BLIND SUMMIT PUPPETS

INTRODUCTION

The Blind Summit Puppets site gives information on how I make the
puppets we use in our shows. It explains the processes and techniques
and includes information about the materials. I have tried not to be
too technical and not overly detailed - it is impossible to explain
everything and if you are interested in making then the best way to
learn is to get stuck in. However, I guess if you're reading this,
then you have an interest in knowing more, and will probably put up
with a bit of technical chat and the occasional use of words such as
thixotropic and exothermic.
Site Layout
The site is split into four areas:
Design
How I design the puppets.
Construction
The stages of making the puppet in the order in which I make them.
i.e. Head, hands and body. Details the whole process.

Materials
Details some of the materials used in the process, their advantages
and disadvantages and some of the types of puppet for which the
materials are most suitable.
Links
Contains links to relevant sites.
Disclaimer!
The site is not a definitive guide to puppet making or any of the
techniques it discusses. It just describes the way I have made Blind
Summit puppets for a number of years and is a response to peoples
often asked question, how are they made. I hope it is helpful.
Please feel free to e mail your thoughts and suggestions to
nick@blindsummit.com

DESIGN

The puppets that we use are inspired by Japanese Bunraku Puppets.

Although the materials and construction methods vary greatly, and the
look of the puppets is not usually Japanese. However, our larger
puppets are often over a metre in height, similar to the height of
Bunraku puppets and they are fully operated with three people: one on
the head and the left hand, one on the right hand, and one on the
feet.
The size of the puppet is largely driven by character and the context
in which the puppet will be used. We have puppets ranging from about
25cms to 1.5 metres in height. The larger the puppet gets, the more
difficult it is to operate. I think the puppets are more interesting
when they are smaller than human size and in some cases considerably
smaller.
Depending on how impatient I am to begin, I may do a full size plan of
the puppet. This is more important if I am making several puppets for
one show which have to relate in scale to one another. I often do
technical drawings for some parts of the puppets, particularly the
arms and legs, in order to work out the shape of the limbs and the
positions of the pivot points for joints.
I tend to make the puppets head smaller proportionally to the rest of
the body than it would be in real life. This is personal preference,
for me it makes the puppet look more elegant and real.
The expression which I sculpt for the puppet head will again be
dictated by its character. I tend to sculpt expressions that are not
too extreme, it seems to allow a wider range of emotion when we are
using the puppet. I usually sculpt the mouth slightly open. Again this
is personal preference and not always the case, but I think it gives
more possibility that the puppet is talking or perhaps just active.

CONSTRUCTION
Head

How the puppets are made...

The first part of the puppet to be sculpted is the head, which I tend
to sculpt from some sort of visual reference. Either a photo of
someone in particular, or a drawing. Even when working from a photo, I

find it useful to do a drawing, as it helps me to understand the

features and structure of the face.
I sculpt the head in either plastaline or clay.
From this original, I make a mould, using silicone rubber encased in a
fibre glass or jesmonite shell. The shell provides the silicone with
support when the original is removed. I clean up the mould and then
make a resin and fibreglass cast.

Sculpting
An armature is needed to support the sculpted head. For plastaline I
use a wooden ball fixed to of a piece of dowel, supported in a wooden
base. (Click the image to see an animation of a head sculpt). The
advantage of plastaline is that it doesn't dry out and shrink, this
means that it is easier to work on something over a longer period.
However it can be a bit more difficult to get a uniformly smooth
finish.

If clay is being used then the armature cannot be solid, it needs to

be something with give. This is because the clay shrinks as it dries
out and so compresses whatever is inside it. To prevent the clay
cracking around the armature you need a soft core at the centre. I use
wet sheets of newspaper folded into one long strip, wrapped as tightly
as possible around the end of a piece of dowel, and secured with wire.
You can then add small bits of clay and build up the head. Whilst
working with clay you must keep it as moist as possible, spray it with
water frequently and wrap it in plastic when you are not working on
it.
Whatever material you sculpt in, the armature needs to be strong

enough to support the size of head you plan to sculpt. A relatively

small head, 10cms from top of head to bottom of chin, can end up using
almost 2 lbs of plastaline.
For the eyes I use beads. It can be difficult to know exactly where to
position them, especially early on when there is little of the head to
know where they should be placed. I try to place them as accurately as
possible by taking measurements from the drawings. But often it is
just trial and error. I have occasionally got quite far with the
sculpt only to realize that I need to move the eyes further forward or
back.
A finished clay sculpt can be sealed either by spaying it with a
plasticised aerosol paint, or by applying a layer of shellac varnish.
Moulding
The type of mould you make is determined by the material in which you
are sculpting and the material in which you intend to cast the
finished item. I usually cast the head and hands of the puppet in
resin with fibre glass so the end result is a very rigid positive.
This means the mould needs to flexible if it is going to come away
from the details of the face and pull out from any undercuts without
doing any damage, and remaining reusable. The best material for this
is silicone rubber. It is very flexible and provides a highly detailed
cast, picking up every mark and texture of the sculpted body part.

