This isn't the sort of thing that I normally post about, but I have historically shown a few crafty things I've made, so I thought I'd show this.
Showing posts with label puppets. Show all posts
Showing posts with label puppets. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Owl perch and wand holder
Monday, October 8, 2012
Jarrod Boutcher Puppets
Saturday, April 14, 2012
How to make a Daniel Radcliffe Puppet
I have something a bit different for you today: my daughter had to do a biography report on someone, and she chose Daniel Radcliffe, the actor who plays Harry Potter on film. Here's a shot of old Danny boy.
Aside from the written report, she also chose to make a puppet of Daniel. Being her loving father, I agreed to lend her some guidance in the matter. I googled various types of simple puppets and found something I thought would work at this href="http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~wwwsfa/library_howto_rodpuppets.htm">link, though I made some significant deviations along the way. We made a trip to our local craft store and picked up just about everything we would need. I don't remember the total amount but it came in under $20.
My daughter insisted that this had to be Daniel Radcliffe, not Harry Potter (that would have been far too simple), so the felt shown above was chosen with the wardrobe of a well dressed contemporary teen in mind.
Aside from the written report, she also chose to make a puppet of Daniel. Being her loving father, I agreed to lend her some guidance in the matter. I googled various types of simple puppets and found something I thought would work at this href="http://www.sp.uconn.edu/~wwwsfa/library_howto_rodpuppets.htm">link, though I made some significant deviations along the way. We made a trip to our local craft store and picked up just about everything we would need. I don't remember the total amount but it came in under $20.
My daughter insisted that this had to be Daniel Radcliffe, not Harry Potter (that would have been far too simple), so the felt shown above was chosen with the wardrobe of a well dressed contemporary teen in mind.
Anyway, the very first step (not shown) was to take an empty water bottle, and cut off the neck. I did this with a sharp X-acto knife, and sanded the edges a bit just to make sure they weren't sharp. The bottle will act as the puppets torso. The upper slope of the bottle forms pretty good shoulders, and the hole where the bottle neck was, will allow your control rod, which is the puppet's neck, to come through. The next step is to add the arms. I deviated from the website plans slightly- their arms were linked pieces of wood. Since Daniel is going to have a coat on, I decided to make our arms out of string bulked up with a bit of Crayola Model Magic, an air drying modeling compound (we used it for many parts). I cut 2 small holes (again, an X-acto knife does this easily) where I wanted each of the shoulders to be, one below the other, and through these holes tied the string which I had made extra long (you can always cut it down later). The bulking up of the arms will come later, but below you can see one of the strings tied at the shoulder.
I had precut a wooden dowel to a length that allowed it to come out of the top of the bottle and still gave my daugther a good length to hold onto beneath the bottle. The operater's hand is supposed to control it from beneath the bottle, not necessarily inside the bottle so if you do this yourself make sure you make the dowel long enough. Aside from the head on top, we also needed something inside, to keep the dowel from extending too far up and making Dan look like a giraffe. The plans suggested a wooden ball, drilled with a hole to fit your dowel and glued in place. I didn't have either a ball that big or a drill bit that large, so I opted for another ball of model magic, what we also made the head out of. This was our biggest mistake and had to be fixed the next day. Model Magic takes a long time to cure, and more so if you keep moving it. Our constant movement of the puppet during the process didn't allow the ball inside to dry, in fact it slowly moved the ball down the dowel, leaving a coating of Model Magic in it's path, so that eventually Daniel had a long wrinkly neck. Though it's not shown in these pictures, we ended up removing the inside ball the next day, and creating a stopper from leftover felt. It was tricky to get onto the dowel and I won't bore you with those details, but if you do this yourself, I advise try something other than model magic for this inner stopper. This step is best handled here at the beginning and doing it after the fact could risk your puppet's head.
