The Tumbles P. Bear Project

Part One: Heads and Shoulders, er Body

This is the fourth version of Tumbles that has been constructed and the process of designing him as been largely trial-and-error over the years. The original Tumbles puppet was based on a small teddy bear I had as a child and I figured out how to pattern the original puppet mostly by studying the design of the bear and checking out a few books on teddy bear making (dismantling old stuffed animals is a great way to figure out how to build puppets!).

"Tumbles" the teddy bear	The original Tumbles Puppet (circa 1994)	A later Tumbles Puppet (circa 1998)

In the beginning it's all about the foam. Foam is what most TV-style hand and rod puppets are made from and there are many different types of foam available. They can usually be purchased through a specialty outlets wholesale or retail through upholstery stores and camping outfitters. "Scott foam" (so named because it was originally manufactured by the Scott Paper Company) which is more commonly referred to as reticulated foam is usually preferred by most experienced puppet builders. It's actually manufactured for the purpose of industrial filtration and it's maindraw back is that it's tricky to find. PuppetProject is a good source for small quantities of reticulated foam if you're just getting started. They sell 16" X 36" sheets of reticulated 1/2-inch foam for about $30.

The cheaper alternative to reticulated foam is regular open cell foam, which is the normal variety of foam sold in most fabric and upholstry stores. It's primarily used to make cushions and other soft, padded items. You'll find it variously referred to as "upholstry foam", "polyfoam" (not to be confused with reticulated polyfoam) and "junk foam". Although many professional builders scoff at using upholstry foam I don't encourage anyone to rush out and spend a lot of money on it when they are building their first puppets. It's expensive stuff and upholstry foam works just fine.

Although I do usually like to work with reticulated foam, when I started building Tumbles I was out of it and didn't have $200 to order more so I decided to use some spare medium density upholstry foam that I had lying around in stead. The key to choosing what foam to use to build a puppet is density; high density foam is very rigid while low density foam is very pourous and much more flexible. For those technically inclined, foam density is usually measured either in pounds per material cubic foot or pores per inch. I tend to work with 3/4-inch thick sheets of medium density foam unless something requires a lot of strength, in which case I'll use high density foam.

I began building Tumbles by tracing wedges on to a sheet of foam. I started in one corner of the foam sheet and trace the wedges as closely together as possible to avoid wasting foam.

Five wedges like this one were cut out for the body; eight for the head. You'll need to make a pattern like the one seen here; note that it's extremely important that each wedge is the same size if you want an evenly round head.

To make a perfectly round ball the ratio of the wedge should be 4:1 or four times as high as it is wide (this wedge is not) and you need eight wedges. By varying the size and number of wedges you can alter the shape of the ball you end up with. It is very important that the "cut" edges of the wedge be perfectly straight and even because otherwise you will end up with a lopsided shape when they are glued together.

Next the wedges were glues together using LePage Multi-Purpose Contact Cement. You can find this brand or similar one in most hardware stores, but you have to wear a proper respirator with an organic vapor filter and work outdoors because the fumes are highly toxic. Each outside edge (not the top or bottom) of the foam was covered in glue then left to dry until it becomes tacky. Ideally, it should still be sticky, but none of the gel should come off when you touch it. If you're impatient like me you can use a hair dryer to aid the drying process.

Once all the edges are glued and tacky I began gluing the various wedges together by "pinching" them together two at a time. This has to be done carefully. To pinch the foam, hold the two wedge pieces you are gluing together so that the edges are side-by-side and then press down in the middle of the two edges as you pinch them together. The picture at the left is from another project (a small foam tube is being glued instead of a wedge) but the technique is essentially the same.

First pinch each end and the middle of the pieces you are gluing just enough to stick them together and ensure the wedges will be pinched evenly. Then pinch together the spaces in between. Glue two wedges, then two more and so on until you have four pairs glued together. Then glue the two pairs together until you have two halves. Then finally glue the halves together until you have a whole ball. You'll have to do this once for the head and once again for the body.

This is the basic head shape and body I ended up with. The fairly slender (remember that I only used five wedges) "body ball" was cut at the top and bottom to make holes for the puppeteer's hand to fit through. I also took in the back of the puppet a little bit to make it flatter. 

A hole was also cut in the bottom of "head ball". Another cut will be made later in the head to make room for the puppet's mouth. Notice the glue lines run horizontal on one side of the head and vertical on the other. Normally the lines should all run in one direction, but in this case I glued to two haves of the head opposite each other because I wanted to create a very specific shape. Now it's time to go put that body in a well-ventilated area over night because the fumes stink!

Click here to go to part two