Puppet - Luci
*Responsible for all fabrication.
Sculpt/Design
Luci is a kendōka, and since she has this martial arts experience was designed to be fit and lean. Since she is a anthropomorphic, cat features had to be combined with human features. I decided to favor the cat features in the head, hands, and tail. But to keep her proportions and overall silhouette more human so she can effectively perform martial arts poses and animation.
Armature
Luci's armature is constructed from 1/8" wire jointed with a epoxy chest and pelvis. The pelvis rigging includes two 10/24 coupler nuts on either side and on the bottom (sitting) that are compatible with bolt-based rigging.
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Foam Cast
Luci was cast in Smooth-On "Flex Foam." First, a mold release is applied to the mold. Then, Parts A and B of the foam are mixed together, and a thin layer of foam is painted over the smallest crevices of the mold. After that, the remaining foam is poured into both halves of the mold. The mold is then closed, and I stood on it for 40 minutes to ensure the foam's expansion didn’t push the halves apart.
Head Fabrication
Luci has three heads, neutral, excited, and panic. A started with a simple neutral head sculpt, casted it in plastic, and then using a Dremel and Propoxy, resculpted the face into the two other expressions. Then I made 2 additional silicone molds for the other heads. After that all were cast in foam and felted.
