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FoamWoods β Posable Doll Tutorial
#dragonfly #foam #sponge #armature #armaturetutorial
Published: 2012-04-17 22:28:37 +0000 UTC; Views: 13762; Favourites: 202; Downloads: 91
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Description
The tutorial is also now available as an easy to read and download PDF file! Enjoy!foam-addict.deviantart.com/artβ¦
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The tumblr version can still be found at:
foamaddict.tumblr.com/tagged/Dβ¦
Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find the start of the tutorial.
Hope someone finds this useful or at least enjoyable to read through.
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Comments: 34
Your very welcome! I hope you found it useful
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I'm not seeing a comment with a link anywhere, can you link it to me or put it in the description please?
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There are links to both the pdf version and the tumblr posts in the description.
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This is so cool! I probably wouldn't have the patience and steady cuts needed to really make something beautiful like this, but I love seeing tutorials in general. I just like to learn. 
EDIT: Oh! Another little thing. RIT dye (and all dyes that aren't food based, really) are nasty and you should avoid touching them with bare hands. One-off exposure isn't a big deal but if you're going to use dye a lot (like I do) get some rubber gloves. I use dishwashing gloves because they're sturdy enough to be reusable, and thick enough that heat from the dye doesn't really get through. Dyes contain stuff like heavy metals that you really don't want on you, and usually you need it to be hot (not boiling) to set on most materials, so you really should use gloves if you use it more than once or twice.
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That is so useful! Thanks! And I'm glad you enjoyed it, I agree that its always fun to see how other people do things.
While a quick search shows that RIT prides itself on being nontoxic and I have had no problem up til now I really should get a pair of gloves. Even if its just so I don't look like a colorful coal miner after dying things
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I've seen your work before and have always been fascinated, I couldn't wrap my brain around how you did it til this tutorial! 
On dye, I think it's more like RIT is less toxic than other kinds of dyes, probably because it's primarily acid dye which is pretty safe. Dyes for synthetic materials, IIRC, can be nastier. Like you said, the main danger is being colorful, or getting burned from the heat that acid dyeing typically needs. I tend to be a little too cavalier with my materials though, so I try to remember to use PPE. Just in case something might be able to cause problems over time. I use a lot of dye, I did the dye work for almost every color used on everything in my gallery, so that's a lot of exposure.
Oh yeah, I don't know if this would help you, you might use a whole package of dye in one go, but: I like to store my powdered dyes in plastic bottles mixed with water. For me it makes it easier to get just a little of a color, but mainly I do it so I don't have to deal with the powder getting everywhere every time I want to dye.
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I'm had that exact foam and needle felting idea as well. I already tried it to some extent with my first foray into needle felting:Β foam-addict.deviantart.com/artβ¦
I cheated a bit with him however as I covered the foam core with premade thick felt to start rather then needle felting it from scratch onto the foam. I would love to hear how your experiments turn out as I will be doing similar experiments one day when I next try out needle felting again. Needle felting is such a fun medium, I really need to get into it more but as always so many ideas so little time
I actually have bottle preforms (think plastic soda bottle test tubes: cdn.teachersource.com/images/p⦠) a friend that works at a bottling plant got me that I keep my dyes in. It works very well to keep them contained and not all over everything. I have not gotten into dying things anything but a single color yet but I'll keep your suggestion in mind for when I do!
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Its at the very top of the comment. Link on "Link".Β
I suppose I could make that more noticeable it is rather small.
Sorry about that.
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Very cool! Never seen a foam posable doll. I'll have to try this one day. I have made puppets of foam before (the squishy foam) c: But I hate cutting foam lol it's really messy XD
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Thanks
Foam is so very messy, and the little bits love to attack your face. I find the best way to combat this is with a blanket over your lap you can wipe the bits onto and a glue roll (those things you use to get pet hair off your clothes) to clean them up every so often.
If you ever do try I would love to see what you come up with!
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What kind of foam do you use? I use insulation foam and it is NOT pliable like yours is. For example, I would never be able to cut open the body and shove the internal skeleton inside like that because the foam would crumple and snap into many pieces.
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Just run of the mill upholstery foam. The sort that you'd find in your couch.
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Very interesting. I had never considered using that before.
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LOVED the tutorial! Very interesting way to accomplish a poseable
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Thank you for the kind words
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Interesting, especially with all the photos - thanks!
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This is wonderful! I've never seen anything like this! Wooow!!
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I'm so glad you enjoyed it
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oh man i'm the kind of person who has to try EVERYTHING this isn't nice my dear now i HAVE to do something like this D:
thank you for the wonderful tutorial i feel so much smarter craft wise now
just one question, when putting the claws in was it very easy to find the tube to slip the wire into it?
again thanks so much for sharing this <3
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Thank you for reading it! And I am so happy it has inspired you to play with new things, I wish you the best of luck in your foam adventures!
As for your question:
Easy enough to find the tube yes, took a hell of a lot more patience and persistence to get the wires to all fit in there happily however. They love to bend and refuse to slid in the way you like them to and it can get very frustrating.
Like most of the process its all down to patience and just taking your time. I am sure there has to be a better way to do the fingers. Part of why I did not document what I did properly is I'm not happy with how I'm doing it currently. One day a better way will come to me I'm sure but it's sure taking it's time.
With the first two I just cut the feet off, threaded the claws through the foam, slid the feet back on and wrapped all the wires snugly around the leg tube before gluing the leg back to the feet. But that leaves unsightly seams unless you have something to cover them with (like in the case of Theo, he had those black arm spike things which made life so much easier)
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it's a wonderful read actually and it gets my creativity rolling pretty easily i've gone back twice after leaving my comment just to re-read and to clarify some of the instructions.
I'm sure you will find a simpler way eventually
all i can think of though is the foam dolls i saw in a movie, they were human and you had to mix your foam mixture and pour it into a mould definatly different from what you have here. I've never seen anything like this though so it's refreshing for me
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So glad you have found it that engaging. It makes all the work worth it to know even one person found it helpful and fun.
Yes I have seen something similar on 'How its Made' where they were making manikins out of foam. I would love to one day learn to actually cast my own foam but for now I am content attacking it with scissors.
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can i maybe buy something like that from u
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Unfortunately at this time I just don't have the time or motivation to take commissions or attempt to sell anything. We are working on moving, buying a house, and basically settling our lives down properly so it looks like it will likely be a year or so before I can begin to think about opening up commissions. Sorry.
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Your very welcome!
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