I had precut a wooden dowel to a length that allowed it to come out of the top of the bottle and still gave my daugther a good length to hold onto beneath the bottle. The operater's hand is supposed to control it from beneath the bottle, not necessarily inside the bottle so if you do this yourself make sure you make the dowel long enough. Aside from the head on top, we also needed something inside, to keep the dowel from extending too far up and making Dan look like a giraffe. The plans suggested a wooden ball, drilled with a hole to fit your dowel and glued in place. I didn't have either a ball that big or a drill bit that large, so I opted for another ball of model magic, what we also made the head out of. This was our biggest mistake and had to be fixed the next day. Model Magic takes a long time to cure, and more so if you keep moving it. Our constant movement of the puppet during the process didn't allow the ball inside to dry, in fact it slowly moved the ball down the dowel, leaving a coating of Model Magic in it's path, so that eventually Daniel had a long wrinkly neck. Though it's not shown in these pictures, we ended up removing the inside ball the next day, and creating a stopper from leftover felt. It was tricky to get onto the dowel and I won't bore you with those details, but if you do this yourself, I advise try something other than model magic for this inner stopper. This step is best handled here at the beginning and doing it after the fact could risk your puppet's head.
Anyway, below you can see the basic head, and that early, doomed, inner ball. Oh yeah, and the string arms.
We covered the dowel between with more model magic (we used a lot of white Model Magic (MM) and just a bit of orange for that skin color). My daughter put on all the facial features (we had some blue MM leftover from a previous project for those eyes).
Next my daughter added some rolls of MM to the arms, just to give them some bulk. We were sure to leave bare string at the places we wanted to have the arms jointed (shoulder, elbow and wrist). Again, this probably wasn't the best way- the puppet arms might not last as long as they would had we used wood, but it was much quicker.
Next it was time to make him some clothes. We made him an orange shirt by simply hot gluing orange felt across his front (did I mention we also put MM around the bottle where his chest would show above the collar?). Remember the whole shirt wouldn't be unecessary because we were going to put a jacked over it, so only this front part needs to show. I don't sew at all but my daughter was able to stitch some tubes of felt together for jacket sleeves.
We slipped these on the arms (conveniently hiding that they were just strings) and glued the shoulder of the sleeve into place. There are all sorts of folds and extra fabric that would probably make a seamstress crazy, but we were careful that allof this will be pretty well hidden when it's all done.
We then wrapped the whole lower part of the body with a blue felt, approximately the color of denim. I also found a cheap watch band to serve as belt. It wasn't long enough to wrap around his whole body, but it would only show in the front. We hot glued it in place and then glued small strips of blue felt into place where the belt loops would be. I think it's little details like the belt especially when made of dissimilar materials from the rest of the puppet that make it feel more high quality. It doesn't have to be something expensive, but it helps hide the technique better, and someone can't simply look at it and say how it was done.
We couldn't find any brown fur at our craft store, so we had to settle for black. Through trial and error we were able to cut 3 pieces to fit on Dan's head. Be sure to cut fur like this from the back with an X-Acto knife. This allows you to cut the fabric, without trimming the hair on it. That way the hair stays nice and shaggy and hides whatever seams you create. Aside from his hair, you can see Dan's long wrinkly neck below, because that inner ball of MM was being pushed down the dowel by all our activity. Like I said, we fixed that later.
The next step was to attach the arm rods, coathanger wire that we cut to the right length, that would control the arms. We looped the end of the wire, tied the arms to it (reinforced by a bit of hot glue) and then cut the excess string off.
We then covered the loop of wire and the string knot, with a hand made out of MM. These hands were other parts that we had to be careful not to move too much until cured as the string and wire protruding from them would slowly widen the holes they were in and cause the hand to become loose.
We covered the dowel between with more model magic (we used a lot of white Model Magic (MM) and just a bit of orange for that skin color). My daughter put on all the facial features (we had some blue MM leftover from a previous project for those eyes).
Next my daughter added some rolls of MM to the arms, just to give them some bulk. We were sure to leave bare string at the places we wanted to have the arms jointed (shoulder, elbow and wrist). Again, this probably wasn't the best way- the puppet arms might not last as long as they would had we used wood, but it was much quicker.
