Needed: Brainstorming: Big Whale Puppet

[wes]

I'm Trying to figure out the best way to make a whale puppet, I want it to be pretty sizeable, and 3D.

A friend mentioned using Bendable PVC to make the structure and then cover it with foam.

I'm quite confident in my ablity to cover with foam and finish it.

I'm clueless on how to sturcture it.

Oh and we want the mouth to move!


Any help! I just need a little inspiration!

 

[Jinx]

Boy it really could be done in so many ways! I guess the first question I would ask before trying to design a structure would be, "what species of whale?" The shape would steer my decision as to what to use for the underlying structure.

Years ago I saw Bruce Chesse do a show with a whale puppet. He'd built a head puppet and a fluke (tail) puppet. In the context of his show our imaginations filled in the rest and it did appear as a single animal. Don't underestimate this very effective technique where appropriate!

 

[Blink]

Wes,

Jinx has some good points. As a puppeteer and builder, I've always seen more importance in "how the puppet is intended to move" as being a base for my planning. The "look" can be tweeked fairly easily, but the basic desired movements are things that are often overlooked by many puppet designers (and are less easily fixed afterwards).

 

[wes]

thanks guys,

I was going for a blue whale type.

I think that making the head and tail to seperate parts is a great idea.

I guess i could build it as a regular puppet but I was hoping there was like a super puppet building trick for whales.

I want it to talk, or at least swallow a Jonah puppet.

 

[Jinx]

An articulated mouth oughtn't be too difficult to make. And swallowing Jonah may be a simple matter of staging. If Jonah's in the "water" the whale might raise above him and simply "land" on him (mouth first, of course) shoving him below the playboard. When he resurfaces he can be "chewing" as though having just swallowed Jonah. Many muppet monsters have "eaten" things this way...

 

[muppetfan89]

well, I've only been building and performing puppets for little over a year, but I have an idea I hope would work for this. First of all, is this a hand puppet? if so, I have 2 ideas

You can can take a sheet of foam and create the whole body of the whale, create a mouth a piece where the head is and for the tail, you could put a rod on the bottom of the whale and have it go into the foam and through the whole tail. Hopefully, with this you control both the mouth and the tail at the same time, by operating the mouth and pulling the rod, side to side to move the tail like a real whale.

OR

you can do the same thing I said, but instead of a sheet of foam, you can carve the whale from a foam block instead of a sheet of foam.

Hope this helps!

 

[Jinx]

...with this you control both the mouth and the tail at the same time, by operating the mouth and pulling the rod, side to side to move the tail like a real whale...

It's just important to note that a real whale's tail goes up and down, not side to side.

 

[muppetfan89]

It's just important to note that a real whale's tail goes up and down, not side to side.

ahh thanks, I didn't know that.

 

[Show and Tell]

Not to be contrary since all the suggestions have been excellent but food for thought; the scripture actually says Jonah was swallowed by a great fish which most interpret to be a whale. At any rate this leaves the possibilities open to make a whale (tail moves up and down) or a very large fish (tail moves sideways). One of the most incredible puppets ive ever seen of this was a bunruku fish that was built on a backpack frame and hinged in several places along the tail. As the puppeteer moves accross the stage the tail naturally sways with the movement. Also since the fish body is supported and balanced on the pack frame, the puppeteer's hands are free to move the mouth. In addition the belly of the fish was translucent and when Jonah is swallowed he is seen as a shadow puppet inside. This was designed and built by Dave Privett of Play Soup. I should ad that this puppet is enormous and would require a very large stage

 

[Show and Tell]

something i forgot to mention about the construction is that the whole fish was nothing more than a framework (probably aluminum) over which was stretched a shinny spandex like fabric. This makes it very light.