Actually I have two questions.

First do you layer anything under you duct tape before you put it on the foam to create your fabric pattern or does it release easily without anything?

Duct tape doesn't stick very well to foam (but very very well to itself)so it can be layered on directly and peeled off as needed.  I cut the sections off while the tape is still on the figure, hard to keep from putting a few extra cuts in the foam but that's easy to fix with a dab of hot melt.

Second, I was wondering if you could do a video of how the eye mech works. May be too late at this point since it is already in the head.  I having some difficulty seeing how it works.  I am thinking your control bar is hinged in the center. At the point where it ties into the inner sides of the lids, is that static or also hinged?  In my mind that would need to be a static connection so it would rotate the eyelids.  This ties into your control pole somehow right?

I can do a video, or at least take some photos or make a drawing showing how the eye lever system works.  The whole mechanism is held in with bolts so it's easy to remove as needed, that was one of my requirements for the system; everything can be removed for repair/upgrade.

What is not shown in the eye images is the link between the lever on the control pole and the lever on the eye pivot, that is a piece of bent 10 gauge wire.  I'll get an illustration of that soon.

He really is a great puppet!

Thank you!

Yes please, I too would really like to see the eye mechanism. I am two thirds through getting something sorted, but am stuck on a good design for the pivoting and controlling. I like your mentality on the bolting together to be able to do repairs and maintainance. Very wise. Does the Eye assembly attach to the mouth plate? The one I have on the go at the moment is floating around in space and I can see that it needs  fixing. If you have a solid head like a vent puppet, you can attach to the hard shell, but foam is another story. If you are pivoting  between the eyes , that would be useful....are you? Thanks for sharing.

Yes please, I too would really like to see the eye mechanism. I am two thirds through getting something sorted, but am stuck on a good design for the pivoting and controlling. I like your mentality on the bolting together to be able to do repairs and maintainance. Very wise. Does the Eye assembly attach to the mouth plate? The one I have on the go at the moment is floating around in space and I can see that it needs  fixing. If you have a solid head like a vent puppet, you can attach to the hard shell, but foam is another story. If you are pivoting  between the eyes , that would be useful....are you? Thanks for sharing.

Me too. BTW Great puppet

Yes please, I too would really like to see the eye mechanism. I am two thirds through getting something sorted, but am stuck on a good design for the pivoting and controlling. I like your mentality on the bolting together to be able to do repairs and maintainance. Very wise. Does the Eye assembly attach to the mouth plate? The one I have on the go at the moment is floating around in space and I can see that it needs  fixing. If you have a solid head like a vent puppet, you can attach to the hard shell, but foam is another story. If you are pivoting  between the eyes , that would be useful....are you? Thanks for sharing.

The eye assembly is attached via three bolts that are embedded in the foam around the eye sockets.  I made up some 1 inch washers out of polystyrene, poked the bolts through the center and hot glued that to the foam.  Also, I reinforced the eye area with white crosslink foam anchored to the muzzle (which is also reinforced with crosslink).  Finally, so I could control the eye socket shape I embedded a ring of copper wire around the eye hole. A lot of this was engineering on the fly! =)

Now my new project is a smaller puppet so there's no room for linkages; the only way I'll be able to have moving eyelids is by using animatronics.  I've already tinkered with this and figure it should be easier to build then the linkage system.

Amazing work! Loved seeing glimpses of him in person at the SFBAPG meeting. Nice to see you on here!

I can't wait to see him in action. That is one of the best builds I've seen. Great work!

Thanks Gabriel and Wheels.   We're going to a fantasy convention up in Seattle in a couple of weeks and we'll have Dmitri there. We plan to do some 'video puppet blogging' there and start posting some videos next month.

Cool!

Shunaka, looking forward to  your  blogs in seattle.

Have not commented on this thread in a while but great job on the build and the follow along tutorial was very helpful.