Next it was time to make him some clothes. We made him an orange shirt by simply hot gluing orange felt across his front (did I mention we also put MM around the bottle where his chest would show above the collar?). Remember the whole shirt wouldn't be unecessary because we were going to put a jacked over it, so only this front part needs to show. I don't sew at all but my daughter was able to stitch some tubes of felt together for jacket sleeves.
We slipped these on the arms (conveniently hiding that they were just strings) and glued the shoulder of the sleeve into place. There are all sorts of folds and extra fabric that would probably make a seamstress crazy, but we were careful that allof this will be pretty well hidden when it's all done.
We then wrapped the whole lower part of the body with a blue felt, approximately the color of denim. I also found a cheap watch band to serve as belt. It wasn't long enough to wrap around his whole body, but it would only show in the front. We hot glued it in place and then glued small strips of blue felt into place where the belt loops would be. I think it's little details like the belt especially when made of dissimilar materials from the rest of the puppet that make it feel more high quality. It doesn't have to be something expensive, but it helps hide the technique better, and someone can't simply look at it and say how it was done.
We couldn't find any brown fur at our craft store, so we had to settle for black. Through trial and error we were able to cut 3 pieces to fit on Dan's head. Be sure to cut fur like this from the back with an X-Acto knife. This allows you to cut the fabric, without trimming the hair on it. That way the hair stays nice and shaggy and hides whatever seams you create. Aside from his hair, you can see Dan's long wrinkly neck below, because that inner ball of MM was being pushed down the dowel by all our activity. Like I said, we fixed that later.
The next step was to attach the arm rods, coathanger wire that we cut to the right length, that would control the arms. We looped the end of the wire, tied the arms to it (reinforced by a bit of hot glue) and then cut the excess string off.
We then covered the loop of wire and the string knot, with a hand made out of MM. These hands were other parts that we had to be careful not to move too much until cured as the string and wire protruding from them would slowly widen the holes they were in and cause the hand to become loose.
We styled the hair a bit (as much as any teenage guy styles their hair nowadays) by spraying it lightly with hair spray and kinda' pushing it where we wanted it. A bit of trimming was required too, but not much. My daughter gave Dan some painted eyebrows and he was essentially done.
It was a lot more work than a paper bag puppet or something that she could have done totally without input from me, but she really likes it and hopefully learned a few things. Hopefully he'll hold up for a little while so she can play with him too.
It was a lot more work than a paper bag puppet or something that she could have done totally without input from me, but she really likes it and hopefully learned a few things. Hopefully he'll hold up for a little while so she can play with him too.
Monday, February 6, 2012
Sneak Peek
Another small peek at what's been on my desk for a while now. Long overdue but still not finished yet.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Muppety
Planning on seeing the Muppets sometime this week. I'm a big fan of the vintage Muppet stuff, less so of more recent endeavours, and very much cautious about new Muppet offerings. The reviews have been very good, freakishly good in fact, so I'm hopeful. We'll see soon.
Anyway, I was in a Muppety mood and I doodled these 2- not real Muppets, just something in that style. The little girl below reminds me of the beautiful simplicity of early Sesame Street muppets.
Anyway, I was in a Muppety mood and I doodled these 2- not real Muppets, just something in that style. The little girl below reminds me of the beautiful simplicity of early Sesame Street muppets.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Little Brother is done!
One last normal post before I begin my Halloween posting tomorrow. When last we left the awesome puppet that Jarrod Boutcher was making based on my sketches, the poor little guy was naked. Actually, Little Brother doesn't mind being naked, but at his family's insistence he usually wears a bit more than that. He has several favorite shirts, all Spider-Man, and generally prefers to go pantsless, with only his diaper down below.
I thought Jarrod would simply be able to go down to the store and pick up a boys Spider-Man t-shirt, cut a whole in the back for my arm and slip it on the puppet. Turns out due to the unique proportions of the puppet, he had to make it from scratch. Not only did he sew the shirt, but he also screened the webs and Spider design on. What a ton of work making a puppet is- not for me, but certainly for someone as thoroughly dedicated as Jarrod.
