THE GOBLIN
Puppet Fabrication
The Goblin is a stop motion puppet, made using the latex build-up method. Her mouth, eyes, eyebrows, ears, and nose can be animated allowing for a wide array of expressions. Her patchwork linen outfit was made fully by hand. The Goblin will be featuring in my first short film The Worm Turns - see progress here.
Test Animations
The Process
The head was made from balsa wood, as it is lightweight and easy to carve. Sockets were added for the eyes which are made from wooden beads.
Wire armatures were added for the mouth, nose, ears and eyebrows - allowing them to be animated. The head shape was then built up with foam.
Several layers of tinted latex were used to build up the head, creating the skin. Temporary eyes were added during this process to prevent the latex from filling in the sockets.
Teeth were sculpted from Fimo, baked and glued into the mouth. The eyes were painted and put into the sockets. The face was then painted with a mixture of acrylic paint and latex. Finally, the eyebrows were made using synthetic fur.
The body armature was drawn out, measured, and then made using twisted aluminium wire.
Tape and epoxy putty were added to the armature to restrict movement away from the joints. Brass K+S tube was added to the wrists, ankles, and neck, allowing the hands, feet and head to be removable. The body was then padded out with foam.
Clay was used to sculpt the shoes, which were then cast in plaster - creating a two-part mould.
Several layers of tinted latex were painted into the mould to form the shoes. Armatures were also added with tie-down bolts to secure the puppet’s feet during animation.
Rough templates were made for the clothes, then tested on the puppet so adjustments could be made before cutting the linen.
The final outfit was made from blue linen with a patchwork design.
To create the hat, a template was made by sticking masking tape onto a clay head, and then removing it. Darts were cut so the template could be laid flat. The template was then adjusted slightly on paper before cutting it out of linen.
The darts and raw edges were sewn up, and additional patchwork was added to match the rest of the outfit.
Armature wire was then added to the tassels, allowing them to be animated.
Eyelids were made by covering wooden beads with several layers of tinted latex, and then removing the dried pieces (after dusting them with starch powder to prevent the latex sticking to itself). The eyelids were then cut into different shapes to allow the puppet to blink and generally make her more expressive. A partitioned box was also made to organise the different shapes.