Re: Help constructing foam lizard on wire Posted by Maya Remblai on Feb 09, 2011
It would be fairly easy to build one of these. I loved them as a kid, and although I've made all manner of other things it never occurred to me to make one myself, oddly enough!
Anyway, you can get the materials you need from most craft stores. What you're after is the same foam that hand puppets and such are made from. They usually sell it near the stuffing, it's labeled as being for pillows and seat cushions. Get a piece that's at least the same length as you want the lizard to be. It'll be a lot easier to make the whole thing one piece rather than make the tail separately and glue it on. Draw the body shape (head, body, and tail) on paper. It'll mostly be a straight line, the "pinched" areas where the legs and neck are are made by the attachment of the legs and control wire. Trace this design onto the foam (a disappearing tailor's marker would work well) and cut it out.
The legs are the tricky part. Others here may have better suggestions, but the way I think I would do it would be to draw a pattern for two legs at a time, from the perspective of looking at them from the front. Sort of an upside-down U with feet and a smaller upside-down U at the top where the body would be. Cut out two of those, and use a rubber band to tightly secure them to the body. (The toys from the fair have rubber bands holding everything together)
The wire may be a bit harder to get, because it has to be long, stiff, and a heavy gauge. Any wire around 10 gauge would probably be strong enough, but I've never seen such a large gauge at the stores around here. If all else fails, a wire coat hanger will work if you can straighten it out. Make a small loop on one end of the wire, and wrap a rubber band around it and the neck of the lizard. Make a larger loop at the other end for a hand grip if you want.
I hope it turns out well.
EDIT: Oh I forgot! To color it, try thinning acrylic paint and dabbing that on. You could also try fabric dye, though that may come off on your hands a bit.
Also, the ones at the fair usually have wire in their legs, but I don't know the best way to do that. The methods I can think of involve contact cement, which is pretty nasty and I try to avoid it myself, since I don't make puppets on a regular basis and so don't have a safe way to work with it.
Anyway, you can get the materials you need from most craft stores. What you're after is the same foam that hand puppets and such are made from. They usually sell it near the stuffing, it's labeled as being for pillows and seat cushions. Get a piece that's at least the same length as you want the lizard to be. It'll be a lot easier to make the whole thing one piece rather than make the tail separately and glue it on. Draw the body shape (head, body, and tail) on paper. It'll mostly be a straight line, the "pinched" areas where the legs and neck are are made by the attachment of the legs and control wire. Trace this design onto the foam (a disappearing tailor's marker would work well) and cut it out.
The legs are the tricky part. Others here may have better suggestions, but the way I think I would do it would be to draw a pattern for two legs at a time, from the perspective of looking at them from the front. Sort of an upside-down U with feet and a smaller upside-down U at the top where the body would be. Cut out two of those, and use a rubber band to tightly secure them to the body. (The toys from the fair have rubber bands holding everything together)
The wire may be a bit harder to get, because it has to be long, stiff, and a heavy gauge. Any wire around 10 gauge would probably be strong enough, but I've never seen such a large gauge at the stores around here. If all else fails, a wire coat hanger will work if you can straighten it out. Make a small loop on one end of the wire, and wrap a rubber band around it and the neck of the lizard. Make a larger loop at the other end for a hand grip if you want.
I hope it turns out well.
EDIT: Oh I forgot! To color it, try thinning acrylic paint and dabbing that on. You could also try fabric dye, though that may come off on your hands a bit.
Also, the ones at the fair usually have wire in their legs, but I don't know the best way to do that. The methods I can think of involve contact cement, which is pretty nasty and I try to avoid it myself, since I don't make puppets on a regular basis and so don't have a safe way to work with it.
Re: Help constructing foam lizard on wire Posted by Shawn on Feb 09, 2011
If making one seems to much of a task and you do want to buy one you should be able to buy it from the person who has the site you linked to. They say the sell them on ebay and he has is email account at the bottom of the page. You could try emailing him.
They say the sell them on ebay and he has is email account at the bottom of the page. You could try emailing him.Re: Help constructing foam lizard on wire Posted by Shawn on Oct 04, 2011
It looks like the link provided above to Foam Kritters is no longer valid. I had someone email and ask me about these so went hunting for current info. Looks like they are manufactured by this company in Spain. http://www.alibaba.com/member/es104237656.html Of course the minimum order is 500 so that does not help the individual who want's to buy one. So far I can not find a retailer on line but see if you can find a company in your area that sells carnival supplies. For example here in Kansas City there is a company called Us Toy http://www.ustoy.com I could not find them on their website but I know at one time they had them in their warehouse when I visited. Here is another such company located in St. Louis Mo http://www.funcarnival.com I am pretty sure that both companies put out a brochure that you can get via snail mail and they may have then in that.
Last ditch effort would be to keep an eye out for a carnival that has come to town.
Looks like they are manufactured by this company in Spain. http://www.alibaba.com/member/es104237656.html Of course the minimum order is 500 so that does not help the individual who want's to buy one. So far I can not find a retailer on line but see if you can find a company in your area that sells carnival supplies. For example here in Kansas City there is a company called Us Toy http://www.ustoy.com I could not find them on their website but I know at one time they had them in their warehouse when I visited. Here is another such company located in St. Louis Mo http://www.funcarnival.com I am pretty sure that both companies put out a brochure that you can get via snail mail and they may have then in that.Last ditch effort would be to keep an eye out for a carnival that has come to town.
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