10/31/11
Trick? Or treat?
Today being Halloween, I looked around for something appropriate to picture on this post. I do have several heads hanging in my shop, but that's the norm - I find nothing spooky about that. Then I spotted the head in my shop vise. It belongs to my ventriloquist lawyer cousin who brought it to me this past Thursday for repair. Now, THAT job is a frightening sight! For me, at least. Not to imply that the workings are so repulsive in appearance. No, it is the nature of the required repair itself that is a bit daunting.
The maker of this figure built the jaw unit from a block of rigid styrofoam (my screwdriver points to the back of the styrofoam in the picture). Clever idea, but styrofoam simply will not provide long lasting support for the control arm which was inserted and glued into the styro. I find it amazing that method even withstood the several thousand openings and closings of the mouth this long (according to the date on the head post it was built in 2004). So, finding a permanent repair will be the trick, and when finished successfully, my treat.
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You're right, of course! It is a clever idea to use styrofoam; a person could carve it easily and even, perhaps, add magic sculpt to it to get the shape and swing of it right. But then the builder probably should have created a negative mold and cast it in something, maybe. It is phenomenal that styrofoam lasted more than a couple of years! So you're going to have to pull everything else out just to get to it? Wow. Let us know how it all comes out, eh?
ReplyDeletePlease let us know how you solve this one. It's a beauty.
ReplyDeleteI'll try a base for the bracket arm that glues to a much greater surface area of the styrofoam, thus spreading the stress load.
ReplyDeleteThe thought of a Ventriloquist Lawyer conjures up an amusing picture Mr D, Courtroom comedy indeed.
ReplyDeleteJ Watson