I began with very rough sketching.
Organizing, selecting drawings and scaling chosen drafts followed.
The clay entered the stage.
The faces emerged.
After the clay dried a little and was smoothed, the forms were ready for making moulds. The moulds were made from urethane rubber, and five layers were needed for each form.
Urethane rubber moulds need mother moulds to keep them out of trouble. I used plaster of Paris for mother moulds.
One more mother mould.
Demoulding.
And demoulding again.
To make things easier for demoulding after casting, and since I have a nice frame to hold the mother mould I decided to cut the mother moulds in half.
All was ready for foam casting.
Next, I glued the faces to the foam pieces for the backs of the heads.
I added pieces of foam for the ears, carved the backs of the heads and ears, and inserted the springs for the necks.
Time to wash materials for bodies…
and then to select, adjust, and preliminarily assemble parts of the bodies and heads.
Hands were carved in blue (marine) foam.
Arms emerged out of pieces of a variety of ropes.
Then I assembled all parts together. These puppets still need some reinforcement, some elements added for characterization, and to be painted and finished. I plan to do this part of the work after the remaining seven to nine (I haven’t decided yet) puppets have been constructed.
We are grateful to our supporters: John Wesley United Methodist Church in Falmouth and The Woods Hole Foundation.
This program is supported in part by grants from the Carver, Mansfield, Mid-Cape, Falmouth, Fall River, Middleborough, and Mattapoisett Cultural Councils, local agencies which are supported by the Mass Cultural Council, a state agency.
Mid-Cape Cultural Council
Middleborough Cultural Council
Mattapoisett Cultural Council
