STOP MOTION PUPPET

PRODUCT

This stop motion animiation puppet was created from scratch and is based on myself. I designed the body to have hero proportions for the head and hands. Intended as a practice piece, it will also be used as a company representative for my own practice Ábhair where needed.

The bulk of the body was made with balsa and upholstry foam, this was wrapped with foam bandage and coated with latex. Sliding brass inserts were used to make the head limbs and lower torso removable for repairs. The limb's internals were made using twisted wire with polymer clay bones for stability and again covered in foam and latex. The head was sculpted in polymer clay over a wire and foil armiture, finished with a fabric bandage top layer, dry brushed with pastels, and coated in fabric stiffner. The eyes were made using POM ball bearings, oil-painted, and finished with clear epoxy. The hair was felted from loose wool roving on a styrofoam head form, before being transferred to the puppet. The clothing was primarily made from scraps of my own old clothing. The messenger bag was made from a vegan leather furniture repair patch. The body also has an armiture fixing point embedded in the back of the lower torso.

A lot of techniques were learnt from the excellent videos by Brice Savina, from whom I got the idea for the fabric skin finish, and Adeena Grub on youtube. I also completed a 1-day puppet-making course with Jennifer Kidd from scalemodelstudios.co.uk a couple of months before building this, which really helped with some of the fundamentals.