Puppets blowing smoke Posted by ArthurS on Oct 04, 2012
When finishing doing my latest dragon, I was asked to share how to make him breathe smoke. Pretty simple, but here it is.
Take some tubing and a "T" connector available at Menards (I used 3/8" but 1/4" may work even better.)and connect like this. Note: I did trim the T Connector a bit so there is less of a bend, and therefore, less of a kink.
Now you will need a pump. I used a meat baster. An ear pump might work better, but the store I went to didn't have one and eventually I want to do this from a costume character. With the meat baster, you will also need some heavier density foamor something similar to reduce the size hole.
Cut off the tube of the baster about an inch past where the pump sits when inserted.
Cut a piece of foam so it fits inside snugly. Cut a hole in the middle of that so you can insert your tubing.
Put the tubing in the hole so it sticks through the hole about 2". Hot glue the top to seal the tubing and foam in place.
Fill the bulb with baby powder, attach it and squeeze! Practice with different amounts of powder for best results.
Oh, then clean up the mess before your wife gets home and freaks out from powder being everywhere!!
I was instructed how to do the above, but told to use an ear dropper (http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/walgreens-ear-wax-removal-kit/ID=prod6003972-product). With this, you can just stick the spout into the hose and skip a bunch of the above steps. Not sure how to fill it, but I am told it works well.
Enjoy!
Take some tubing and a "T" connector available at Menards (I used 3/8" but 1/4" may work even better.)and connect like this. Note: I did trim the T Connector a bit so there is less of a bend, and therefore, less of a kink.
Now you will need a pump. I used a meat baster. An ear pump might work better, but the store I went to didn't have one and eventually I want to do this from a costume character. With the meat baster, you will also need some heavier density foamor something similar to reduce the size hole.
Cut off the tube of the baster about an inch past where the pump sits when inserted.
Cut a piece of foam so it fits inside snugly. Cut a hole in the middle of that so you can insert your tubing.
Put the tubing in the hole so it sticks through the hole about 2". Hot glue the top to seal the tubing and foam in place.
Fill the bulb with baby powder, attach it and squeeze! Practice with different amounts of powder for best results.
Oh, then clean up the mess before your wife gets home and freaks out from powder being everywhere!!
I was instructed how to do the above, but told to use an ear dropper (http://www.walgreens.com/store/c/walgreens-ear-wax-removal-kit/ID=prod6003972-product). With this, you can just stick the spout into the hose and skip a bunch of the above steps. Not sure how to fill it, but I am told it works well.
Enjoy!
Re: Puppets blowing smoke Posted by Shawn on Oct 04, 2012
I actually did a smoke breathing dragon in a similar fashion only skipped the "pump". Used tubing that was a bit bigger then what you used and pored baby powder into it with a funnel to load it. Then the performer simply blew into the tubing to expel the baby powder. Couple of drawbacks. Don't inhale or you get a mouth full of baby powder and the moister in a person breath tends to build up as condensation in the tube and make paste. 
Works as a one shot deal though for something you use once or twice a day though.
To fill the ear dropper you would first compress it and then stick the end in the baby powder and pull it into the bladder. Other option if you happen to be cutting the end of the dropper off a bit is to use a funnel like we did with the tubing to fill it.
Works as a one shot deal though for something you use once or twice a day though.To fill the ear dropper you would first compress it and then stick the end in the baby powder and pull it into the bladder. Other option if you happen to be cutting the end of the dropper off a bit is to use a funnel like we did with the tubing to fill it.
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