I've been lurking here for a week or so, so I figured I should introduce myself.

My name is Elroy, and I live in southern Vermont in the U.S.  I'm a father to two girls, ages 13 years, and 8 months.  Yep.  Large age span.

I've been interested in puppets since I was a kid.  I remember having a large sack full of hand puppets that I had collected around the age of 10 or so.  I have no idea what happened to them as I got older.

My next exposure was in 8th grade, when I had an art teacher who had worked in movie special effects.  For one of our projects, he put us in groups and had us sculpt heads out of potters clay.  He then walked us through the steps of mold-making a latex casting.

I never forgot that project.  When my oldest daughter was about 6 or 7, I decided that I would try to build a puppet for her using the same technique.  Fortunately I still have photos from that project, which I've posted on my Flickr account (http://www.flickr.com/photos/12534314@N04/sets/72157613577123366/) if anyone is interested in the process.

I've just recently started work on another puppet, which is what led me to this site.  This time I've decided to attempt something more mechanical, with rotating and blinking eyes.  I'll try to take photos as I go along and share them if anyone would like to see the result.

-Elroy

Welcome!! Ah, the photos are great; the clay looked fantastic with all those colours. Was kind of disappointed when I got to the end, I wanted to see it finished. But the pictures of your daughter enjoying it was more than enough to make up for it!

Can't wait to see what you come up with the mechanics; I know there's a few threads already on blinking/rotating eyes with some great info in them.

Hi Elroy, it's great having you here. The Flickr "Detail" photo sequence with the descriptive narrative was fun to follow, and the photos of your daughter with Basil were really cute. A few of us here have experimented with mold making and liquid latex. Our member Sonny Vegas has made some especially fun puppets with it. We'd definitely be interested in seeing more photos.

Welcome to the group!



Ron G.