Aluminum wire twisted and wrapped in hockey tape. Brass stock to fit the head, and epoxy makes up the feet and holds together the arms and legs to the torso.
This is how the puppets are made to scale.
These were the first batch of hands that didn't turn out so well. The latex didn't come on as smoothy as I liked. I redid them!
Before making the head out of super sculpey, I sculpted them in modelling clay. I made Gavin's head too big at first, so the second is the proper, scaled down head.
This is how I painted the heads and all the interchangeable mouths. I had to make sure I had enough of the pre-mixed paint.
I sewed Gavin's costume together.
Just the bear hood is missing here. The costume is two-piece. I got the bear print fabric from Walmart.
I combed out yarn using a DOG brush (stronger teeth). Specifically, the yarn is polyester/acrylic (Grandpa) and cotton (Gavin).
Hair is almost complete (I think I added more locks, trimmed and ruffled it). His face sure looks funny with no eyeballs!
The yarn is applied by small locks, in layers, with superglue
15 mouths! Fresh out of the oven!
Grandpa is not as expressive as Gavin, so I managed with 12 mouths.
All the pieces, served in Ferrero. There are extra eyebrows, eyelids, and eyeballs.
I threw out the bottom of the Ferrero richer box, thinking I wouldn't ever have need for those holes :( I regretted it once I decided to use the boxes for my puppet faces. I cut out foam here instead.
The first version was with cardboard and a thinner, copper wire. I replaced it with foam core for the body and aluminum wire for the limbs.
The wire is glued on. The King's head is attached via wire from the bottom of the head that goes through a hole in the collar.
A separate puppet for the King facing sideways.
I made extra long arms, swords, and this four swords piece for the scene where the King calls on his knights.
From an angle, you can see the dimension and the rigs.
The body is composed of foam core with gauge wire running through it to attach the head and limbs. All the pieces are attached with double sided tape. The eyes would be glued on.
Foam Core with gauge wire glued to the back. Shown here also is the scale design.
Each finger has wire to be able to animate it, and they are attached to the foam core hand.
He's naked!!....It is foam core with gauge wire attached to hold and animate the limbs. The paper is stuck on with double-sided tape.
This is what the paper looks like after I've cut out my puppet pieces!
Foam core and aluminum wire.
Foam core
Aluminum wire attached by poking through the foam core.
The legs are made from cardboard, which is thinner than the foam core.
Missing are the feathers and armour on the legs, the knight, the tail, and the armour trim.
Testing out the balance and the legs. Looking good!
Shown here is Knight PB. I used a gold ellum and a special blue craft paper for the trim. Knights are attached to the horses via wire and tape.
The completed human knights standing proud.
