My latest puppet, Buratino is DONE! Posted by Chris Arveson on Oct 22, 2008
Buratino is finally ready for his public unveiling! He has had to endure a few concept changes, but overall, I think he's ok.
I had wanted to give him a little more of a hard-shelled appearance, since the character is a wooden puppet, come to life. It just wasn't working for me. I tried painting the foam on a couple of different skulls, and just didn't like the appearance. I love the Nice Braga pattern for him, but I find the mouth just a tiny bit stiff to work with, so I couldn't really use something Sculpt-or-Coat with the pattern.
I decided that there really wasn't anything wrong with good old fleece, and I am familiar with it as a material, so I went back to what I know best.
His hair is supposed to be wood shavings, so I used some fun-foam and rolled it up tightly. If it uncurls over time, that's OK, I can re-roll it before a performance, and it will hold. (Kind of like going to the hairdresser before the performance.)
In the story, his hat was an old sock, but I couldn't find one that fit the head, or the pictures I used for inspiration, so I used a knitting frame and knocked one out in a couple of hours.
I am deeply indebted to Nice Braga for the pattern, and Dr. Puppet for his videos on covering Dr. Tennant, and on stitching in general. I am further indebted to Puppet Lady. Her excellent Mary Jane puppet convinced me that I could cover the foam with fleece, and have it turn out well. (Well, she convinced me it was possible. Whether I could do it was another matter.) She also threw out the hint that I would have to make the "pointy" part of the head pattern a little longer in the fleece in order for it to work. It did indeed, work. Thank you to all of you who gave help, even if you didn't know you were doing so!
I used three sources for the puppet, and the script (which has yet to be completed). First is a picture book version of the "Adventures of Buratino" which is published in Russian. The second is the English translation of the full story. The third is the 1975 film of the story. The books were both published by Soviet publishers, and the film is a production of Mosfilm. Of course, since the film was done in 1975, it was a Soviet production as well.
This is a video capture of the Buratino character from the film.
This is the front cover of the picture book, showing the Buratino character.
This is an illustration from the English translation of the story.
I had wanted to give him a little more of a hard-shelled appearance, since the character is a wooden puppet, come to life. It just wasn't working for me. I tried painting the foam on a couple of different skulls, and just didn't like the appearance. I love the Nice Braga pattern for him, but I find the mouth just a tiny bit stiff to work with, so I couldn't really use something Sculpt-or-Coat with the pattern.
I decided that there really wasn't anything wrong with good old fleece, and I am familiar with it as a material, so I went back to what I know best.
His hair is supposed to be wood shavings, so I used some fun-foam and rolled it up tightly. If it uncurls over time, that's OK, I can re-roll it before a performance, and it will hold. (Kind of like going to the hairdresser before the performance.)
In the story, his hat was an old sock, but I couldn't find one that fit the head, or the pictures I used for inspiration, so I used a knitting frame and knocked one out in a couple of hours.
I am deeply indebted to Nice Braga for the pattern, and Dr. Puppet for his videos on covering Dr. Tennant, and on stitching in general. I am further indebted to Puppet Lady. Her excellent Mary Jane puppet convinced me that I could cover the foam with fleece, and have it turn out well. (Well, she convinced me it was possible. Whether I could do it was another matter.) She also threw out the hint that I would have to make the "pointy" part of the head pattern a little longer in the fleece in order for it to work. It did indeed, work. Thank you to all of you who gave help, even if you didn't know you were doing so!
I used three sources for the puppet, and the script (which has yet to be completed). First is a picture book version of the "Adventures of Buratino" which is published in Russian. The second is the English translation of the full story. The third is the 1975 film of the story. The books were both published by Soviet publishers, and the film is a production of Mosfilm. Of course, since the film was done in 1975, it was a Soviet production as well.
This is a video capture of the Buratino character from the film. This is the front cover of the picture book, showing the Buratino character.This is an illustration from the English translation of the story.Re: My latest puppet, Buratino is DONE! Posted by StiqPuppet Productions on Oct 23, 2008
You did a great job on Buratino.....he is covered so well and I like the hair ideaq. You grabbed the essence of the character. 
Daryl H
Daryl H
Loading