When this Gremlins 2 prop puppet from the 1990 horror/comedy sequel arrived in our studio he was in definite need of some serious TLC. His ears had been curled so far back that they were almost touching. This puppet, like many of the other gremlins we have restored, had a torn foam rubber neck. This was the result of being stored on a post which put too much pressure on his head causing the material on his neck to crack and tear. His jaw also suffered some damage and it was so squished that it almost touched his chest. We definitely had our restoration work cut out for us!
We started by carefully working the ears and jaw back into their original positions. Sometimes this is not an option, depending on the specific prop, but we got very lucky with this puppet. Once the pieces were back to where we wanted them we began patching the small areas where the foam was missing or had cracked.
Before we repaired the hole in his neck, we took the opportunity to carefully prepare him for his new support post. We need to make sure that the new post that we installed would not put the same pressure on the head that the old one did. We added archival foam to diffuse any pressure and hold the Gremlin puppet up by his body, not his head. The custom body form also extended into the head to keep him looking upright, without the pressure of a plain post. Once the support was added we patched the holes in the neck, and carefully touched up paint (only on our patches, of course) for a nearly seamless finish.
We finished off the display with a custom black laminate museum style base. This gave the finished piece a sleek finish as well as help support the newly restored puppet.
Click here to see more of our other Gremlin movie prop restorations!
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