Dressing the Birds

I'm dressing the crows. I found some great fabric for their shirt (Primark knickers no less!) which i retro fitted to the torso. Using black lycra cotton for the suit I used the same method. I really enjoy making costumes- I'm not skilled enough seamstress to make myself wicked garments but I can make small ones for my puppets instead. I think costume is a big part of designing a puppet for me, I've always believed clothes play a huge role in defining a persona. This is probably why I got in trouble at school everyday for customising my uniform.

Hands- Wire armature, sandwiched between foam, dipped in
 latex and white emulsion. I drew the bone detail with marker pen.

The buttons I made out of Miliput. The photo's not very good
but I made little needle holes too.

My original design had a proper ruff made out of feathers
that went all the way round the neck. It worked for the prototype puppet
but the final is bigger and the necks are more spaced apart so the collar ruff
looked odd and also it covered the detail on the necks... 

...So instead I made a sort of cape ruff and some shoulder  pads.

St Pirans, Pyks & Penn Askorn

Happy St. Piran's!

Gool Peran Lowen

I carved out a new belly for the mermaid from memory foam. It's a great foam to sculpt with and leaves a really nice finish- I'm wondering wether I might take a razor to it and just shave off any tiny lumps and bumps.

And little monkey had an operation in his back and head today to fit the operating rods in place.

Pins  hold open the 'skin' on his back to keep it clear of the hole
made for rod (like in the back of head).

Birds...

Polymorph Bones

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Lightweight neoprene core for the chest gives something hard to
grip when animating.

Wrapping wadding round wire joints...

...Before wrapping the rest of the body.

Feet

Hands

Hands sandwiched between foam and latex then cut out.
I added thread dipped in latex to make knuckles and tendons.

I made the bones in the feet from cocktail sticks- glued and then
wrapped tightly with gaffer.

Bird Twins in the making

Got started on the armature for the Bird Twins today. I had to make a scale drawing relevant to the skulls.

Armature complete with polymorph and K&S.
Still needs polymorph bones...

Scale drawing and armature

Stuffing the skulls with wadding to make them less fragile and also for the
K&S to cling to.

Skulls avec K&S

Doors

Painting up the doors. Lovin' it lovin' it lovin' it....

Left before, Right after sanding back

Halfway through the Monkey Door

 Pip's door

Playing around with antique effects

Painting up the Doors and Monkey Face

Today I have been mostly painting.....

Little tiny ears

Lipstick on

Bit o rouge

Tranny Monkey.... Ooh la la

And painting boarders on the doors....

Monkey Business and more Paint Tests

Finishing off the arms- this time I'm using a simpler method of chord and rolled newspaper, wadding then retrofitting the suede. I need to think about how to save time.

Been doing some more paint tests. I brought some 'crackle glaze meduim' from th emodel shop but it is shit, to be blunt... I wanted old cracked paint but got splodgey crap instead. If I wanted a rust effect this would be 'bein monsuier' but I don't so it's crap. I'm going to just paint the body of the box a flat colour and varnish and sand it back to age it that way.

'Crap'ple glaze

Left Acrylic on Acrylic and Right Emulsion on Acrylic base
Crackle gaze goes underneath

Emulsion paints: Turquois, Teal and Deep Red

Teal on Magnolia base

And just for fun... The Cat in A Ruff

I found this beautiful bit of lace at the Sunday flea market