How to make puppet eyes blink?
(Looking for puppet eyes to buy? Click here. Looking to learn how to make puppet eyes? Click here.)
UPDATE: This is a post from my blog about my last show. It was not intended as a tutorial, but I’m providing it as a simple basis for how to create blinking eyes. A better tutorial, which removes any problems that I had using the below technique, can be found here, and my post on using this new technique can be found here. Read about placement of eyes here.
See previous post - making bare arms - here.
For one of my puppets, I needed some blinking eyes - or rather, I needed the eyes to open from the shut position.
The problem was, that I’ve never made blinking eyes before. Jeany, my friend and fellow puppeteer, had made the eyes in our puppets previously. I never saw how she made them properly, but I still had the puppet, so I could check how she did it.
But there was another problem. How she made the eyes (table tennis balls for eyes, then half-balls for eyelids, which were attached to a mechanism over the eyes) wouldn’t work for my puppet.
While searching for some ideas, I came across this basic sketch (pictured at right) from Puppet Planet, and was hit with the obvious. Use one set of ‘eyes’ on a rod, which can be rotated forwards and backwards to show or hide the eye.
So, how easy is this? Cutting two eye holes in my puppet’s head (taking great care to measure where the holes are supposed to go), I then got two of my doll joint washers - which conveniently had a small lip at the holes - and glued them in place beside either eye hole. These washers will accept the rod on which the eyes will sit.
I then cut myself a piece of dowel to fit inside the head. Pushing two of my foam balls onto the rod, I then made sure they were in line with eye-holes, and glued them to the rod. In the middle of the eyes is a piece of wire, bent around the rod, and then joins in a loop at the top, where a piece of rope is attached. This is my pulling mechanism for the eyes to open and close.
‘On top’ of the eyes is a set of eyelids, made with some of my felt and some fake eyelashes.
The eyes are then painted underneath, so that when the eyes are in the head, all you have to do is pull the rope, and the eyelids roll up into the back of the head - which rolls the eyes up into the eye-holes, making them visible.
Slotting the rod into the washers, the eyes are ready to be used. Naturally, I had to do all this before the neck was attached to the head. I’ve attached it now, making sure to thread the rope inside the neck, to allow easy operation.
To close the eyes, it’s easy to push the eyes ‘down’ from either inside the head, or to roll them forward from the front.
The eyes didn’t turn out quite as I’d like, but it still looks pretty good. And functional, which is the main point!
Onwards and upwards, she blinked.
UPDATE: I had to insert a nail/tack at the back of each eyeball, at a 45 degree angle (pointing up). When the eyes ‘open’, the tacks rotate down with the eyeballs, and rest comfortably on the top of the mouth inside the head. This ensures that the eyes do not roll too far inside the head, and the puppeteer can complete perfect blinking every time. (You may want to read the post on placement of eyes on a puppet as well as the other two parts on blinking eyes; or making puppet noses)
Read next post - making the clothes - here.
Want more? Help build a puppet!