Full body puppetering

[leliebel]

I just wanted to start a new thread on this topic. I know there are lots of tips for trainsing your arms foor hand and rod puppets, but I've been wnating to get more towards full body puppets.

I made a starting attempt last year to make a goat out of myself. No really...

I worked out some paws and did you know that it's really hard walking on al fours and really be supporting half your weight on your arms? Lol, I do now. If you walk on al fours without the paws, you still put most of your weight on your legs, your arms are just there for balance.

Huh, like my improvised hand and rod puppet Olaf this project is also unfinished.

I was wondering if people would like to share their experiences with full body puppetering and ofcourse building

I was going to post some pictures, but photobucket is have the day of I think...

 

[Whatever]

Kevin, aka Fozzie Bear, is probably the guy to ask.

 

[leliebel]

Kevin, aka Fozzie Bear, is probably the guy to ask.

Oh, I'm not really asking anything. I just wanted to share experiences even though I don't have many. (Just the half-a-goat)

 

[robinthecrow]

Well, I'm not too sure if it counts as full-body puppeteering but I work for a mainstream food restaurant here over in good ole England and us employees have to adopt the costume of a bear. A mascot - if you like.

One big fibreglass head covered in fun fur with a head harness on the inside. We look through three sections, the eyes, the nose nostrills and the mouth (the eyes and the mouth being the most helpful). There is a t-shirt which has two bear arms which are zipped to the sleeves. Then an inner white harness which houses three rings which gives the bear his distinctive belly. And then the outer fur suit covering legs. Then two big feet, again made of fun fur, with velcroed shoes - very big.

The guys who made the "costume" can be found at www.costumeswithcharacter.com

It gets very hot and very sweaty in these things and is recommended to wear for less than 20 minutes. Though, I must confess, I've worn it for much longer and it isnt very pleasant. Getting your tail pulled by kids is the most annoying bit though!

David.

 

[Buck-Beaver]

I don't do many "full body" or costume puppets, but they're fun and physically exhausting. When I did black light theatre we frequently did a large production number of "Monster Mash" and I often used to perform this huge 8'0 tall Frankenstein. That was a lot of fun. We also had large Sumo Wrestlers.

 

[Jinx]

I have had a bit of experience in this area myself. I have played Audrey II in 3 productions of "Little Shop", and have just been cast as the Ghost of Christmas Future in "A Christmas Carol". I have been waiting for years to get this role! I have been given carte blanche by the director to do it however I see fit. Ideally, I'd like to do it as a giant marionette, but the theatre we're in has no flies, so I plan on doing an oversize full-body puppet.

I also performed a few times with noted children's entertainer Tim Noah as Musty-Moldy Melvin. He's a large (about 7' tall) vaguely Sweetums-like chartacter. In the show I performed during the song "Musty-Moldy Melvin" with Tim and with Greasy-Grimy Gertie. It was great fun, but tough to do as the stage lights reflected off the eyes in a way that made it very difficult to see. Then after that, Tim would invite a BUNCH of kids onstage to dance the Wow-wow-wibble-woggle-wazzie-woodle-woo! By this time I was already very much out of breath with sweat literally POURING down my face, and dancing and jumping about the stage with the kids, most of whom were well-behaved, but there were a few who were bent on being brats. I found that a well-placed growl from Melvin would usually set them straight.

After the show, I would get backstage and take off the head, and feel totally WIPED OUT, but what a great, great time I had.

 

[leliebel]

That sounds great Jinx Do you any acting outside of puppeteering aswell? Do you also make puppets you don't preform yourself?

Oh, I found some pictures of my goatsfeet:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/leliebel/pootjeszijkopie.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v224/leliebel/pootjesgiagkopie.jpg

Now I know it looks like I'm just standing bent over but since the hindleg shoe thingies dón't have heals you can't stan on the without falling over. The weight is put automatically on the back of the shoe causing it to flip backwards. The sole of the shoe does not pull the weigt forward as I expected it to do. So I'm placing most of my weight on my arms causing me to realise that I hadn't done push-ups in a loooong time.

The shoes are made of a thin steal sole on a lead ring, with thin steal plates welded to itto make the shape of the hoove. Later I glued leather on it backward to make it look more organic. There are elastic band woven through the soles to make te shoes stick to my feet.

The front hooves are sawn of shovel sticks with a piece of wood screwed at th bottom. Than I covered one up with chickenwire and paper maché and the outer layer is plaster tape.