shoes do not have a marked indentation of right and left arches, so the top foot pattern was adjusted and made to look more au- thentic.
The first part of carving, known as the rough-out, is very messy, since I don’t carve by using chisels or files; rather, I am a member of what Rick fondly calls “The First Church of the Belt Sander.” Years ago, Rick learned this technique from New York puppeteer Ron Herrick and, more recently, shared it with me. It works espe- cially well for me as my aesthetic favors more rounded and flowing shapes. I was heavily influenced in this by the lines of Bil Baird’s marionettes.
I showed Rick the roughed-out parts and got the official thumbs-up before I continued with the fine sanding. I used to do all the fine sanding by hand before I switched to a “mouse” or triangular-shaped corner sander.
Carving the Hands Carving wooden hands is no easy task. I have been doing it for decades, and I still get nervous each time. More than once, one wrong cut, and oops! It is time to start over. The hands for the Dutch children would be a bit easier as I decided that due to their small size, they would have cartoon-style three-fingered hands with a thumb. I started by creating a top and a side pattern. The top pattern was cut with a band saw, then the pieces were reassembled on the block before the opposite pattern was cut. With a simple shape—a leg, for example—you end up with a piece that needs only rounding; hands, however, re- sult in a confusing array of double fingers and thumbs. Using a com- bination of coping saw, chisels, and X-Acto blades, I cut away the excess digits until the hand was in a basic pose, then I went to town
sanding with 400 grit sandpaper, the finished piece was extremely smooth and ready for final assembly.
Sculpting the Head With the bodies assembled, it was time to set them aside and begin sculpting the head in modeling clay. Rick and I decided to sculpt one childlike head that could be used for both the boy and girl. With differences in the paint and hairstyle, they would look like fraternal twins. Rick suggested that I sculpt them so that but- tons could be glued on for eyes. I liked this idea and felt it would add a level of innocence to the faces. It would also save me about a week of work.
Tandem Dutch ice skating marionettes
with a miniature Dremel sanding drum. I carved each hand with a raised index finger and the middle and little fingers sloping down. The thumb was also in a lowered position. It took the better part of eight hours to carve and smooth all four hands. Eight hours was fast for four hands, but I suppose having done this hundreds of times helps as well.
Before I began jointing the figures, I sent a picture of the carved and sanded parts to Rick. A phone call discussing the final details of the joints ensured that Rick and I were both on the same page.
Joints I won’t go into too much detail but, as stated before, I used Ste- vens/Rose-style cord joints at the elbows and knees of the boy; for the girl’s legs, I used my own version of a slotted joint using trunk fiber for the tongue. All four ankle joints were made of trunk fiber as well. The torso was jointed Herrick-style with a spinal column made of wooden balls and cord. This method is very flexible, and I felt it would serve the skaters well, especially since they will be doing some figure skating lifts in their routine. After filling in the cuts for the joints and re-sanding, I dipped each part in shellac and let it dry overnight. This sealed the wood, and after a final
Sculpting heads for me is not easy; I tend to make them too large. I spent an afternoon do- ing a preliminary sculpt of the shape I would need. Conferring with Rick confirmed that the head was too large, so I used clay tools to scrape the clay down to a usable size. The next morning found Rick and me on the phone for about three and a half hours as I sculpted, sent photos, and conferred. It seemed to work best sending individual photos. We could study the pictures, I would make the changes, and then send another picture. Many changes were made to the sculpture as Rick kept guiding me in a more simple and childlike direction. The final sculpt was quite simple and appealing and, in the end, served the characters very well. It did prove the adage that two heads are better than one. The next step was to make a plaster mold of the head sculpture. I decided to make a two-part rather than three-part mold. Since the neoprene head is still flexible when the mold is first opened, I did not worry too
much about undercuts in the sculpture. This way, there would be no line down the middle of the face to repair and sand, as in a three-part head mold. The completed head mold was put in my oven on low for two days to thoroughly dry out. When liquid neo- prene rubber is poured into a mold, the plaster sucks out moisture, forming a skin on the inside of the mold, thus producing a hollow head. About four hours in the dry mold and the neoprene was the desired thickness. Once I had the two heads cast in neoprene, I put them in front of a fan to dry for about 24 hours before sand- ing the side seams and inserting a wooden neck plug. While I was waiting for the heads to dry, I painted the parts of the wooden bodies that would show.
Painting the heads was relatively simple. Using a stipple paint- ing technique, I gave them two coats of acrylic gesso, followed by two coats of a light flesh base coat. I used no blending, even though I normally use three or four values of color. I wanted them to appear exceptionally clean and innocent looking. My mantra for this was KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). Rick approved the paint job, so I placed the buttons in position and used five-minute epoxy to glue them in place. continued on next page
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