Legs

Today has been a really productive day, and I am very happy with the results. The puppet now has fully jointed leg and ankles. (yay!)

 

There is still a lot of carving to do, but the leg joints are all done. I always knew  the jointed would take the most amount of time. I have learnt a lot constructing these joints. I can defiantly see how much better they are from when i started with the prototypes. 

 

Its a little daunting to see how much more work, I have to do, but at least I know, I am on the right track.

 

I need to give her a name soon as just keep calling her "The Puppet" feels a bit silly.

Leg Joint's finished ( I think! )

I have been doing a lot more work on the knee joint's. I discarded the ones from the other day as I was not happy with the way that they hung when the puppet was held in the air. They wobbled and did not sit flush with the thigh. I think that i have now made 6 or 7 sets of legs (including the prototypes). I am now happy with how they look.

 

Today i have been working on the costume design and went to get the beads for the dress bodice. They are beautiful Swarovski crystals in coral hues. I think that collecting the bead and seeing how lovely they are made up my mind to re-cut the the legs, I want her to be a perfect as possible.

 

Also I have worked more on the hair. I have been playing with ideas and have decided that to get the best and most professional finish, I will weave the hair into weft.

I will then stitch it to the wig base. I'm going to blog about the process, but will turn it into a how-to tutorial once i have all the pics and info together.

 

Off work again tomorrow so my plan is to get the feet  and arm's done.

Knee joints

I have been working on the knee joints for my puppet. These are slot joints and have not been a easy to constructed as i had thought. I have had to do a lot of research. This type of joint requires precise and accurate measurement, which really is not really my forte.

 

I have had to make a few prototypes and have had a couple of disasters when the wood has split, its been a frustrating couple of days.but i am almost there.

 

I have also done some test dying for her hair. These pics will follow.

 

We have a long holiday week now with Easter and the Royal wedding, so i plan to spend as much of my time in the shed and work room as possible.

Cutting out the body.

I have scaled up my drawings using photo shop, and then traced the body shape onto baking paper, (much cheaper than tracing paper and does the same job!). Then transferred these onto the wood. I use a really thick graphite pencil for this, as it marks the wood so easily.
Using my very lovely new bandsaw, I cut out the body so I will have a really nice base shape to start carving.
I have used a very rough sanding drum on a high speed drill to just remove any of the jagged bits that you some times get from using a bandsaw to cut some thing so curvy. This makes the rough carving so much easier.
So tomorrow I start carving.



Carnival Puppet: The Beginning

I have just started to make a new puppet for a local carnival float.  And thought you may like to track my progress and maybe get some how to (and some, how not) info.

I had been thinking of some kind of fairy/ sea nymph puppet for a while. The carnival float has a nautical theme, so that has given me the perfect excuse and a deadline to work to. She has to be finished by the 14 may 2011. So time is ticking.

I will blog regularly and keep you up to date with her progress.