wezsworld

Lil' Boy Blue Ring Completed

2012-01-18T21:18:00.001+11:00

Today i was able to put some finishing touches on Lil Boy Blue Ring.
Im very pleased with the results!
I used a PupHed as the blank starting point for the facial features...the puppet was fully hand carved...
The "rock" is carved using an arbortech power chisel on salvaged "ironbark".

Lil' Boy Blue-Ring

2012-01-03T21:05:00.001+11:00

Heres a sneak peak of my latest WIP.
I had every intention on posting the carving process...however, this little boy will hopefully feature in my entry for the upcoming PupHed Art Show.
For those who dont know, "blue-rings" are a native octopus of australia. Whilst they may apear harmless...and are anly about the size of your hand...they pack a very deadly punch. Blue-rings are extremely venomous and are one deadly sea creature. It is said that the bright blue flashes may be the prettiest thing you will see...and they may very well be the last thing you see!
The concept of this puppet stems from the idea of creating "australian cautionary tales"...featuring sone of the unique deadly creatures of our country.
Lil' Boy Blue-Ring is a tale of a boy who somehow has survived a blue ring living on his head. The down side to this is that he lives a lonely life...where nobody can trust hime. He is forced to spend his days on the rocks...looking out to the ocean...hoping that someone will come his way...

PupHeds

2011-12-23T17:29:00.004+11:00

I know its been a while between posts...but for pretty good reason I believe!
I have been working on setting up many things in my spare time... one of them is what I am calling "PupHed"!
A PupHed is best described as a cross between a blank designer toy and a puppet head.
The PupHed is pretty much a blank canvas for anyone to customize!
There is a lot going on in these early days of the Puphed...and although still very young, I would strongly recommend "liking" the facebook page to keep up to speed with all the PupHed stuff and ever growing community around the PupHed!

PupHed Facebook Page

With that said, here's my latest custom PupHed WIP...

I used Flexcut palm chisels and whittling knives for this. Im pretty impressed with how well the pinewood responded to the chisels!

I am thinking this may feature in the up coming PupHed art show!

Barra boy completed

2011-10-31T13:01:00.003+11:00

Today i had the pure joy of completing the long awaited barramundi puppet titled "barra boy".

The wait was mainly due to finding the right method to mount the puppet. Being carved from salvaged rosewood, i needed to find a way to ensure the "fish-like" movement would not break the arm of the puppeteer due to the weight of the fish. By chance i came across an old office chair at my parents house with perfect wheel base.

As mentioned in earlier posts, this Barra was mainly carved using an Arbortech Power Chisel with salvaged Rosewood. The leather piece running through the body is "Mad dog leather".

After some quick, creative descisions....it wadnt long before the barra was ready for action! This puppet can easily be slid across the floor or table top thanks to the castors. ..allowing all focus of the puppeteer on the movement rather than physical strain! Huge thanks to my parents and sister for allowing me to destroy a potentially "fixable" chair!

Barra-boy puppet production

2011-10-12T11:13:00.002+11:00

Ive been busy carving many small scale puppets over the last few weeks as well as passing on some skills to younger generations during the school holidays...
But one personal project has been moving along nicely...the barra-boy!

This huge fish is nearly completed with only painting and mounting to go. He was carved in salvaged rosewood using the Arbortech Powerchisel for 99%of the work. My initial aim was to produce a puppet carved purely with the Powerchisel...but the unpredictable nature of the salvaged wood forced me to use an angle grinder sanding disc.
I figured i should post the production process thus far.
"maddog leather" is used as the flexible body strip.

Blacktown art prize...opening night

2011-09-23T21:17:00.002+10:00

Heres "alone in the pod..." (southern right whale puppet) on display as one of the "selected works". What a night!

Last of the "Termite-inators"...The Numbat tabletop puppet

2011-09-23T14:35:00.004+10:00

Yes, thats right, it is finally finnished!
Below are some pics of the completed Numbat puppet.

This beastie is carved from salvaged wood (I think it is redgum)...
the base is made from salvaged red cedar and the ears of the numbat are made from Cane toad Leather!

I used the Arbortech Power chisel and mini grinder for 99% of the work...their tools make light work of Aussie hardwoods!

Numbat puppet Production process

2011-08-30T20:39:00.002+10:00

My latest puppet is a numbat tabletop puppet. Its working tittle is "the last of the termite-inators...".

For this beastie, i used "Arbortech power chisel" and Flexcut hand chisels. The numbat is carved from salvaged Australian hardwood (I think it might actually be "redgum". I ended up using "Cane Toad Leather" for the ears...this leather has awesome texture and is very unique in its thickness to stiffness ratio!

The puppet is 90% complete and I just couldn't resist sharing the production shots thus far.

Southern Right Whale puppet production process

2011-08-12T15:22:00.002+10:00

Here are some pics taken following the production of "Southern Right Whale" tabletop puppet tittled "Alone in the pod...".
Arbortech power carving tools, Flexcut hand carving tools and a Dremel were used on salvaged "bottlebrush" hardwood. The base is made from salvaged "white cedar".

Thylacine production process

2011-08-12T15:12:00.002+10:00

Heres some pics taken during the production of the thylacine tabletop puppet - tittled "what if..."
Flexcut hand carving tools were used to carve this beast from salvaged wood...enjoy!

"corum boy" baby theatrical puppet

2011-08-12T15:05:00.002+10:00

Heres some pics taken following the production process of a baby puppet used for a production of "corum boy". Arbortech power carving tools were used on salvaged wood...enjoy!

Micro puppet production process

2011-08-12T14:58:00.002+10:00

Heres a collection of pics taken during the production of two micro puppets these were carved using carving knives only...enjoy!

Blog Overhaul

2011-08-11T21:00:00.002+10:00

So this is well over due, and after way too much time spent in the workshop, I finally got around to updating and "cleaning up" this Blog-o-log thing.

Changes:
-Set up pages to make it easier to find your way round here...check out the links just under the Wez's World logo....

-I plan on using this blog to follow the progress on puppet production, so you will be able to see the carving, puppet building and characters unfold as I work on them.

-There is a little "blurb" on me and my puppet building concepts/philosophy.

I hope you enjoy the changes. I shall do my best to keep it all up to date and in working, logical order.

Happy puppet building!