Puppet Making Workshop | The Head

During this last week we have been working hard in the workshop to design and construct a puppet.

At the beginning of the week we were asked to bring along a 1:1 scale drawing of a head, 20cm by 20 cm.

I chose to do a male character for my puppet and this was the final chosen design.

We used the profile and front view to create the head out of styrofoam block. Cutting out the profile view first as it gives you more surface space to cut out the face and for carving. This was done on the bandsaw.

Using the drawings we have to keep referring back to them to make sure that the facial features are in the correct places and for the eyes in particular, make sure that they are far enough back in the head. To begin carving the head, we used large kitchen knives to cut alway large sections to create a basic facial shape. We then go in with a scalpel to do the finer details before smoothing it down with sandpaper.