Doesn't the puppet figurine in the picture look really cute? If you are a craft lover and happen to be interested in making the puppet figurine on the picture read this article with me! I am sure you will be inspired after reading this article.
Step 1: Preparation of materials
Let's start with the most important part of the wood, you'll need to prepare three-quarter-inch as well as one-quarter-inch wooden rods, respectively, and a slightly larger sized wooden craft stick (which is shaped to look a lot like a large popsicle stick). Also, in order to secure the hands and feet of the figure, you'll need to have some fourteen gauge copper wire (you don't need a lot of it, you'll just need a small piece, as shown in the picture). And a small saw blade and vise. By the way, you may also need a power drill with a .0625-inch bit. Some carving knivesĀ are also essential if you want to carve some text on your puppets. Lastly, there are some common supplies that are often needed for crafts, such as sandpaper for sanding, strong glue as well as masking tape, craft paint for coloring, wooden beads, cardstock, and white ribbon.
Step 2: Make the puppet's body and head
Well, with the above materials, we can finally get down to the practicalities. We need to cut out the head and body of the figure we need first. You can start by wrapping masking tape around the stick to get the approximate size you want before cutting.
Let's start with a stick that measures 3/4. We need to measure out 1/2 inch and make a mark at 1/2 inch. Then we need to make another mark at 1/4 inch on the other end. For a more precise cut, we can apply a piece of masking tape. Of course, what I'm talking about here is just an example. As long as you want to make larger sized puppets, you can absolutely scale up and cut to this scale as well. But what you must make sure is that the head and the body must be the same diameter, as well as the ratio of the length of the head over the body going to the body is 3:2, such as a 3-inch head with a 2-inch body, which is fine. It's just that at this point you'll need to think about whether you need to change the diameter of the rods or the proportions of your puppets won't look quite right at this point.
Step 3: Start cutting
Next we can proceed to the cutting step. First you need to clamp the sticks in a vise to prevent the wood from shifting during subsequent cuts. If you have a bandsaw, cutting wood is a quick job. However, I used a small hand saw and a vise, so it was a bit of a pain in the butt, but I managed to get the job done. Note that the cutting referred to here is not to cut the wood off, you probably only need to cut down to about 1/8 of an inch. Next, you need to cut out the body of the puppet. You can cut it as shown in the picture, but of course, if you don't want the same plain body as in the picture, you can make a different one as you wish.
Step 4: Sanding
Now that we've got the beginnings of a puppet, we can next start by sanding the head and body. This step is actually quite simple, you just need to sand off the sharper parts of the puppet's body with abrasive paper to ensure that the puppet has a more rounded line.
Step 5: Make the puppet's legs
The size of the sticks to be used here is 1/4 inch, and we will need a total of 4 sections of sticks that are 1/2 inch in length. Then, use the drill mentioned above to make a hole of 1/4 inch depth in each of two of these sticks. However, it's important to note here that you'll want to start by digging a small hole with a carving cutter where you've punched the holes to prevent any subsequent displacement when you use the drill. This may take some patience, but don't rush it, take your time. Then cut the copper wire to a suitable length and glue it to the body of the leg you just made, as shown in the picture. Punch a hole in the body of the puppet as well and glue the leg to the body of the puppet.
Step 6: Make the puppet's arms
The size of the rods used to make the arms and legs are the same, also made from 1/4 inch diameter rods, and here the length is also 1/2 inch. Only the method of carving is different here. You need to first make an incision on the side of the stick and then smooth the cut surface with abrasive paper. Finally, you can then secure this stick to a vise and cut it down with a tool. Then all you need to do is glue the arm right onto the body of the puppet. But the next thing we need to do is to reinforce the puppet's arms, again we need to use a drill and copper wire. Use the drill to punch a decent sized hole directly into the puppet's arm, as long as the copper wire can fit through it, and the extra copper wire we can cut off with scissors. If you wish, you can also carve out the puppet's fingers with a carving cutter. After all, for craft enthusiasts, the carving process is what will make people feel good.
Step 7: Make the base
Take the sticks from the popsicles we just talked about and cut them to the right size length (just enough for the puppet to be able to stand on). Here you can use glue or you can use copper wire to hold it in place.
Step 8: Painting and engraving
By step 7, the puppet has basically been created. All we need to do now is to paint the puppet with the clothes we want and the facial expressions we want. Here is where you need to use your imagination, you can make your puppet look like anything you want. Also, apart from using paints, you can use a carving machine to carve some wordsĀ on the wood. With the right technique, you can even use relief carving as a form to express your ideas.
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