I have posted a few pics to the gallery 'rocky'...

I am out of space to send more...  Regards, rocky

Shawn can fix that for you ! Did you hand carve the puppet in the first picture? Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

Billy D.

I love them!  Looking good.

On your new one you might want to think about controlling the hips independent of the shoulders instead of tying the movement to the shoulders.  It might work though.  I was just thinking of similiar string set ups I have done in the past.  For example the puppet below is strung that way:

The advantage is that she can do what you see in the photo and still move her hips.  The hip bar is removable just like a leg bar is. For a hula girl you might even want to think about stringing here hands and arms to a removable bar.  That way you can get the fluid arm motion of the dance including the arms to each side. 

P.S. I'll double check the limit on your account for uploads but more then likely by the time you  post next it well have increased.  It is based on how much you post.

Puppet in 1st picture was shaped with a bench-top band-saw and a one inch by 30 inch powered desktop belt sander. (with the guards removed for extra clearance, 40 grit removes wood FAST) A modest amount of carving was needed to separate/define the toes. A bit of final sanding with a less coarse grit of sandpaper and then stained with danish oil. Carving as well as the collection of carvings (they are from all over the world)  is also one of my numerous hobbies. Thank you for your interest and feedback.

Grateful thanks to you Shawn, floating hips are a most excellent suggestion... I must puzzle myself as to the controller configuration with that design. It is very much a trial and error work in process.

Great stuff! I love the teapot, but the marionette doll reminded me of something out of Toy Story

Thanks for the feedback... It does indeed due to the proportions (5 heads high) and the large eyes.
Regards, Rocky

I've added more pictures as a kind of step by step assembly. But, they somehow got out of sequence... you can kind of sort it out by the date and numbers.
It will get you to the point shown in the photo... more in time as I string the marionette. By the way, I claim no copyright, etc. and hereby release the entire project to the public domain.



Regards, Rocky

Yes the gallery kind of sorts images in it's own way.   I keep thinking that I should work on making them sortable by the end user but have not done it.

So how did you get your cross dowel in the head?  Was it flexible enough that you could insert it through the neck hole and turn it horizontal?

wow thats very cool!

Thank you sunbeatle... more to follow.

Shawn:  yes, the head is/was a hair styling toy made of vinyl (on a tossed away star shaped base) which was flexible enough to do what you describe. Regards, Rocky

Welcome rocky glad to have you here and thanks for sharing some of your puppets with us.....I also like the teapot one it seems to have a fun cartoon look to it. 

Daryl H