Blinking puppets allow for more expressive communication to the audience.
Puppets that have blinking eyes show expression and emotion that can truly rivet the audience. The surprisingly simple foundation for a blinking puppet is a mechanism constructed mainly with wire and ping pong balls. This tutorial demonstrates the basic mechanics behind the blinking eye, but the puppet builder is the true artist who can design beautiful eyes for the puppet.
Instructions
1. Locate the seam on one of the ping pong balls and make a dot along the seam with a marker. Make a second dot along the seam on the opposite end of the ping pong ball. Repeat on a second ping pong ball.
2. Cut off the top portion of the hanger and straighten out the crooks in the side of the hanger wire to form a relatively straight line. Form a teardrop-shaped trigger switch at the center of the remaining hanger by placing a pencil at the center of the wire and bending each side of the wire down about 180 degrees. About an inch below the pencil, bend the wire back out 90 degrees on each side.
3. Using a hot glue gun, melt the area surrounding each dot on each ping pong ball. Slide one ball onto the wire through the two holes down to the trigger switch and repeat on the opposite side of the trigger switch with the second ball.
4. Place the mechanism on the already-constructed puppet head to find the proper eye placement, and make a mark on the wire on the inside and outside of the ping pong ball. To form what will become the eyelid, bend the outer portion of the wire at the mark over and around the ping pong ball towards the trigger switch, round it out leaving approximately 1/4 inch between the ball and wire, and allow the remaining portion go down the center along the trigger switch. Repeat on the other side.
5. Cut off the remaining portion of the rounded wire at the center of the mechanism where it meets the trigger switch. Secure the end of the wire to the area near the trigger switch with hot glue.
6. Place the mechanism on the foam head and poke the trigger switch through the foam, leaving the rounded portion of the wire on the outer side. Hot glue the ping pong balls onto the foam head.
7. Cut a rectangle of fabric that is large enough to cover the eyes and also allow for room to glue excess fabric to the head. Place hot glue along the rounded wire and affix the fabric along the wire with approximately 1/4-inch overhang on what will be the visible eyeball.
8. Draw, paint or glue on pupils to the eyeball.
9. Place your hand inside the puppet head and use your fingers to manipulate the trigger switch, moving the eyelids up and down.
