Yanu I was going to meet you

 I love revealing the paper puppet casts from their Ultracal molds. It's the coolest thing to have something that you sculpted in clay be reproduced over and over in another material. You know what I'm saying?!

In order to get this film done I have completely given up trying to make proper armatures opting instead for savage twists of wire crammed into the casts quickly enough so I can't protest my doing it. Ooo-rah. I use almaloy and steel of various weights. Then I wrap with sports tapes and yarn. I add bones made from split drinking straws and fix the finished armature inside the cast shells with masking tape.

Then I start back-filling the voids between the armature and the skin of the pupp. I use foam, taped in, or any sort of junk I may find handy, like wood shapes or strips of old woolen sweaters. Once the two halves are filled, I seam them together into one figure again with... masking tape!

Then it's a matter of finishing the sculpture by building up with foam and more masking tape until the character is ready to be finished with wings, hair, paint, shading, etc. Above lower right you can see the beginning of Yanu's wing installation.

Clips of white faux fur are glued down to cover the join and to add moth like texture. Additional skin detailing can be done with thick gel mediums, allowed to dry over the wall furnace pilot, then hit with matte medium on top. On the right you can seeYanu drying next to a small mermaid Kyra puppet in progress.