by Chris » 04 Dec 2006, 16:10
<blockquote>James means that's how I've told him I make mine. As far as I know I was the first to use this method. Any hollow head is vulnerable to crushing. Polyeurythane foam is used to add buoyancy to canoes and can be used inside heads to add strength without weight. You buy the stuff as two chemicals which you mix and pour, and they rapidly expand to fill the interior.
Not available thirty odd years ago when I was experimenting but now in the B&Q or other DIY supermarkets you can now buy an aerosol can of a rather similar product, an expanding filler for wall cavities. This is just squirted into your head and works just as well. It is slightly heavier than the two part product, but much more convenient to use.
Hollow papie mache heads are very strong if made with sufficient layers and if the paper is well chosen - I use tissue for the surface layers, but kraft paper inside. It will take a much greater battering from a slapstick than will wood. What it won't tolerate is being stood on, on being crushed beneath a weight. This is where my foam-filled heads score.<br>
<img src="http://www.puppets.inuk.com/punchboard/violin.jpg" align="left">To give you an idea of the durability of paper, I have a marionette violinist, over 3ft high, His head and torso are papie mache shells, as are his legs. These have not been foam filled - I made him before I had invented the technique - but even so he has survived over the years being repeatedly packed and unpacked in travel trunks throughout the years of clubland touring and all over the world on cruise ship work. He even survived being soaked in salt water from fire hoses in a ship's fire (Achille Lauro 1981) He has never needed repair or repainting to his head.<br clear="left"></blockquote>
It's good to squawk!