Advice form Paul Spooner

I went to see Mechanical Cabaret genius Paul Spooner while back in Cornwall for some advice on making a moving eye mechanism and a moveable jaw for Pip. 

Paul Spooner's drawings for eye and mouth levers

Mouth

Eye gimbal

I went home and tried to make my own rough ones out of wire, beads and split pins....

....Its fiddley at a small scale and I would have to make a more accurate gimbal- Paul suggested making then his way by cutting the gimbal out of brass on a ban saw but I have seen simpler ones by Pickled Image that is made from a wooden frame and wire and that are more like the drawings above in design.

Just thought I'd see what makes a good eye....
Glass mermaid tears infront of a light....

Head Maquettes: Pip

I've been making some maquettes as its one thing for me to design in 2D but I find things change when I translate the design into 3D. I'm not sure if this is a problem, if I should be able to exactly replicate a 2D design in 3D, slightly worrying, it is something I'm working on....

Any way enough worrying. I made a mock up of Pip's head out of sculpy, using a polystyrene ball I had lying around as a light weight core. This has made her head shape rounder which I actually preferred. Her face is more like an apple which I want. I used some dried herb stalks for the branches growing from her head. At the moment the maquette is about 8-10cm.

Polystyrene ball core with eye line guide.

Not too sure on the size of her lips at the moment but now that have worked out how to translate my designs into 3D I can make another version.

Drying 'erbs...

I used the second herbs for the maquette as they looked more branch like than the others. I don't know what herbs they are, they were dead when I picked them.

The Girl Who Swallowed an Apple Seed

 One of the characters is based around the children's myth of what happens if you swallow an apple seed. Some people say that a tree grows in your stomach or out of the top of your head...

....Playing around with that concept:

Tree Growing out of the Mouth

Tree Growing from the Head,
Collage.

more final design.