Help making a bird flap his wings...

[hoopless]

Hello you helpful lot!
I've been working on a bird puppet similar to Little Bird and having major trouble working out how to get his wings to flap. I want it all to be hidden under the skin, but they need to be independent of one another so as not to block off access to manipulate the beak.

I had settled on a method using fishing line and straws, cutting grooves and threading it through like has been suggested for other joints before. It didn't work quite as well as I'd hoped, but good enough. I attached a slither of foam to give the wings their shape, it still worked. I've just sewn the fur onto one of the wings and now it won't flap.I don't know if the fur is just making it too heavy or something, but does anyone have any suggestions on possibly a better way to achieve my aim? I've spent ages trying to come up with different methods and am growing increasingly annoyed with not being able to finish this little guy.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Muppetlab]

Does ot meed to be operated from within the body of the puppet with the same hand that operates the mouth?
If not then extend the skeleton of each wing into the body by no more than an inch, use your fishing wire and attach each end to each tip of the wing inside the body.. Have it hang through the body and out at the openning at the bottom and use your second hand to pull down on the line to move the wings up, then release to let them fall down under their own weight. A simple flapping motion That should work

Here is a very crude drawing of what i meant

 

[hoopless]

I had considered trying something like that, but I would have to start from scratch again as I very cleverly only made it big enough to get my and in without really leaving any play either side (I'm still new to all this building lark)

I'm beginning to think starting again is my best option, I just don't want to as it's taken so long to get to this point.

 

[Slackbot]

Starting over is a pain, but when you're building puppets it happens. The good news is that the second time should be much quicker, especially if you have pattern pieces to go by.

 

[Animal31]

Maybe try looking at this from a different point of thought, right now you are trying to find a way to make the wings flap from a closed position, but why not make them permanently open and use fishing line on the tips of the wings to pull them closed? If you use vinyl garden/lawn trim and slip it into the wings, it will be hard enough to stay up, but will give you enough bend to pull them down....

 

[MuppetLabsBoy]

I think this question came up a couple of years ago. I think that you should try using the mechanism in an umbrella for the wings. Just instead of there being the umbrella fabric on the end of the wire, there would be the wing. They could run from the inside of the puppet down and out through the arm hole where they would be operated by your other hand that would normally move the arm rods. Just make sure that the mechanism has a clear path inside the puppet so that it doesn't rip up the foam and/or fabric that makes up the body.

I made a bird once; all I can remember is making a huge mess with feathers all over the floor....