Mott

Mott. The first puppet I am working on. I haven't been able to get a lot done on him lately, given all the filming and guests I've had over. And yes, I confess that my social calendar did get in the way once in a while with work on this muppet-version of me. But there is good news, and it has absolutely nothing to do with car insurance; I found the digital cameras. I took photographs of my tools, materials, and what I have accomplished so far.

This is his head. The lower jaw and the rest of the head are two completely separate pieces. The glasses were an old pair of sunglasses that I removed the lenses from for Nameless Love (for my double to have glasses too), and decided to recycle for Mott. He is supposed to be modeled after me, after all, so it only makes sense for him to wear glasses as I do. His hair will be dark brown wool, and the skin will be this fleece (see below) which I got on sale. I'm thinking ping-pong balls for eyes. Cut down to size and colored to look like eyes, of course!




This is the body. It's a small black plastic bucket from a small waste-paper basket thingy. It was made seperate from the rest of the unit so that I could just pick up this bucket and empty it when needed. I cut out the body and used the cylinder shape to act as the bulk of the body. This makes Mott more stage-and-live-audience friendly, since most puppets don't have rigid torso structures. Paper towel wrapped around the bottom of the bucket (which is the top of the torso) so that I don't scratch my wrists on jagged plastic from the cuts. Duct tape was used to secure the entire thing. It'll take two layers of fleece for an even "puppet skin tone" but we'll see how one layer works first, given that he'll be wearing clothes more often than not.



This fleece is what I am using as skin. The photo doesn't exactly do it's color justice. To describe it's color with words; "just imagine the color and texture that puppet skin would be." It even has that texture, yes. I managed to get three meters of it on sale, so I have more than enough to be able to safely make mistakes. I've already used some of the material for the arms, which you're about to see!




These are the arms. Using hanger wires as the skeletal frame for the arms, I padded up the wire with excess foam to give the arms flesh. Foam for the hands, although the hands aren't finished. I have excess material at the end of each arm to be able to safely attach the arms to the body when it comes time. Magnets will go in the hands to allow Mott to hold things. Magnets will also be placed on the body and the wands (the rods that the operator uses to maneuver the arms), so that everything is detachable, making transportation easier.


These are my tools. A sewing machine, which I'm getting really adept with, helped make the "fleece sleeves" which became the skin of the arms. I'll need to hand sew the body and head though, so we'll see how that goes. The electric turkey carver is for the foam; it makes cutting a lot cleaner and easier to do that with your average kitchen knife. Not to mention it's faster.

So that's Mott so far! Stay tuned in to see when he's finished!