Puppet - Mummy
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*Responsible for armature/rigging, costume, silicone casting/cleanup, and head and expressions.
Polycarbonate Armature
The Mummy's armature is constructed from 1/8" wire housed within polycarbonate chest and pelvis blocks, which feature rigging ports drilled into the sides and back. The rigging includes two 10/24 ports on either side and on the bottom (sitting), compatible with bolt-based rigging, as well as a 7/32 brass tube port compatible with brass tube rigging and T-bars. Three 'loose' draping bandages are rigged with 24-gauge wire and adhered to the armature just above the wrist, allowing them to be posed and animated.
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Wrappings Rigging - Animation Test
Silicone Casting
The Mummy was cast in degassed GI 1110 transparent silicone, with 10% activator and thinner. A ghoulish pale green was chosen for her skin tone. After casting, surgery was performed on her forearms, palms, and ankles to attach the 24-gauge rigged bandages.
Injection:
The GI 1110 silicone (with activator and thinner) was injected via syringe into the plaster mold, which was coated in Jolly-king clay around the seam, wrapped in shrink wrap, and strapped to minimize silicone loss.
Opening:
The shrink wrap and Jolly-king clay are removed from the mold, and the mold is pried open with a chisel. The puppet is then carefully removed, and the flashing is trimmed off.
Costuming
The Mummy has a base layer of clothing consisting of tight socks, shorts, and a tank top sewn over her body. The bandages are strips cut from stretchy-knit fabric, stained with an acrylic wash, and aged at the ends with paint. Finally, they are glued to the base layer with fabric glue and anchored to the torso with dabs of silicone glue between the skin and the fabric. They are then wrapped in a considered and appealing way around the rest of the body.
Base Clothing:
It was decided to create a base layer of clothing under the wrappings to provide structure for the overall costume. This base layer consisted of socks, shorts, and a tank top sewn from stretchy-knit fabric.
Wrappings:
Thin strips were cut from the same material as the base clothing and stained with an acrylic wash. A few different colors and degrees of wear were tested on a test puppet to determine which looked best on the character. Additional details were then hand-painted afterward, particularly the edges, to give them a naturally worn effect.
Rigging Wrappings:
After casting, the puppet's forearms were sliced open, and 24-gauge wire was wrapped around the internal wire. Then, Five Minute Epoxy was carefully applied around the 24-gauge wire. Finally, the silicone was re-sealed with silicone glue and covered with the stained wrappings.
Adhering Wrappings:
The wrappings were first glued to the chest, hips, and feet of the base clothing with Sobo fabric glue. Then, the rest of the wrappings were glued to the exposed skin with dabs of silicone glue. They were intentionally and stylistically wrapped around the rest of the body before being secured with fabric glue.
Head Fabrication
Art Direction and Sculpt:
Finalized Head:
I compiled reference and generated sketches and concept art to help understand the facial structure and personality of the character. After that I sculpted the head based on my reference.
The head was cast in plastic and drilled with a 5/8ths Forstner bit to provide a channel for the neck to be received in. Then a 1/8th bit was drilled to receive the 1/8th wire with a 7/64 bit drilled slightly deeper to provide a tension around the tip of the wire. The head was sanded, primed and then painted to match the skin tone of the body. Finally additional wrappings were Sobo glued to the newly painted plastic head.
Lids and Brows:
The lids were first cast in PETG plastic and vacuum formed around a plastic cast of the head. Then they were cut into 4 lids, 4 brows, and 4 small pupils. Propoxy was sculpted to fill out the lids and give them more volume 24 gauge floral wire was sanded and shaped around the rim of the lids. Finally, all the expressions were primed and painted.
