How I Made a Cable Operated Bird Puppet Part 2

or how to make a Cable Puppet part 2

I wasn't happy with the way the head turned.  I thought it was a little too heavy. So I went with an Easter egg instead.




I drilled a small hole in the pointy end of the egg and put the cable through. I thought I put enough hot glue on the end of the cable. but I didn't so after all of the feathers were put on the cable came loose and pulled right out of the bird and I had to start all over again.

Here I put a piece of string from the body to the head.  The only problem was this allowed the head to turn almost all the way around, which wasn't what I wanted.  I found out that if I put it closer to the cable it worked better.  

And the string kept breaking. ( I am rather rough with the testing I guess.) So I used some twine.  I put them real close together. (the cable and the twine I mean)  This gave the head a more normal turning radius, plus when I push on the cable the head looks up.

The Beak

For the beak I took a piece of yellow fun foam and cut out a square. 

I turned the foam so it was in the shape of a diamond. Next I put hot glue down the middle and folded the two corners in on each other and held them there till the glue cooled.

Then I folded up the edges again.  This gave it a very curved shape and plus only left the only raw edge at the very tip. 

 I did this twice.  A bigger one for the top and a smaller one for the bottom.

I glued these in place.  (you might or might not have noticed that the color of the tennis ball has now changed.  This is the second one.  The first one I forgot to take pictures of, and plus the cable pulled out.  I corrected that by hot gluing both the jacket to the body, and the cable end into the head. Massive amount of hot glue inside the head.)

When I push on the cable the head lifts up.

 Next I glued a few long feathers to his back.

Then I added a red feather boa starting on the base and going around and around.  Gluing about 2 inches at a time.  I did the head last (and separate from the body, because you know we want the head to turn.)

I also wet the feathers around his face and pulled them back so he could see.

Then I glued a black bead onto a white button twice and used these as the eyes.  Just a drop of hot glue on the back and stick them in place.

I put a few yellow and orange feathers onto his head to give him a little extra color and Ta-da he is done. All in all it took me about 3-4 hours from start to finish. I am going to try a different cable next time.  I think the bike cable was a little bit too heavy duty.  The head doesn't turn as smooth as I would like it to. But still for my first attempt I think he is pretty cool.

  

Continue to Part Three - How to make a cable puppet with moveable wings

or

Jump to How To Make a Cable Puppet Control Handle

Here is a short video clip of him in action.