Possable Puppet Armature

[Phantom]

Back to the original question: How about "electric fence" wire? It's aluminum and pretty sturdy but extremely pliable.

 

[Teenager's]

Electric Fence wire huh?.....hmm...I might look into that...Thanks Phantom.


Well...I have an update. Today (12-24-06) I finished the feet and painted the body and miscellaneous other parts. I know that spray painting foam is Very bad for the puppets and that the shelf life is decreased. However....it's how the original puppets that we're basing these off of were colored, but also I want to get these done quickly, and I don't have the facilities for dying the foam. These also won't be used that much or for very long.

I solved the issue with the feet and just bent the wire and screwed two lines across those as well as having the bottom of the foot a thick sort of poster board (thicker & stronger than cardboard) and glued them together and supported the ankles with plumbers epoxy. And so far that has worked pretty well.
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011015.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011014.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011013.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011017.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011016.jpg

Then Club members added the toes with toenails (glue) and the rest of the foam feet.
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011028.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011029.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011030.jpg

Here the little guy is waiting to be painted on this warm christmas eve in michigan (strange I know)
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011031.jpg

In process
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011033.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011035.jpg

And the Finished Color!
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011085.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011086.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011087.jpg

The feet I thought turned out looking pretty nice.


But we're in the process of building the other characters...we were delayed because we ran out of wire and the stores we originally bought it from stopped supplying the right guage......so.....we had to switch to copper for the green character....so...that works out pretty well....

We also figured out a couple of ways to do the posible mouths....so we are going to test those techniques out in the coming days.

 

[Teenager's]

Alright, here's another update

I figured out how to do the mouth...its hard to explain so I have pics...basically its two "D" shapes tied together in the middle and then glued down onto the mouth plates. The mouth does close to a point (not all the way) but....it can open wider and stay that way...and stay in a neutral position...so it works out....but I'm going to try to improve it for the next character

http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011143.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011144.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011145.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011146.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011147.jpg

The glue I used....is 25 years old.....the story being...that I ran out of my regular glue...and earlier this year my dad gave me a glue gun + glue he had in storage....and the glue sticks were fresh in the box....dated 1982......so....like most white plastic over time...it turned yellow....but it's Really sticky....so...I guess it got better over time

To connect the head to the body & still make it posible....I had to cut a hole in his head (hair will cover it)
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011149.jpg
and make an "L" shape like thing added onto the part already sticking up and glue it to the top mouth plate
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011148.jpg

And then glue the head back shut
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011150.jpg

This is what the original puppet character looks like
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/PIC00023.jpg

And here's the First finished Poser copy!
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011153.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011152.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011151.jpg

With hair!
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011155.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011154.jpg


Ok!....now he just has to be clothed....

And now 2 more to work on.

Tomarrow I will post pictures of the green guy....he is getting done a lot quicker than this guy.......and then sometime next week I will post pics of the 5'10 character we're building.....once we start of course....

 

[Teenager's]

Hi guys,

This isn't really an update on this project (although I did get the feet on the other guy all done)

No, I am just going to post some videos I did...and uploaded onto youtube.

These videos have nothing to do with the Puppetry Club....it's just me (Chase)
This started out as just a test/fun thing for me to do with practicing with a monitor (basement TV) and then I thought the stuff I did was sorta funny...so I edited it a bit and put it on youtube.....enjoy

This is the longest of all 4
The Evening News with Garth Farkwort!
and N.O.K the BirdRat presenting a Special Report on Schizophrenia
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpivf2Z9RvY

Barry White's "Youre the First,the Last, My Everything" performed by Christopher Columbus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KpPv_RHcCSU

N.O.K the BirdRat performs Phil Collins & Genesis "Man on the Corner"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBGQhnvj2UA

N.O.K the BirdRat performs Phil Collins & Genesis "Who Dunnit"
For those of you who have heard this song....you know it's Very fast....but I kept up to it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7RYLPsT5-g

 

[Teenager's]

Wow....it's been 2 months since I posted this thread.....

Well......We're Done! And we're very happy with the finished showcase and everyone at the school really likes it as well. Club members have heard people say "why are there puppets at our school?" and that always makes me smile....but we're well received....

Here are some pics of the showcase!

The Original Drawn Design
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/PuppetShowcaseDesign.jpg

And the Finished Product!....pretty similar eh?
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011218.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011219.jpg

Close-ups
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011220.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011225.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011223.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011228.jpg
http://i80.photobucket.com/albums/j190/pcep-puppets_2006/P1011232.jpg


There are some making of pics throughtout the album....some I didn't post...like building the large character and pics of the showcase partly done.

The showcase cost roughly $200 to put together and like all projects really came together in the last 2 days. In the showcase there is a lighting design sort of. There is a blue filter over the logo area to make it look more "cluby" and over the bricks there isn't to create a sort of street lamp feel. Thats one of our jokes, that the Puppetry Club is really a late night entertainment club.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

It looks great! Nice to see this come together.