Almost baroque, that thought. Carpe diem...

Memento mori

Gorgeous! Is her hair a wig, or individually wefted to the skull?

Ihanks!!!it's a kind of wig made of  “on the skin” mohair like those http://www.ryndaoriginals.com/Tibetan_Skins.htm

Ihanks!!!it's a kind of wig made of  “on the skin” mohair like those http://www.ryndaoriginals.com/Tibetan_Skins.htm

Hmmm, I can't get the pictures to load on that site.

maybe this one will work http://www.fantasydollsbyd.com/new_page_71.htm

Yeah, that one did work. Thanks!

Yeah, that too! I really like baroque exactly for this mix of death and oppulence...
 I love mohair myself. If anybody looks for a European source I'd like to recommend: http://www.triskelfantasy.com/index.php

one more character is finished
some pattern making and hand sewing 
 

                                                                              

Great couple!

some pattern making and hand sewing 

Did you make your dress-form or did you buy it from someplace.  I've been thinking of this for some time that it would be cool to do a tutorial on how to make a dress-form for hand in mouth puppets.  I was thinking for that it could be made of foam that was stuffed with poly fill and then covered in muslin.  Traditionally dress-forms would have more density then that would allow but I think it might work.

I must say the couple are such a romantic pair..excellent.
I too was wondering the same thing Shawn. I am finding  the  older I get and more into this puppet thing, the  more I am looking at fashion and wondering, hey how did they make that... or wow she's a cute babe, but look at the seams on those pants ... how'd they do that? (he he). I look at my first feeble attempts at puppet cloths when dressing a character, and shudder. I now have 4 or 5 wardrobes (apple box sized things) of cloths in the 'wardrobe department' ...enough cloths to start classifying them into categories. My question with a puppet dress-form is, that since puppets vary so much in size and shape, wouldn't it be a bit tricky to get  measurements, etc, with a standard form. I am finding that a bit when dressing  'guests'. Like people, one jacket or shirt might fit one, but not another, so to make a slick fit, you need to make an outfit specificly  for one puppet, or alter from another, unless they are from the same generic puppet base.

Well yes unless you use the same base body for your puppets each time you would need to have more then one dress-form just like in a costume shop. Some high end dress-forms can actually be "sized" to your actor.  They are made in sections and you can crank handles to make them larger or smaller. You are still somewhat limited to a range up and down but it allows for a bit more latitude. 

For me it is pretty easy to simple to drape on the actual body of the puppet I am creating but I can see where a dress form may be helpful to say a seamstress that just wanted to build costumes.  For example one member recently was looking for someone who could just build the cloths for a line of puppets they wanted to make.  In that case a dress-form could be created and sent to the tailor/seamstress that could be used to create basic patterns for the line.  If someone wanted a custom made piece for that line of puppets then the costumer could be sent designs and specific details then could produce a new garment.

Did you make your dress-form or did you buy it from someplace.  I've been thinking of this for some time that it would be cool to do a tutorial on how to make a dress-form for hand in mouth puppets.  I was thinking for that it could be made of foam that was stuffed with poly fill and then covered in muslin.  Traditionally dress-forms would have more density then that would allow but I think it might work.

No, I didn't. I'll explain step-by-step now it made but first - I also don't think that kind of universal dress-form for puppets can be build, theoretically - yes,it's possible but going to be very complicated and expencive . If it's a mass production ( I mean - the same size of al bodies ) probably make sence to build this kind of tool. It can be done it a few ways, depend on what the tailor prefer,for example, a rigid dress-form can be papier-mache, more flexible can be carved out of soft foam and covered with suitable fabric etc.But in many cases it's take time to make a pattern only for the first puppet and you use the same pattern for all others,somethimes you just need to make a nessesary changes but in any case we  should have some experience with this matter - how a real clothes are made,what is the basic patters and so. It takes time to have this experience but there are some helpfull books and the internet of course,anyway, here some steps of pattern making for this marionette:
1. This marionette have a rigit casted body and I used it ( on the photo it's a different one but the same idea)

2. With a plastic wrap

I've covered the upper part of the body