PUPPET EYES

I get asked a lot about where I get my eyes from for my puppets, the answer is there is no one place to buy puppet eyes. I have seen a few half dome eyes for sale over the years on the internet , but to be they have a "plastic" look to them - maybe its the shine of them. All of my eyes are custom made for each puppet, I use any plastic sphere or dome I can find from everyday products - I have even used a certain area of a juice container to help create the eye shape I was after. Lets say we want a half dome eye similar to kermit the Frogs eyes - Once you find the size you are after ( lets say for this example we are using a ping pong ball)

1) Cut the ping pong ball slightly larger than half ( so you will need a ball for each eye, not one ball cut in half)

2) Lightly sand the dome with the finest sandpaper you can buy, also sand off any logos etc

that the ping pong ball may have.

3) Once both are sanded, give them a light spray of undercoat to help with any inperfections

4) once the undercoat is dry give it another light sand - usually with a wet n dry sandpaper

5) Apply the second coat of undercoat, I always find the lighter the coat the better the end result will be.

6) Lightly sand once again, wipe the eye with a damp cloth to remove any dust from the sanding.

7) Apply a coat of either satin or flat white paint, once dry repeat.

Then you should have a fantastic pair of puppet eyes. This is meant for everyday puppets - puppets which will be used under either theatre lights or TV studio lights are treated differently to stop the whiteness of the eyes blowing out on screen, but that is a much more invloved process .

ABOVE - some of the eyes built for the production of Avenue Q that I worked on in 2011