Hello all! I'm just going to get straight to the point here. Some years ago I made several small plush dragons that could sit on a person's shoulder. They always attracted attention, and I had fun making them. Recently, it occurred to me that it would be even more fun to enable the dragon's head to turn and mouth to open, but I don't know where to begin to do this. Web searches and looking through this forum make me think that a cable control would be best, since something on my shoulder wouldn't have space for a control rod. I saw bicycle brake cables mentioned, but nothing about how to use them. I can make the outer shape of the puppet, but I've never done anything mechanical so I'm stuck on the how-tos of controls. Any suggestions?

For the curious, what initially piqued my interest in such a puppet was a child's shoulder dragon puppet I saw online. I liked the functions, but the style wasn't me. Same for the Woodbabies, they're beautiful but not my style. Besides, I enjoy making things and would love to have my very own, special creation.

Welcome to Puppets and Stuff............................ I'm into simple mechanics. We do have some dragon enthusiast as members here and our marionette builders are real good at mechanical designs. Just hold on and I'm sure some folks will come up with some excellent suggestions for you. Meanwhile make yourself at home and don't be afraid to ask more questions. Would you have some pictures of your creations you could share with us.

Billy d.

Wasn't there a thread ages ago about someone making a shoulder puppet? (Trying to think... female, fairy costume, star puppet... ?)

Wasn't there a thread ages ago about someone making a shoulder puppet? (Trying to think... female, fairy costume, star puppet... ?)

Closest I found were questions similar to mine that didn't really get answered. One thread stated what kind of mechanism Woodbabies use, but not how to construct or use them. Another thread showed a pangolin shoulder puppet in progress, but the thread went dead two years ago.

Pointing out specific hardware is helpful of course, but I need a bit more info since I have no mechanical experience beyond wire armatures and doll joints. :P I do understand how a rod-based system works, but like I said I'd rather avoid that because a cable would be easier to use and hide. I kind of wish I still had my old bike with the broken brakes, I might have learned something from it. :P

Hmmm, odd. Well, at any rate I don't know enough about this stuff to answer the question. The only person I can think of who might have had some sort of instructions online is Hobey Ford, but his rod puppet instructions aren't extended to what you want.

Maybe someone else here can point you in the right direction...

PS. Welcome!

You can try to study the mechanism of a wing mirror, (those mechanical which you can operate from inside, with a kind of little joystick), look for one in a junk yard. A broken (cheaper) one should be enough

One day the one of my car broke and l liked the mechanism: thoroughly, the joystic is attached to three brake cables, when you move the joystick,part of the cables are pushed, part of the cables are pulled and the mirror is moved in its horizontal and vertical axis. i think it could work for a joint between skull and neck.

I am sorry, i can not explain better, but if you see a mirror you will catch

Thinking about it, watching videos, and going over a patent on such a setup, I think I understand the basics of the controls. Part of my problem is that I don't understand brake cables. But here's what it looks like to me:

Let's say you just want head motion. A fairly stiff cable inside a sheath runs the length of the head (to insure a good "grip") and is firmly attached there (You need a skull of some variety, a simple plush head will deform). Some variety of pulley/spring system holds the head in its normal position. The cable runs out of the puppet to the puppeteer's hand. When this cable is twisted, it takes the head with it, turning it side to side. That's why you need a stiff cable, a soft one will just twist up and not move the head. When the cable is slid in and out of its sheath, the head moves up and down, depending on the system used to hold it in neutral position. A handle of some sort can be affixed to the end of the cable to make it easier to use.

Further motion requires more cables. A jaw for instance, would need its own sheathed cable, a hinge that stays closed (unless you just want a slack-jawed puppet...) and its own operator control. It pulls the jaw open in the same way the head is pulled up and down by the above mentioned cable. I saw some eyelids and eyebrows done with this method.

Does that make sense?

Thanks for the welcome. I wish I had photos of my past creations, but I haven't done any physical critters since high school, and I lost my photos. I did custom plushes for a while, and got severely burned out on them. This is the first time in several years that I've seriously considered a new sewing project. My more recent creations have been of the virtual variety.

I've seen something similar to what you're talking about using wooden puppets. They had a rod and pulley mechinism like what you'd see on those old grabber toys. If you could find one of those I'll bet you could gut it and study it to see how it works.

Maya,

You are on the right track and the basic workings of a bicycle brake are just what you have mentioned.  One other thing that I belive is needed to make this work is a solid connection or stabilization of the cable where the push and pull control is. That would be at or around the wrist in this case if your control is in the hand.  I think you need something that holds the outer cable solid so it well not shift when you manipulate the trigger or inner cable. Does that make sense to you?

Your head itself would perhaps not have to be solid but at least the neck joint would need to be solid. It is all about resistance.  Have a look at my three part series on ball joints over at BlogTV. http://www.blogtv.com/Shows/737575/buZwbeRvaeXwbuVvbX&pos=ancr  While this is "attached" to a solid head for a marionette it could be adapted for your project I think.  In mine the ball joint is at the base of the skull but you could flip this and use it the other way.  Or actually it might work for you as is but instead of building up the head/face with paper clay as I do maybe you could place the covered styro egg with the ball joint up into a plush head.    That would actually give you a skull of sorts that you could then attach cables to.

There are other ways to make ball joints but this is a low tech way. Actually you can also purchase them lots of times at stores that cater to remote control planes and cars enthusiast. In fact if you can find such a store in your area you should visit them.  They are going to have multitude of pieces a parts that could be handy to you. 

Sorry we don't have and exact details to give you but no one has ever been willing to share the build process with use here.  Hopefully if you go forward with this, you'll be willing to share the steps with everyone.

I'm willing to bet if you ask on the Puptcrit.org discussion list, you'll get some detailed advice. They're very good about sharing there too.