Padding Out

The next stage in the puppet building process is padding out. The puppet needs to have volume and mass so that it looks realistic and so that there is something for the clothes to cover.

Due to the design of The Mechanic Character and the way I have built him he now does not need much more padding out. But he needs some foam to fill in some gaps and some more foam to give him as smooth surface.

I began with the arms. I first got some wadding and rolled it up. I Then wrapped it in a thin white foam to give it a uniform shape.

I then cut out blocks of foam to fill in the middle section of the puppet.

I added more balsa wood onto the front to give me more to hold to while I animate the character.

And then added more foam to the front of that. 

 To smooth out the top of the body I cut out a template from paper and then tested it with some felt.

 I then use the template to cut out some thin foam to cover the foam and balsa wood.

I also added some thin foam to the legs to smooth them out even more.

I used the same process for The Man but I did not need to use any balsa wood as the design is so thin.

I was about to use some of the yellow foam to pad out the arms but I had to use the white foam for the body. I thought the white foam would have been to thick on the arms. However if I had have used both foams the yellow colour would have shown through the clothes fabric which would have stood out against the body.

 I then cut holes in the foam where the rigging points are to that they are easily accessible.

I am now currently sculpting hands for both The Man and The Mechanic. I will then use these to make moulds and cast the hands and feet using latex and silicone.