Yoda Puppet

July 17 2004

This is my attempt to make an animatronic Yoda. I managed to get a Latex Yoda head, arms and feet off of ebay. It was a custom sculpt. The size was a bit small but it was a start. The face was in a frown and I waned to make the mouth movable. To do this I had to make a mould and cast new latex masks. Before the casting I had to modify the mouth to a neutral position and then do something about making it openable. I thought about just cutting the mouth open after casting but decided to give another method a try.

yoda01.jpg
yoda01.jpg

Here is the mould made from plaster of Paris. The thing sure was heavy. To get into the mouth to modify it I had to cut a chunk of the mould away.

yoda02.jpg
yoda02.jpg

Not easy to get into to work on the mouth

yoda03.jpg
yoda03.jpg

Close up of the mould

yoda04.jpg
yoda04.jpg

Here is the part I am going to put at the mouth to make it openable.

yoda05.jpg
yoda05.jpg

yoda06.jpg
yoda06.jpg

Th styrene sheet installed

yoda07.jpg
yoda07.jpg

Close up. How easy it would be to pull the mask out I do not know.

yoda08.jpg
yoda08.jpg

Here is a test with plastercine to see if the shape of the mouth looks good.

yoda09.jpg
yoda09.jpg

Another view

yoda10.jpg
yoda10.jpg

Start to prime the inside to try and get a smooth finish and see where areas have to be fixed

yoda11.jpg
yoda11.jpg

yoda12.jpg
yoda12.jpg

Pouring moulds.

yoda13.jpg
yoda13.jpg

yoda14.jpg
yoda14.jpg

Lots of heavy mould for the hands and feet

yoda15.jpg
yoda15.jpg

Pouring the head. I put green paint into the latex before pouring it to get the mask a base coat of green. Paint does not like to stick to latex so this will help the painting process if my base is already green

yoda16.jpg
yoda16.jpg

yoda17.jpg
yoda17.jpg

Now to make the eyes I needed to fine something to use. I could not get to the plastic store until the weekend and I did not want to waste a week so I went to the dollar store to see if I can find something I can use. I found some ping pong balls but they were too big. I found a toy gun that show some plastic balls but the plastic was very light and the surface finish bumpy. I went to the gumball machine to see if the plastic bubble things can be used but they were too big. Finally I found these bingo page markers. This has 2 colours and the caps were the perfect size for my Yoda.

yoda18.jpg
yoda18.jpg

Now from this angle it looks nasty

yoda19.jpg
yoda19.jpg

here is the back side of the frame I am building for the eyes. It will allow the eyes to move up and down and side to side. The frame is made from brass soldered together.

yoda20.jpg
yoda20.jpg

Another angle.

yoda21.jpg
yoda21.jpg

The front side. Looks good so far until I tried to put it in the head and the frame is too wide as it hits the inner structure. Now I have to modify this frame,