Belt Sander

Al the Alien’s head was smoothed out with a belt sander. This is a very delicate process that takes a light touch and a lot of patience. It's a bit like cutting a diamond with a chainsaw. I found this step of the puppet-building process nerve wracking at first, but once I relaxed I got a good rhythm going. As puppet builder Eric Engelhardt told me, I had to be in a focused, almost Zen-like state.

I was warned that if I applied too much pressure, the soft foam could be pulled into the belt sander. Fortunately, that only happed once, leaving a gouge in the top of the puppet's head. Eric gave me some good tips on how to take the foam down and smooth out the damaged area.