull elephant.  I knew at that time I would really wish I'd managed to keep him.  I wasn't even building puppets professionally at that time, only for ourselves, but I just knew I was going to wish I had it.  Oh well....no sense crying over lost elephants. LOL

I said all that to say..............all the puppets were built so they could be worn by two puppeteers.  They were so well balanced even though they were huge they were very light.  They also where made so they could be hung from the ceiling for storage.  I'm thinking that would be the only way to work on something this large.  And no, I didn't take photos. 

The structure was made from 1/8" x 1" strips of aluminum riveted together, attached to hiking backpacks.  The body was made from EVA foam I think.  It was about 1" think white foam that reminded me of craft foam.  The skin and other accessories were made from suede.  Absolutely top quality.

If there were no time restraints and and open budget, lol, I think I might try it. Wait...just say NO! 

The foam you describe as the covering for the large puppets, would be a type of EVA foam although I normally hear referred to as Volar Foam.  http://www.foambymail.com/Volara.html  The stuff in the link I posted it black but I have always seen it in white. Sometimes you can even find this stuff in fabric stores.

It is great for making mask and hats because you can get it pretty thin but it also hold up really well.

It looked my like the closed sell polystyrene http://www.foambymail.com/EPS1.html.  Hard to tell from the picture.

Julie

This ones better.  http://www.schenz.com/fm_eva.html  The helmet looks just like the foam they used.

Yep same type of foam really.  Volar foam normally has kind of a skin on side of it that is a bit shiny but for all intents and purposes they are the same thing and accomplish the same end results.  The key here is that you want to look for an EVA or close celled foam.

P.S. Nice link to the helmet guide.  That is exactly what I was talking about when I mentioned that you could make a hat or mask out of it.

Speaking of camels.  When I starting doing research I came across these video.  I think this is one of the most beautiful puppets I have ever seen.




Hope it's okay to hijack my own thread. LOL 

WOW! Julie I had to do a double take............... that camel looked real.

Billy D.

outstanding work and craftsmanship!!

Yeah.  I don't know who made it.  If you search on Giant Puppets on youtube there are some pretty amazing puppets out there.

Julie

Wow!  That is incredible!  I love hijacks like this!