To make the mould I begin by building a clay wall around the head of
the puppet. By doing this you define the seam line where the mould
will separate and the two parts of the head will join together when
you later cast the finished head. I take the seam line over the top of
the head along the edge of the ear and down just along the bottom line

of the jaw.
You can build registration marks into the mould by making small
hollows or protrusions in the wall. This means the two halves of the
mould will line up accurately should you want to join the head cast
whilst it is in the mould. (Because of the need to put fixings inside
the head, I usually end up assembling the head out of the mould. This
can make it harder to match up the edges, as they often distort
fractionally when the cast is removed from the mould, making it
difficult to line up exactly.)
I then make the first silicone part of the mould. This is best done in
two stages. Firstly a thin layer of silicone brushed gently over all
the features and into the details of the face, and when this has
cured, a thicker layer 6-7mm thick. This can be done in one go, but it
is more difficult; in order for the silicone not to slump, you need to
add a thixotropic agent to the thicker layer, which makes it harder to
brush into the more detailed parts of the face, around the eyes and
the nostrils and ears, and increases the likelihood of air bubbles.
The silicone on its own is not rigid enough to cast into, when removed
from the sculpt it will be soft and flexible. So the next stage is to
make a rigid case to support the silicone. For this I use resin and
fibreglass, completely encasing the silicone and brushing around the
edge of the clay wall. (If the clay is not too damp there shouldn't be
any problem with the resin going hard.) I build up three or four
layers with a couple more around the edge of the mould for extra
strength.
When the resin has fully cured I remove all the clay from around the
head and clean up the back of the mould and head. Then I spray a wax
based release agent onto the exposed edge of silicone and repeat the
process for the second part of the mould. Before encasing the second
half of the silicone mould in resin and fibreglass I put a thin layer
of vasaline around the fibreglass edge where the two halves of the
mould will meet. This will ensure the two halves separate and do not
just become one solid shell.
To seperate the mould I trim back the edge of the fibreglass to get
rid of the rough edge, to where it is a bit thicker. Then, using a
thin tool or chisel, I gently work around the mould to prise it apart.
(When building up the fibreglass shell for the mould I tend to make
one or two areas around the edge a bit thicker so there are some
stronger points at which to lever open the mould.)
Finally I clean up the mould to prepare it for casting.
Casting

When the mould is finished the head is ready to be cast.

I use polyester (plastic) resin and fibre glass to make the puppet
head. The resin is a liquid and can be brushed or poured into the
mould. It is mixed with a small amount of catalyst which causes it to
harden. I do not usually pour resin, as a solid resin head is far too
heavy to be of any use. Also, on its own, resin has very little
structural strength. To prevent it shattering, it must be used with
fibreglass. The resin impregnates the fibreglass and the two materials
create a very strong and reasonably lightweight structure.
I build up the head by brushing layers of resin and fibreglass into
the mould.

The Head Mechanism

Many of the puppets that we use have a tilting head mechanism which
pivots the face upwards around a point where the head meets the neck.
This simple mechanism gives a huge degree of life to the puppets
thoughts and movements.
A piece of aluminium tube forms the neck of the puppet, at its top end
a small length of threaded rod pivots around a steel pin. The back end
of this piece of rod is fixed into the inside back of the puppets
head. (Sometimes it goes through a hole in the head and sticks out the
back, to form a handle for the puppet.) A wooden handle is drilled to
take the bottom of the aluminium tube. It has an elongated hole cut
into its length through which a small trigger connects to a short rod
within the tube. Through the use of piano/steel wire, the trigger rod
pulls down the threaded rod at the top of the tube. It pulls against a
spring connecting the threaded rod to the tube, which returns the head
to its lowered (resting) position. When the head is in place on the
puppet, the aluminium tube travels down through a hole into the
puppets body. The shoulder construction of the puppet rests on the top
of the handle (which has a rounded top to it), so as well as
controlling the head, the top of the handle is supporting the body of
the puppet.

