• He is changing from a marionette to a table-top puppet, because the later makes more sense and given that his head is so huge, it will work better without strings, at the end of the day he is going to be used mainly for video, where he will be rapping and doing a little jig, table top is a bit easier in other ways too, including transportation.

    Carving some angles on Fresh’s legs and hip

    Still have to work out and build the moving mouth mechanism. I have changed his lower half in that previously it couldn’t bend forward to sit etc, was a bit too crab like allowing only sideways movement, but with the new cuts and joints his lower parts will bend in a more human like way, which will allow for much more versatile movement, amongst other benefits.

    Originally Fresh was limited to sideways leg movements

    Sometimes you just have to go for it and hope things work out and change things when they don’t, which is often the case doing a new build where you don’t see a lot of the issues you haven’t experienced on the drawing board, it can be a bit nerve-wracking butchering what you spent ages making but at the end of the day the priority should be the puppet being able to do what it is meant to do in the best way, so is well worth altering and adapting things in favour of this and learning, through trial and error.

  • He is progressing steadily, the marionette control system is about ready, trousers done, need to reattach his feet and make a jumper, hat and any other bits and bobs.

    I need to finish him a few days before the 1st of June, just so I have a few days to mess about and move him around some, as that’s what I’m supposed to be doing on the 1st and 2nd of June, for the RNLI Barry, Festival of the Sea, near Cardiff, UK, so I have about two weeks and we are looking to be on schedule.

  • He’s on the way, this is a marionette/stringed puppet about 16 inches tall, that I’ll be doing a walkaround with, at the RNLI Barry lifeboat – Festival of the Sea on the 1st and 2nd of June.

    The Lifesaver is based on a late 1800s fisherman, as they were part of the original crews facing the waves and risking their lives to save those in danger at sea off the British coast.

  • Bit by bit, I’m leaning into using power tools, next up is an electric sander, which made Master Fresh nice and smooth, need to do a finer grade sandpaper for the next pass.

  • Master Fresh is on his way, I used recycled materials found in skips, pine wood used for arms and head, plus supporting structures in torso and head, foam used otherwise to help reduce weight and make the puppet better balanced.

    Pine wood is a very common building material, not too heavy and pretty easy to carve, just need to watch out for knots and splits, which would possibly compromise the finished puppet’s structure.

    Old furniture is a great resource for quality wood.