hello, i am a skipper working on the river Thames in London, England. sometimes i perform at burlesque shows in London and am trying to create my own act.

i am creating making a wolfs head with a moving jaw that moves when i talk. i wear this wolfs head on my head as it is built onto an old cycle helmet.

i can see and look through the jaws and mouth area but would like to make the lower jaw move up and down, opening and closing the mouth as i talk through my radio mike.

i was thinking about using a bicycle brake cable and lever that i squeeze in my left hand inside my wolfs paw puppet glove.

the cable would pull a lever that is attached to the back of the jaw which is fixed on a pivot point. thus squeezing the bike cable lever would open raise and lower the lower jaw, up to the fixed upper jaw which doesn't move. this would make it look like the jaw was opening and shutting when i want the wolf to be talking.

well that's the plan, but now i have to do it. is there any advice someone can give me to help me build this head puppet.?

are there any simple diagrams i can follow to perform this design and are there any special cables i can buy instead of cobbling together my own ad hock design.

if any of you are in London, then please drop me a line and i will try to get you tickets to one of our burlesque shows.

i hope you can help.

thanks and cheers,

Rex.

Chensational did a blog post a few years ago, showing off his lacrosse helmet that he turned into a pirate mask. It has a bicycle brake controlling a lever that moves the eyebrows. It sounds very close to what you're describing.

Link: http://chensational.blogspot.com/2007/11/making-mechanical-puppet-mask.html

J.

Canuck
Thanks, I love that mask, I've seen it here on Youtube...



but not seen that blog before, sensational indeed!

That should work quite nicely I look forward to seeing it when your done. Will you post pics?

Welcome to Puppets and Stuff.......................... Looks like you have met some of our top Dawgs in the business.

Billy D.

Hey, Welcome to P&S 

Look up, "How to build an articulated fursuit jaw" but because you said the head is mounted on a bike helmet, it may be better for you to look up "How to build and articulated quadsuit jaw"

One of the first results of searching that:

Moving Jaw - Quadsuit Mechanics

Ok so how did I miss this post back in 2009!?  I am sure the original poster won't be back but I love the information in this post. Thanks for adding to it StCloud and bringing it to my attention!