Phoenix Hand Puppet
This is a multi-media hand puppet. I love fantasy creatures and I really wanted to do a fire bird for this project. Before cutting out his pattern, I had to really figure out how I was going to get his beak to move. I researched sites but none had tutorials on how to make a bird puppet. I ended up drawing out what I wanted him to look like and had a reference picture of a phoenix so I could see how everything connected. I used paper to try and see how I could hold the foam in order to get the mouth to successfully move. I also had to plan out his final details to make him appear on fire.
Its body is made entirely out of foam that is sculpted in layers to form into a phoenix. It was rather difficult to figure out how to give him a round head. After burning myself a few times with the glue gun, it finally worked out so the head would bulge out a bit on the top. I took a marker and marked on his face where to cut to add his facial details and where to cut a hole for his beak. Once I cut out and glued on his facial features, I glued his beak on but left a cone in the back to put my hand through so I could move his mouth open and closed. I also sewed a pull system inside his mouth so that I could also move his mouth by pulling on a string. I glued a bright red material all over his body so when I glued on the feathers everything would blend. I made his eyes out of a Styrofoam ball and coated them with white modeling clay. Then I drew his fiery eyes with a marker. His beak was also made out of the white modeling clay and was painted orange. For the final touch, the fiery feathers, I used a shiny net material and frayed the ends to give a fire look.
Axolotl Marionette
This project is my first marionette. I prefer to create animals over humans so I decided to make a unique creature know as "Axolotl". I had to really think about; "How am I going to get this thing to function and move?" I also had think about what I was going to make my marionette out of. I printed out a few pictures of axolotls for reference and then sketched out where all the joints that needed to bend were. This was a really confusing project to get started on. I had to talk about it with my other advanced classmates.
To start it off, I used wooden dowels for its legs and spine. His spine was the largest dowel and I built up his neck with paper mache. His head is just a huge Styrofoam ball that I cut a hole into so the spine had somewhere to hold itself in place. The head detail was made entirely out of Paper Clay and then I painted it to look like an albino Axolotl . I used smaller dowels for his legs and used a stretchy material for his joints. The entire leg was hung inside of a thick wire that was looped on both ends which would help the legs dangle and easily move. His tail was made from a wooden snake that I cut and painted white. The tail sways from side to side but does not wilt down. I made his little feet with Paper Clay and glued them onto the dowels. His skin was made with a spandex material and I stuffed it to give him a bit of a fat tummy and more body. I glued feathers to his head and painted the main root white to keep the feathers from turning into a mane. The final detail was to add stacked packing tape and painted over it as his pollywog tail.
Turkey Pillow
This is my third stuffed animal I have hand sewn. I really enjoy making stuffed animals and since my mother's birthday was coming up, I decided to make a turkey pillow for her. It was a lot simpler to plan out than my multi-media projects. I first drew a sketch of how I wanted the finished results to look. Then I had to plan out the basic shapes on poster board. Next I had to go buy materials to make it look like a fall turkey but in a pillow design.
The steps of making the turkey's body was very simple. I just pinned the pattern to my material and cut it out. I did the same thing to the rest of his body. After I finished cutting them I just sewed the material inside out leaving a hole so when I turned them, there was a place to stuff it. The tail feathers were sewed together one by one until I got the feathers in a fan position. Then I just sewed them on the back of his body. I cut out the rest of his facial details with regular felt and glued them on so you couldn't see the stitch. I made his pilgrim hat from the same material and added gold ribbon and a felt square for the little belt on his hat. Then I glued his bow on for his final touch.
Chibi Totoro Plushie
This is my first stuffed animal I have ever made. It was for my Advanced Sculpture classes final. I am a huge fan of "My Neighbor Totoro" but it's hard to find his plushies of his little companions. The tiniest one was always my favorite so I decided to make it into a plushie. It is made out of white fleece (which unfortunately sheds really bad) and regular felt for the whites of its eyes. He is hand sewed and stuffed and his eyes are shiny toped buttons. He is made from my own hand-drawn pattern and only took about two days to make. He looks pretty accurate to his movie form, only thing is he was going to have his little bird toes but I decided not to because he is so fluffy they would be hidden anyways.
Koi Plushie
This is my second plush toy I have ever made. This was also a final for one of my Advanced sculpture classes. I have to say I like making stuffed animals more than sculpting, maybe because they are less likely to break and if they do they are easily fixable. This little Koi plush was made with my own pattern that I drew out on cardboard and pined to the orange fleece. It is hand sewed and stuffed. Its spots are just a plain felt that is glued on with Tacky Glue and it's eye are just plain shiny top buttons. I absolutely love how it came out and really want to make another plushie sometime soon.
