Master Manipulation/Puppality

The Marionette Mistake

A couple of weeks ago I had the bright idea to build a marionette out of plastic bottles. Although this didn't pan out too well with the hot glue gun, I learned that you can easily use the simple format of building a Marionette without adhesives. Tonight I'm not going to write about the plastic bottle puppet. That will be a completely dedicated post after I've gone over basics.Now the basics. If you have that sketchy dude looking mini person that has all the joints available use that as your example. Puppets have a mannerisms of their own once they are built. I found that even with the thought of how I want them to look, they usually take on a personality half way through. I'm the type of person who lets it happen. I like to see things form, I think it gives it personality. If you can have it come out exactly the way you planned it, then that is awesome too. I personally have thoughts in my head but they never come out right. I'm always surprised afterwards. Its very rewarding. 

Puppets are similar to a living creature. They move a certain way, have a personality, and be able to move about freely. This is true in any form of puppetry. If you've ever owned or played with a marionette you will find that the head will move a certain way, or the feet have strides longer then expected. I call this their puppality. You might be the one manipulating them but they are the ones with the capability to move a certain way. 

Materials

I have decided to make a marionette out of wooden dowels, eye screws, upholstery foam (found in most fabric stores), razor, scissor, wire, and The Great Stuff (liquid foam found in any hardware store. Its main purpose is for sealing windows). You will need, a hack saw IF you don't own a band saw, a drill or drill press, a hot glue gun, gloves, sand paper, goggles and a hair tie if you have long hair (very important). Also later you will need thread and a sewing needle for your fabric.

Day 1:

Tweaking Torso's

I started off with drawing out the body on the upholstery foam. Use your sketchy guy thing as a reference. I shaped mine in a diamond or an upside down triangle with rounded edges. It depends on how you want your marionette to look. From there I used a really awesome razor. Its like a pizza cutter. EXTREMELY SHARP so make sure your fingers and limbs are stable and accounted for. Foam is pretty sweet to use because you can stick things in it... like wire. I cut grooves out for where the legs will go, and dipped the neck area in. Sculpting the foam is less messy than sculpting paper mache or wood. Use a sharp razor for that part. You can also sculpt out the armpits but I chose not to on mine. Once you get the "core" sculpted out your ready for the legs.

Day 2

Loose Legs

Part one of legs

LEGS! These are fun although can be tough. When I first started this experiment I had lack of materials. I didn't have any eye hooks.Instead of the joints looking internally mine looked like a prosthetic leg. The joints were externally built instead of interior. I believe that this puppet could have been great if I kept it in its original form but I really wanted it to be free flowing and secure so I changed it to internal joints. Eye hooks are the best way to do this. Take your dowel, I'm guessing you bought one thats about an inch thick or more. See how long you want your legs. One of those inch dowels was more than enough for me to build all 4 of its limbs. It really depends on how big you want this marionette to be. 

Cutting:

Measure each piece evenly. Remember your upper thighs are usually longer than your shin area. The thighs I cut about 7 inches long and the shins about 5. Most people do not own band saws, or a dremell but it helps tremendously for cutting. If you are super low budget broke ass like me, you can buy a hack saw for $5-$7 at your local hardware store. 

BE CAREFUL sawing, band sawing, dremelling, whatever your using to cut it. I hacked myself with that hack saw more than once because it failed to cut smoothly. Now that you have all your lower body parts in place, take the thigh parts and pick your favorite end. Sand it down if you have to. You want to saw directly into the core vertically. Make a slit big enough so you can fit an eye screw in. I know it sucks and its hard to saw into a tiny spot but its so satisfying to see it work when its all done. Then I want you to take that drill or drill press... I recommend the old fashion drill because the pressure could break the slit. Also be sure to use a small bit for this. You don't want to split the wood while using too much pressure. 

Part two of Legs

Flip the dowel over. Drill a small hole vertically into the dowels core. This will make the eye screw go in easier. Screw in the eye screw in and whalla! You have your thighs. Next up the shins.

Part one of Shins

You are essentially doing the same thing for the shins. Pick your favorite side. Sand off any roughage and make a slit into the core vertically. When I say vertically make sure its standing upright and not flat. like this | not --- So from there you are going to drill a hole through the side of the dowel. Do the same to the other leg. The only thing we are not doing on these is placing an eye screw on the other end.

Part Two of Shins

Grab some wire, clip a small piece off. Take your thigh, the end with the eye screw and insert it into the slit. From there you should be able to stick that wire through the hole that you drilled, through the eye screw and then through the other hole. Now you can bend each side of the wire and there you have it. You are the proud owner of a joint! Do the same to the other leg and you got yourself a free swinging set of pretty legs. 

Next entry I'll be explaining how to do the arms. Its basically the same gist but the measurements for the arms will be shorter than your legs. If you know a better way to do this feel free to comment, criticize or ask questions.