Tweet
Hey Folks,
My latest project has been building a Thunderbirds' Parker marionette. Finally finished it today, so I thought I'd give you a brief picture-show of how it went. This was my first attempt at puppet making, so there was a bit of trial and error.
Starting with a resin head cast...
^This isn't the one I ended up using, but it's the one I started with. Also in that pic - salt & pepper mohair, temporary eyes.
^Body cast.
^Scary coloured paint for the skin. This colour was via a restorer of the original puppets, so I'm not crazy.
^Here's the 1st gen. "smiler" head cast I ended up using. Cut a window in the back of the head, drilled out the eyes/sockets with a 1" ball... sander.... thingo (?) and gave him this first shot of paint. The skin colour doesn't look so dark now. Magic?
^Closer to finished.
^Put the body together using brass plate, threaded rod and rivnuts (so it's easy to unscrew pieces).
^All together now.
^Making 3" leather shoes, which requires warm water and streeetching... No help from magical elves.
^Ta-da! With rubber soles.
^Added eyes made by Terry Curtis - one of the original Gerry Anderson puppet makers. The back of the head is attached with magnets, like the originals.
^Fun with glue and hair. And swearing. Lots of swearing.
^Hair management.
^Fun fact: Water-based glue dissolves in water. Getting the hair under control was a balancing act.
^Now to convince the wife to make a tiny butler's outfit.
^First attempt at a shirt. I love my wife.
^Trousers! At this point someone suggested he looked like Noel Gallagher.
^A butler's jacket (a modified tuxedo jacket from a free pattern found on the web).
^Bow tie.
^Waist coat.
^String!
So there's my first attempt at puppet making. Next time (making Brains) I might attempt working eyes and maybe even mouth (but no doubt I'll destroy a few casts working it out).
Hope you enjoyed my "Wot I did for the last six weekends" photo essay.
My latest project has been building a Thunderbirds' Parker marionette. Finally finished it today, so I thought I'd give you a brief picture-show of how it went. This was my first attempt at puppet making, so there was a bit of trial and error.
Starting with a resin head cast...
^This isn't the one I ended up using, but it's the one I started with. Also in that pic - salt & pepper mohair, temporary eyes.
^Body cast.
^Scary coloured paint for the skin. This colour was via a restorer of the original puppets, so I'm not crazy.
^Here's the 1st gen. "smiler" head cast I ended up using. Cut a window in the back of the head, drilled out the eyes/sockets with a 1" ball... sander.... thingo (?) and gave him this first shot of paint. The skin colour doesn't look so dark now. Magic?
^Closer to finished.
^Put the body together using brass plate, threaded rod and rivnuts (so it's easy to unscrew pieces).
^All together now.
^Making 3" leather shoes, which requires warm water and streeetching... No help from magical elves.
^Ta-da! With rubber soles.
^Added eyes made by Terry Curtis - one of the original Gerry Anderson puppet makers. The back of the head is attached with magnets, like the originals.
^Fun with glue and hair. And swearing. Lots of swearing.
^Hair management.
^Fun fact: Water-based glue dissolves in water. Getting the hair under control was a balancing act.
^Now to convince the wife to make a tiny butler's outfit.
^First attempt at a shirt. I love my wife.
^Trousers! At this point someone suggested he looked like Noel Gallagher.
^A butler's jacket (a modified tuxedo jacket from a free pattern found on the web).
^Bow tie.
^Waist coat.
^String!
So there's my first attempt at puppet making. Next time (making Brains) I might attempt working eyes and maybe even mouth (but no doubt I'll destroy a few casts working it out).
Hope you enjoyed my "Wot I did for the last six weekends" photo essay.
That is just too much! Fantabulous job, and please, video on YouTube w/ Parker's voice dubbed in! We wanna see him in action!
Comment