My son and I were at the Renaissance Festival today and saw the beautiful and cunning woodbabies. He fell in love hard with a lovely red gryphon and unfortunately I just can't affort the 100.00+ price tag. He was so sad (he never really asks for anything) and his 5th birthday is coming up in 2 weeks, I would love to know if this is something I could make myself? I am fairly crafty and engineering minded. I sew for a living anyway lol. It doesn't need to be as amazing as the woodbaby but I would love for him to have a controlable shoulder puppe if I can do it. They seem to be controlled via a flexible cable of some kind that extends through the body to their heads. Where would I find materials like that? Any help or advice is appreciated. TIA!

First of all Welcome to Puppets and Stuff. I was not sure what a gryphon is and still not clear on it. So I looked it up http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gryphon
Is it as described in wiki as a mythical animal................... do you have any pictures to go by.
If you are just starting out a cable controlled puppet could be a challenge. Once we find out more about what a gryphon looks like everyone can help you decide what building technique would best suit you.


Billy D.

a gryphon is a mythical creature.  Basically a lion with a eagles head and wings.

I agree with Billy about making the mechanism for controlling the puppet.  pretty tricky.  I've a made a few mechanisms for rod puppets and they were tricky to get right and this would be even more tricky.  I don't know of any place that sells the mechanisms so you would probably have to come up with your own.  That being said, if you're mechanically inclined this could be a fun and challenging project for you.

i guess before we can go any farther we need to know what the cable will be controling.  will it be opening and closing the mouth or something else?

The secret of the controls for such a puppet would be found in a bicycle shop.   Look at the brake cables.  It is a flexible tube that has a wire running through it that can be pushed and pulled to move the puppet.  It could be that the Woodbabies use an adaptation of this but the concept would be the same.

Your first step would be to design the body that is under your fabric that could be manipulated by the brake cables. I wish I could give you specific instructions but there aren't any out there really.

Hi Guys,
Woodbabys uses radio controled airplane push rods.
Like these.
http://www3.towerhobbies.com/cgi-bin/wti0001p?&I=LXFU97&P=0

There are differant sizes.

Hope this helps,

Mike
propologist