Dragon Puppet Pt 1 - Carving a Head
Hey reader,
I saw this awesome puppet by Tiny Badger and wanted to try my hand at making something similar. I was preparing to go to a convention and thought that it would make a great prop for the floor. Before I packed my bags and headed to WhedonCon to talk about running the coolest podcast, I would have to make sure my puppet was ready to go!
I have been talking about carving a foam head for a while now. Since this puppet's head was going to have a much different head shape than anything I had made before, it was time to give this a try. This is one of those things that I just dove into without a tutorial. I just found my block of foam (that I got inside my packaging materials for a 3-D printer a few years ago) and started carving. I looked a few pictures of cat and leopards for reference. I thought a cat-like dragon would be cool. Unfortunately, you would certainly not know it to look at my carving. This is apparently what I think cats look like.
It started to take on a more long snout like a dog that I actually preferred in the end so yay for happy dragon-related accidents. Considering it was my first attempt and that I started from a rectangle block of foam, I am pretty happy with it. The hardest part of something like this - at least for me - was making it symmetrical. It won't matter a whole heck of a lot when it is covered in fur, but if I was using a different material for the "skin" I would have to pay much more attention to that. Similarly, you notice that the head is pretty bumpy. I was using regular scissors to make my cuts. If this was going to be covered in fleece, not fur, I would want to use an electric knife to smooth out some of those edges. If I was giving advice on how to do this, I think the best tips I can give would be to have a sketch ready. I thought I could just operate from pictures online and quickly realized I didn't know the forms well enough. Drawing or sculpting it in clay might make this part easier.
I split the head into two parts to make the mouth open more readily. All my other puppets have a default state of mouth open, a consequence of the way I cut out the foam. This puppet was carved with a closed mouth, the resistance in the foam was uncomfortable so I ripped it apart. It felt kind of freeing if I am being honest. Maybe I am more destructive than I give myself credit for.
Once I was happy with the foam head shape and general style, it was time to create the pattern for the head. One of the main reasons I have been nervous to try carving a head - aside from my poor understanding of cat anatomy - was creating the pattern for the head. I have never been great at completely custom patterns (see my attempt at a pumpkin puppet).
Once again, Adam to the rescue with a great tutorial about how to make custom patterns. Even in his tutorial he talks about learning by experience, so I guess I just need practice with this one.
Essentially, you lay your fabric over the form and the pin it so that it lays flat against a non-flat surface. If that sounds vague, its because it is. Figuring out exactly where things need to get pinned is very challenging. It took me a few hours to get it pinned right, and I am still not sure that is where a more seasoned puppet maker would have cut their darts (places where fabric are cut so that it can wrap around shapes. Regardless, it worked. I suppose I have done this for my drag outfit, but those were much easier shapes, and I could look at pictures of mermaid dressed to have a better idea of where darts typically are on dresses. There aren't a lot of dragon puppets with my head pattern out there to use as a reference in that way - plus I can't just wrap my dragon in tape like I did for myself.
Again, with regular fleece the goal would be to hide darts so that they aren't all on central places on the face. My puppet is made of fur, so it is less of a concern. Still, best to practice when you don't need it and get more experience.
There is the pattern I came up with. I used some scrap fleece to make a first draft skin on my dragon and see how it looked. The skin is a little looser than I would have liked, but the head shape is pretty accurate. I am going to call it a win! Maybe I can just say my dragon has decided to age naturally and doesn't appreciate your ageism.
In reality, a little bit of fluff in between the fur and the head will fill in any gaps and make the skin fit tightly. This is a pretty forgiving project and I can hide a lot of sins in that fur!
I have a lot riding on the fur of this project. The fur proves to be a major challenge for me. Hear all about it in the next post about this fun loving puppet.
Always be willing to try new things! Keep making cool stuff!
Until next time,
JoshPrime
I saw this awesome puppet by Tiny Badger and wanted to try my hand at making something similar. I was preparing to go to a convention and thought that it would make a great prop for the floor. Before I packed my bags and headed to WhedonCon to talk about running the coolest podcast, I would have to make sure my puppet was ready to go!
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| Pictured: Definitely not a cat |
It started to take on a more long snout like a dog that I actually preferred in the end so yay for happy dragon-related accidents. Considering it was my first attempt and that I started from a rectangle block of foam, I am pretty happy with it. The hardest part of something like this - at least for me - was making it symmetrical. It won't matter a whole heck of a lot when it is covered in fur, but if I was using a different material for the "skin" I would have to pay much more attention to that. Similarly, you notice that the head is pretty bumpy. I was using regular scissors to make my cuts. If this was going to be covered in fleece, not fur, I would want to use an electric knife to smooth out some of those edges. If I was giving advice on how to do this, I think the best tips I can give would be to have a sketch ready. I thought I could just operate from pictures online and quickly realized I didn't know the forms well enough. Drawing or sculpting it in clay might make this part easier.
 |
| meow? |
I split the head into two parts to make the mouth open more readily. All my other puppets have a default state of mouth open, a consequence of the way I cut out the foam. This puppet was carved with a closed mouth, the resistance in the foam was uncomfortable so I ripped it apart. It felt kind of freeing if I am being honest. Maybe I am more destructive than I give myself credit for.
Once I was happy with the foam head shape and general style, it was time to create the pattern for the head. One of the main reasons I have been nervous to try carving a head - aside from my poor understanding of cat anatomy - was creating the pattern for the head. I have never been great at completely custom patterns (see my attempt at a pumpkin puppet).
Once again, Adam to the rescue with a great tutorial about how to make custom patterns. Even in his tutorial he talks about learning by experience, so I guess I just need practice with this one.
Essentially, you lay your fabric over the form and the pin it so that it lays flat against a non-flat surface. If that sounds vague, its because it is. Figuring out exactly where things need to get pinned is very challenging. It took me a few hours to get it pinned right, and I am still not sure that is where a more seasoned puppet maker would have cut their darts (places where fabric are cut so that it can wrap around shapes. Regardless, it worked. I suppose I have done this for my drag outfit, but those were much easier shapes, and I could look at pictures of mermaid dressed to have a better idea of where darts typically are on dresses. There aren't a lot of dragon puppets with my head pattern out there to use as a reference in that way - plus I can't just wrap my dragon in tape like I did for myself. 
Again, with regular fleece the goal would be to hide darts so that they aren't all on central places on the face. My puppet is made of fur, so it is less of a concern. Still, best to practice when you don't need it and get more experience.There is the pattern I came up with. I used some scrap fleece to make a first draft skin on my dragon and see how it looked. The skin is a little looser than I would have liked, but the head shape is pretty accurate. I am going to call it a win! Maybe I can just say my dragon has decided to age naturally and doesn't appreciate your ageism.
I have a lot riding on the fur of this project. The fur proves to be a major challenge for me. Hear all about it in the next post about this fun loving puppet.
Always be willing to try new things! Keep making cool stuff!
Until next time,
JoshPrime
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