Below you can see the finished product, Little Brother, standing looking cute and seemingly innocent, next to my original sketch which suggests his other nature.
And here he is, again compared to my original sketch, showing his short temper. Sometimes he forgets that he's not the boss.
To check him out in action, click this link to see the video that Jarrod posted of him. I can't wait for him to show up on my doorstep! In the meantime, don't forget that tomorrow starts the 21 days of Halloween on this blog, 21 spooky sketches, one for each weekday of October. Come back every day, tell your friends, and leave comments! See you then!
I thought Jarrod would simply be able to go down to the store and pick up a boys Spider-Man t-shirt, cut a whole in the back for my arm and slip it on the puppet. Turns out due to the unique proportions of the puppet, he had to make it from scratch. Not only did he sew the shirt, but he also screened the webs and Spider design on. What a ton of work making a puppet is- not for me, but certainly for someone as thoroughly dedicated as Jarrod.
Below you can see the finished product, Little Brother, standing looking cute and seemingly innocent, next to my original sketch which suggests his other nature.
And here he is, again compared to my original sketch, showing his short temper. Sometimes he forgets that he's not the boss.
To check him out in action, click this link to see the video that Jarrod posted of him. I can't wait for him to show up on my doorstep! In the meantime, don't forget that tomorrow starts the 21 days of Halloween on this blog, 21 spooky sketches, one for each weekday of October. Come back every day, tell your friends, and leave comments! See you then!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Little Brother Puppet Pt II
I'm so flippin' excited. Jarrod has made amazing progress with the puppet he and I are collaborating on. Below you can see the head, with the skin tightly sewn on. Notice how the cheeks which were previously foam forms, are now just soft curves under the skin. The silver wires that you see are the eyebrow mechanism. Little Brother has a hair trigger temper- tell him ,"no" and he is not happy.
Here you can see all of the pieces more or less assembled. Love that he gave him doll joints for the arms and legs. This is really going to look and move like a real kid (or at least a professional puppet) and not something from your local toy store's shelf).
I don't even have words for the final picture. Awesome isn't nearly adequate.
I think I mentioned that Little Brother is obsessed with Spider Man. So I've asked Jarrod to put him in a kids Spider Man shirt, and a big puffy diaper (Little Brother doesn't like wearing pants). I can't wait to see the next update! Be sure to check out Jarrod's blog and website, not only for a few other pictures of this puppet, but also for a ton of the most amazing character puppets you'll ever see.
Here you can see all of the pieces more or less assembled. Love that he gave him doll joints for the arms and legs. This is really going to look and move like a real kid (or at least a professional puppet) and not something from your local toy store's shelf).
I don't even have words for the final picture. Awesome isn't nearly adequate.
I think I mentioned that Little Brother is obsessed with Spider Man. So I've asked Jarrod to put him in a kids Spider Man shirt, and a big puffy diaper (Little Brother doesn't like wearing pants). I can't wait to see the next update! Be sure to check out Jarrod's blog and website, not only for a few other pictures of this puppet, but also for a ton of the most amazing character puppets you'll ever see.Monday, September 19, 2011
Little Brother: The Puppet Pt I
I'm collaborating with super talented Puppet Designer, Jarrod Boutcher on a puppet. I've mentioned a few times, that my daughter likes to play a game we call Little Brother. She plays herself, or more recently a teenage version of herself, and I play her bratty 2 year old brother. As such, I get into lots of trouble and she acts as the authority. She gets to punish, yell, and be the sibling whose good at just about everything. I think it's very therapeutic role reversal for her, which is why I've played it with her for so many years now. However, it is a bit repetetive and awkward for me. How many times can a grown man pretend to be a two year old? Anyway, when I was discussing with Jarrod about a puppet that I'd like to order, it suddenly dawned on me that a Little Brother puppet would make this game a lot more enjoyable. I have Little Brother's personality more well defined than his actual look, and since I trust Jarrod's design instincts so well, I've given him lots of description but only a few rough sketches.
