Puppet Richard

My first edition of marionette-style figures.

I needed a figure sculpt to start with. I chose my ‘Richard Simmons’ character, sculpted in Super Sculpy since I knew I’d be making a few of these guys for my ‘Crom’ sculpture and wanted a pose-able base to work from.

Once the figure was blocked out and mostly detailed, but before I cooked the clay I started cutting into it and dividing it up, that way I could plan how it would break down into parts. After I’d scored into the clay I cooked him and finished the cut all the way through the armature.

Disassembled the parts, and started clean up on them. I had to make sure it woulf fit back together and that the joins weren’t too jagged.

Next I sprued the parts to make molds. This is the process of attaching the parts to a board and to each other to allow them to be suspended in silicone for the mold. The thing to keep in mind at this stage was that I needed to pour the parts in a way that would minimize air bubbles, and allow the resin to flow through. This is one of the most tricky and intensive parts and I’ve learned a ton by trial and (expensive) error.

Pouring silicone molds;

Molds cut open and original parts removed;

I cast the parts in urethane resin,

Which gave me plenty to work with;

Each of these needed to be drilled and have string glued in one side at a time;

I’m particularly fond of the way I set up the rolling/shrugging shoulders, with string that feeds through the torso into the upper arm;

And here it is fully assembled.

Detail in the hands.

I made a few of these guys;

These were first made available at the Alternative Press Expo in 2008 and are currently sold out.

Full flickr gallery