Hands

Once the head is sculpted then I begin on the hands. As with the head,
these are usually sculpted, moulded and cast.
To construct an armature for larger hands I will use a heavy gauge
aluminium wire. The photo is of a larger hand. Click to change between
the Armature and the Hand.
I have wrapped a finer wire around the fingers and thumb, this is to
give the clay something to grip so that it doesn't just slide off the
wire. The fingers can be bent into position and sculpted individually.
The palm and back of the hand can then be sculpted around them.
For a larger puppet I will either sculpt the hands in plastaline or
perhaps sculptey. The advantage of sculptey is that it can be heated
and hardened in an oven. You can still make adjustments when it is

hard, by carving or sanding and it is a lot easier to create a clay

wall around the hand for moulding than when you use something which
remains soft such as plastaline.
If I am making hands for a very small puppet, then I will probably not
bother with a mould, and instead just make a one off. This will
involve an armature similar to the one above, but much smaller, made
out of steel wire. In place of the wooden support in the photo, I use
a small piece of leather for the wrist joint, attached securely to the
wire in the palm of the hand. The armature is attached to a length of
piano wire, projecting from the side of the wrist, which will
ultimately have a small wooden handle for operating. For the smaller
hands I will often use milliput to sculpt in, as with the larger
hands, I start with the fingers and thumb, allowing them to harden
individually and then add the palm and back of the hand.
Hand Mould
The moulds for the hands can be quite complicated, depending on the
position they are sculpted in. If the hand is in a relatively open
position, and the fingers are not too bent, then you can create a
simple two part mould. However as soon as you start to have the
fingers bent towards the palm, then you may need to consider a three
part mould, in order to be able to brush resin into the mould at a
later stage, and release the cast sections from the mould.
A simple hand mould

A mould for the hands follows a similar process to the head mould. I
will usually rest the hand in a bed of clay built halfway up the side
of the hand and in line with the wooden support projecting from the

wrist. When the hand is later cast, the wood will be replaced with
cotton or nylon webbing which acts as a wrist joint. The exposed side
of the hand is covered with silicone rubber and when that is cured,
encased in a resin and fibreglass shell. The clay wall is then removed
and silicone is brushed over the other side of the hand. This too is
covered with the resin and fibreglass. It is important to use a
release agent between the two halves of the mould. Before applying
silicone for the second part of the mould, I spray a wax based release
agent on the exposed edges of the existing mould. When the silicone
has cured I apply some vasaline to the rim of the resin shell, before
brushing on resin and fibreglass for the final part of the mould.

Body

Puppet torso

Every puppet seems to require a slightly different approach to making

the body. But this is how I usually make the larger puppets.
Sculpting
For the larger puppets I start by cutting out the body shapes in MDF,
using a scroll saw. Where possible I remove wood from the inside of
the shape to reduce the weight of the puppet. I use these profiles as
templates to sculpt the body parts. I prefer to sculpt the body from a
soft foam rubber as this is the most sympathetic when it comes to

using the puppets. There is no sound when the puppet knocks against
things, it is lightweight and it has some give in it, like skin.
However there are often occasions when it is better to use a more
rigid material, like syrofoam. This is usually when the limb will be
seen, and not covered by clothing. For example the bottom of legs and
the lower part of the arm. Both materials will need some sort of
covering to protect them. I cover soft foam rubber in stockingette,
which is glued to the surface of the foam with copydex. Styrofoam is
more problematic. I usually cover it with fibreglass and resin, which
can then be sanded to create a smooth finish. However, you cannot
apply resin directly to styrofoam, firstly you must apply a barrier
layer of tin foil, which prevents the resin from destroying the
styrofoam.
Joints and assembly
There can be a lot of pressure put on joints and fixings. The arms and
legs have strips of aluminium for extra strength. The aluminium run
the length of the limb, and is bolted to the MDF profile. For elbow
and knee joints, where the movement is like that of a simple hinge, I
drill a small hole in the aluminium and connect the limbs with a 3mm
diameter bolt. For looser joints such as the shoulders, hips and
wrists, I use webbing, which allows the limb to twist and move in any
direction. The two or three sections of upper body are also joined
with webbing, either one or two pieces running down through the centre
of the puppet.
At the top of the body there is an aluminium and wood shoulder
section. At its centre is a hole, through which passes the neck of the
puppet. Attached to either end of it are the arms. The underside of
this section rests on the handle of the puppets head mechanism, so it
must be quite a strong construction as it will support the weight of
the puppet below it. I attach this shoulder support to the MDF profile
of the body. The back of the body is hollowed out for the puppeteers
hand and the handle which controls the head.