A lot of what I know about Little Brother has just come from playing the game so much and trying to be consistent with him. My daughter knows when I change something about him. He's obsessed with Spider Man, so I've asked Jarrod to put him in a Spider Man shirt. Other than that, he just wears a diaper. He's usually messy, with a small patch of uncombed hair. He goes from happy to angry really quick, so there's going to be an eyebrow mechanism to accomplish this. And I also wanted him to be able to kinda snicker mischeviously, and I noticed that Oscar the Grouch has a unique mouth, in that besides opening up and down, it also has a bit of side to side play. So I thought that would be good to allow little brother to snicker. Below are some of the progress shots that Jarrod has put on his blog.
The basic head shape.
Look what a great match that is for the design on the second page of sketches.
How do you cover a round form? Skin for the head.
The skin, laid loose over the form of the head, with some foam for cheeks added.
Believe it or not, these are arm patterns.
And the inner structure of Little Brother's pudgy little arms.
The page of drawings above didn't feel quite right. The two at the bottom were better, but he looked too old. Little Brother should just past the toddler stage, where a kid is talking and walking and mobile enough to be trouble, but not old enough for school. Preschool maybe. We often say he's two but I think he's a bit older.
A lot of what I know about Little Brother has just come from playing the game so much and trying to be consistent with him. My daughter knows when I change something about him. He's obsessed with Spider Man, so I've asked Jarrod to put him in a Spider Man shirt. Other than that, he just wears a diaper. He's usually messy, with a small patch of uncombed hair. He goes from happy to angry really quick, so there's going to be an eyebrow mechanism to accomplish this. And I also wanted him to be able to kinda snicker mischeviously, and I noticed that Oscar the Grouch has a unique mouth, in that besides opening up and down, it also has a bit of side to side play. So I thought that would be good to allow little brother to snicker. Below are some of the progress shots that Jarrod has put on his blog.
The basic head shape.
Look what a great match that is for the design on the second page of sketches.
How do you cover a round form? Skin for the head.
The skin, laid loose over the form of the head, with some foam for cheeks added.
Believe it or not, these are arm patterns.
And the inner structure of Little Brother's pudgy little arms.More to come...
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Wolf Puppet Designs Pt 1
A few years back, I met an absolutely amazing puppet builder, named Jarrod Boutcher. Actually I only met him through his website, and email. A few months back, he ended up visiting Disneyland and spent quite a while in my shop watching me paint. But he didn't connect my name to our emails years earlier, and I had no idea who this guy watching me paint was. Thanks to my blog and a few comments he left, we eventually connected the dots and had a good laugh. Anyway, we've decided to collaborate on a puppet design, and I suggested doing some sort of Big Bad Wolf character. This undoubtably stems from my childhood terror/fascination with wolves. Below are several of the sketches I came up with. Most of them are not puppet designs persay, merely quick sketches to work out proportions and ideas. Jarrod is going to take what I've done and try and refine them into a workable design. 
This final one in color at the bottom is the one I like the best.
The only addition I am thinking of is maybe some article of clothing or unique feature that makes this character a little more identifiable, a hat or scarf or something. I think I always like my animal characters to have a bit of anthropomorphism like that, like the clothes wearing critters in the Uncle Remus stories- it helps tie them down to a time period.
This final one in color at the bottom is the one I like the best.
The only addition I am thinking of is maybe some article of clothing or unique feature that makes this character a little more identifiable, a hat or scarf or something. I think I always like my animal characters to have a bit of anthropomorphism like that, like the clothes wearing critters in the Uncle Remus stories- it helps tie them down to a time period.
I don't know what the final result will be. Jarrod has amazing instincts when it comes to puppet design, and I've asked him to please feel free to make changes and suggest ideas. He says he's going to show the progress on his blog which is seperate from his site and you can see it here. Check both our blogs for updates.
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