One of my main goals post - graduation has been to work on my puppet fabrication skills. I found such a passion for fabrication when I took a Stop Motion elective course during my sophmore year at SVA (taught by Victoria Arslani). Here are some projects I’ve been honing my skills with the past few months!
First, I start off with two block of balsa wood that I’ll superglue together to get the correct thickness before I start carving.
Out of more balsa wood I carve out teeny tiny ears, which is one of my favorite parts. I’ll attatch them to the head with 28 gague wire and superglue.
Head Sculpt Practice
Next, I’ll try to get the basic shape just by using my Exacto knives.
Once I’m happy and feel like I can’t carve anymore, I’ll move onto adding the ears and using an epoxy sculpt for final details.
Once I get the basic shape I want, I start to shave down more bulk using a low grit sandpaper bit on my dremel. I’ll also add more pieces of balsa wood for the nose and chin and begin to carve those down.
I’ll continue, using my dremel tool, slowly sizing down the bits I use to get a more refined face. I’m also constantly referring to my sketch/concept art and online references.
The final step is to use an epoxy sculpt to add more details! My favorite I’ve found is millput superfine white. I like that I can add water to it and use it similar to how I would use slip in ceramics.
Once that’s dry, I’ll carve and sand it down some more if necessary. The next steps will be to cover the wood and epoxy in fabric for the skin!
Wire Armature & Foam Body Practice
Next, I’ll move onto the body by making a wire armature and foaming the body!
This was definitley a learning experience for me and I had to try a few methods before it worked out. Figuring out the right type of glue and the best density of foam to work with was the biggest challenge. Ultimately I decided on using Scotch Super 77 Spray Adhesive and a Medium Density Foam.
Wire Armature & Balsa Wood Body
I carve the body out of more balsa wood and glue it together with superglue. I will then twist armature wire and drill pilot holes into the balsa wood for where they will go. After this step I will secure the wires with a 2 part liquid epoxy and let that set (apparently, using my hand cream as a resting post). Finally I add some more milliput to mark where I don’t want the arms to bend - or the bones of my puppet.
This part of the process was quite new to me and I wanted to make sure I worked out the kinks before working on my actual puppet.
I used a previous test head I had and made an (even more) small armature for them to practice on.
Then I tested out some different foams - finally landing on a lightweight medium density foam attached to the body with spray adhesive. I attached large chunks and then carved them down with embroidery scissors and snips.
Here I was also able to try out adding a few layers of liquid latex onto my puppet’s hands as a barrier between what fabric would be their skin and the wire of their fingers. Next, I’m on to the body for my puppet!
Foaming the Body
*I also made a hand armature using more basla wood and wire that I’ll attatch later using some more wire for the wrist and a K&S tube for part of the forearm.