Nice rod mechanism. I am curious why you changed the action from pull to push?
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Two reasons.  1st -- I didn't think of usng the hanger wire to pull the mouth open.  2nd -- I guess I was also looking for a way of avoiding have wires or strings in the from of the puppet that might make assembling the puppet difficult.  With number two its possible I was borrowing trouble where there wasn't any.  That being said I'm happy with the result.  Just for fun I may test the suggestion you made if I like the way it works better I'll run with it.

As always thanks for your suggestions.

Jon,

Very impressive head ..but not able to figure out how you got the head shape?? Did you use any
template ?. I checked your blog as well but not able to visualize. Waiting to see the final shape.
Great work ..

Cheers
Bhanu

Like I said it was more curiosity on my part. Can't really say that one method is better then another.  I am sure you have noticed that there are many different control concepts for marionettes and each person feels their designs lends them a control over the puppet that the others do not.

Very impressive head ..but not able to figure out how you got the head shape?? Did you use any
template ?.

Bhanu - Thanks for the complement.  For the head shape I made my own pattern.  I'll see about taking pictures of the patterns I made and I'll post them for you so you can get a better idea what I did.

Shawn - Yes, I have noticed that there are a lot of ways to get the same thing done.  Probably to some extent its personal preference and in other cases one method might work better given the characteristic of the puppet.  At this point I'm learning so much about puppet building that I like to experiment with different designs just to see how I like them.

I'm posting a couple of pictures of the patern I used to make taylors head.  theri not really anything special but for some they may help as they learn to make their  own puppets.

The first is the pattern for the top of the head.  I cut two pieces of foam using this pattern.  One piece is for the right side and one piece is for the left.  Glue the darts together and then join the halves.

The second picture is of the finished chin.  I actually didn't use a pattern for this.  I just made a tube and cut out a dart to create the curve of the chin.  This might be something that you have to get used to doing.  If your not sure work with a piece of paper first then when you are happy with the result copy it onto foam.

The front part of the head (both top and bottom) are glued to the mouth and the back part of the top and bottom are glued to each other to complete the foam structure of the head.

Hope this helps.

Shawn, just for fun I tested the rod mechanism with a pull action like you suggested.  With this particular puppet I found that I couldn't get as full an extension as I got with the push arrangement.  On the positive side I did find that the pull action was easier and more natural feeling with the pull arrangement.  For now I stick with the push action but I have some builds coming up that may work bette will the pull.

Thanks

With puppets that use rods like this one often the "rod" itself well be hallow and the "wire" well go up the center of the rod. A slit is made in the bottom of the rod above the handle and the wire comes out and is formed into a loop that you can slide your finger and then manipulate it up and down.

Here's and update.  Yesterday I was able to give a few minutes to building Taylor Termite and was able to complete the foam part of the body.  I've posted more details at the Bashful Puppet Blog

AWESOME JOB!!! I can't wait to see how he evolves!!

I wanted to post an Update on the progress I've made on Taylor Termite.  She's really starting to come together.  I think the only htings I have left are the arms and legs.

Just a note on the evolution of the rod mechanism.  I have some problems securing the hinge on the trigger so I opted to do as Shawn suggested in one of his last posts on this thread and simply secured the hanger wire to the front of the bottom mouth bar and made a loop in the bottom I use my finger to pull with.  It works good and has fewer moving parts.

Here's a picture.  Enjoy!