MATERIALS
This page contains a brief description of most of the materials I use
for making.
Click on a material, or scroll down the page.
Sculpting

Clay
Plastaline
Styrofoam
Soft Foam Rubber
Sculpey
Milliput
Moulding
Silicone Rubber
Jesmonite
Casting & Construction
Polyester Resin & Fibre Glass

Clay
There are many different types of clay available, and to some degree
it is personal preference as to which one you use. To me it is the
most pleasing medium in which to sculpt the puppet heads, although for
practical reasons I tend to use plasticine more often. I usually use a
simple grey clay from Tiranti's.
Plastaline
This is an alternative sculpting material to clay. It's advantage is
that it doesn't dry out and isn't as soft, so you can be a bit rougher
with it. It provides very fine surface detail, however it takes a bit
of practice to get a smooth finish if that is what you want. You can
use lighter fluid and a sponge or brush to smooth it down.
Styrofoam
Some of the puppet parts are sculpted in styrofoam. This is easily
carved to a rough shape with a saw, and can then be with shaped more
carefully with sharp knives. It is finished with various degrees of
sanding.
styrofoam is great to sculpt in. It is very lightweight, and is
available in various densities. It can be sawn, carved, and sanded, to
create quite detailed shapes and features very quickly. On the whole
it is better for larger figures, this is for two reasons. Firstly,

very fine details can be hard to achieve and quite fragile, and
secondly, you will most likely need to cover it with something to
protect the surface and increase its strength. This will inevitably
cause some loss of detail which is far less noticeable on larger,
simpler shapes. The biggest problem with styrofoam is that it's easily
dented or snapped if you are creating thin shapes (such as fingers). I
don't know of an easy way around this. If I am using it for puppets
then I usually coat it in a harder outer shell before it can be used.
You can use jesmonite, which in some ways is ideal as it has no
reaction with the fibreglass and adheres to it well, but jesmonite is
quite heavy and I have found it to be less durable than fibre glass.
If you use fibreglass, however, you can't put it directly onto
styrofoam because it dissolves it. You need to cover the surface
first. Tin foil is a good material for this, and can be glued with PVA
but it is a hassle to have to do. Both fibreglass and jesmonite will
leave an irregular surface which you will need to sand if you want a
smoother finish. Apparently there is a material called peel ply which
can help give a smooth finish with fibreglass. If the puppet does not
have a long life ahead of it and will be treated quite carefully then
it could just be covered with a few layers of tissue paper or muslin,
but the surface will always remain vulnerable.
Soft Foam Rubber
This is my preferred material for sculpting body parts. It is
relatively light, and can be knocked and dropped with no damage to it
at all. I use an electric kitchen knife to cut and shape it, which is
a long and tedious process, but produces a very good finish. You can
also use scissors, and it can be sanded. You can achieve a good smooth
finish and after I have attached it to the body armature, I cover it
in stockingette, using copydex to give it a more durable and protected
surface. The stockingette also alows the costume to move more freely
over the surface of the limbs with less friction than the foam.
Sculpey
SuperSculpey is the brand name for a polymer based modelling clay
which hardens in the oven. I have found it good for hands as you can
harden fingers as you sculpt them.
Milliput

A two part sculpting material mixed in equal quantities of resin and

hardener. When set it is very strong and can be carved, drilled and
sanded. I tend to use it on smaller puppets, to sculpt body parts too
small or fiddly to mould. It is quite heavy and so not ideal for
larger puppets.
When using milliput be sure to mix the two parts very well, if there
is any streakiness then they may not harden. You can smooth the
surface with water whilst it has not set.
Silicone Rubber
This is the best material for making the head and hand moulds, as it
picks up the detail of the sculpting so well. The only downside is
it's cost; unfortunately it is quite expensive.
The rubber comes in two parts which need to be mixed together before
use: the liquid rubber and catalyst. You can also add a thixotropic
additive, which thickens the rubber and allows you to use it on a
vertical surface without it slumping.
Jesmonite
This is an acrylic based powder and liquid mix offered as a
replacemant to fibre glass.
I have found it to be a bit too heavy for the puppets and a bit more
'crumbly' than resin and fibreglass when strength is needed. It's
advantage over resin is that it does not have the fumes and is
therefore much more user friendly. I sometimes use it for the rigid
mould casing, where weight is not such an issue.
Polyester resin & Fibre glass
Polyester resin is a plastic based liquid which when used with
fibreglass gives excellent strength for a reasonable weight. It is
ideal for picking up the detail in the silicone mould, and is what I
use choice to cast the head and hands of the puppet. It can be
coloured by mixing polyester pigments before adding the catalyst which
causes it to harden. The resin and its catalyst cause an exothermic
reaction, i.e. one which creates heat. When laminating this is not
particularly noticeable, but if you are pouring solid resin casts then
the heat can be considerable. However this is unlikely if you are
making puppets as a solid resin cast is usually too heavy for anything
but the smallest of heads. The trick is to create the strongest and
most rigid structure with as little resin and fibreglass as possible.