Making Fish Puppets for stage play

HeidiHeidi ✭
in Puppets
Hi! BJ Guyer mentioned briefly a fish puppet creation using bungie cords in the mechanics. It gave it a nice swish of the body and tail. Is there a lesson or info on how that worked? I have 6 custom puppets to create pretty quickly and am looking for direction on design function and whether to paint or cover with scale like materials on the bodies. ANY links to instruction or advice from puppets masters is appreciated. 

Answers

  • Alexander HAlexander H ✭✭✭
    I don't remember how BJ described he did it, but I can imagine it being like a simple mechanism that uses wire/cords to pull on either side of a central plane - take a look at the large tail in the trailer for this course. You could greatly simplify this for a fish tail!

    https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/animatronic-tentacle-mechanism-basics

    As for the scales, you could add them onto the fish in a non-rigid material, such as EVA foam. From Lumin's Workshop, you can buy foam scales already cut to shape.

    https://www.luminsworkshop.com/collections/foam-dowels
  • HeidiHeidi ✭
    Those look like great options! The tentacles look interesting! Thank you for responding. We have some basic experience building eye, mouth, and wings on bird puppets previously, and love the pathway training. I appreciate the links!
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