Mr. Dark

[Mr. Phas]

[previously posted July 13, 2006]

Alright, after fixing the hat and controller (ironically, it only took a couple of minutes, whereas I prolonged this for several months at least) and finally getting some better shots with my camera, I've got this uploaded onto the net.

This is my Mr. Dark marionette that I made last year sometime. Yes, I do sew. I make plushies. Don't insult me, sewing is a talent that can get you amazing things. To counteract the "girliness" some of you jerks might find in sewing, as all marionettes need a controller, I built one out of dowel rods and I used tools, so no razzing, eh?

Alright, enough of that, onto the photos. I'm not the greatest with a camera, especially with a swaying marionette in one hand and a camera in the other, so.... 3 out of 4 will be blurry. Wait, I promised you photos, what am I doing still typing up here?!

[later information]

Q: Now, what's a marionette?

A: What's a marionette?!

To put it simply, a marionette is a plushie with strings attached to a (normally wooden) controller. The person manipulating the marionette holds the controller and moves it in certain ways to make the character do different things. Most of the time (and in this case, too), the controller is shaped like a T. On each side of the top of the T, there is a string that connects to the corresponding arm/hand, and on the bottom of the T, there is a string that connects to the head. Normally, the strings that connect to the hands/arms go straight through the hands/arms and attached to the feet, so that you can also make the marionette "walk."

In the Mr. Dark marionette, the strings connecting the hands to the feet (which really isn't necessary for this one, but oh well) are slightly longer than usual, so that by moving the controller in a certain way, you can actually make Mr. Dark "attack" with his hands.
[end of answer]

Hmm.... I just realized that I forgot those little ball things that dangle off the hat. I'll have to add those soon, and possibly another wire to the head so that he doesn't spin around (right now, you can make his hands actually orbit around his body, and while that's kinda cool, you can't really get him to float very well because his head is turning slowly).

[end of later info]

FINAL VERSION!

Added: Hat beads, hat ribbon, more "square" hat, I think that's all.

[Hunchman801]

It is just awesome... even better than what I was told! You did a great job, and I hope you will make a movie of it
How did you make it anyway?

[Mr. Phas]

Well, actually, it's based off a pattern that I created to make plushies. Basically, I took my hand pattern, foot pattern, body pattern (the body is just a black rectangle for the legs to attach to), and head pattern, and created each part. Then I took one huge piece of purple material and cut a circle, if I can remember right.... yeah, I think it was a circle, and I cut it out. Then I cut out a circle in the middle for the head (not sure how I got it the right size, remember, I'm recalling this from a year ago and I can't even remember what my own grandma told me when I get off the phone). I folded the edges over and sewed them to make them smooth. I stuck the head through the middle circle about halfway and hand sewed the robe to the head. Then I took yellow felt and cut out eyes, then black felt which I used to make the pupils. To make the eyes the same shape, of course, I layered it over, and did the same with the pupils, which were probably larger than the actual eyes before I stuck them on and cut the edges off. Then I used tacky glue to glue the pupils to the eyes and the eyes to the head, which are positioned right above the robe. Then I took one of those straw hats - like the ones you find in the craft section of Wal-Mart or just in a craft store - and I sewed purple material over and onto it by hand.

Now, I took two dowel rods - one slightly skinnier than the other - and I cut the fatter one a little longer than how far apart I wanted the hands to be. I cut the skinnier one a little smaller, as it attaches to the head. Then I put a drill bit on an electric screw driver (making sure it was a little smaller than the right size), and drilled a hole in it, not all the way through though. I stuck the skinnier piece in with hot glue. Now, I took spider wire and attached the head to the end of the skinny piece via hot glue again, using a needle to sew it to the center of the top of the head. Also, before attaching it to the controller, I used the needle to stick it through the center of the hat. Now I sewed spider wire onto the feet and stuck them straight through the centers of the hands before attaching them to the ends of the fat piece (note that when I attached them, I tied them around first, then put hot glue on). Now I positioned the hands the right distance on the wire (leaving extra slack on the part from the hands to the feet, so he can do hand motions without the feet moving), and put a small bead of hot glue on each side the wire stuck through to hold them in place. And.... walla! Mr. Dark marionette!

However, I then realized I needed something to make the strings detachable (making it easier to untangle), so I took off the strings from the controller and put velcro on them, the soft kind, then the hard, pointy kind on the respective parts of the controller (this probably isn't really necessary for the head). Then I stapled (with a power stapler) the velcro on the controller to the controller.

Yesterday, I believe, I decided to cut the wires connecting the hands to the feet, because they weren't really necessary.

Later, I will probably make some more revisions:
Add the balls that hang from the hat
Add another wire to the head so it doesn't turn around
Anything else I might find that needs fixing

So yeah. That's how I made it.

[Hunchman801]

This is really amazing... It reminds me of the way I am rebuilding the Deathland elves, even if your Mr Dark shall not be damaged.
If you do not know what Deathland is, check it in the Off-Topic forum

[Mr. Phas]

Haha, that website is amusing. I like the one where his head gets blown off.

[Hunchman801]

If you like hedge trimmers, you will like the upcoming one

[Mr. Phas]

I'll be waiting for it.

By the way, after I finish the revisions to Mr. Dark and take some more pictures, I'll be working on a Moskito/Bzzit marionette.

[foultzboyz]

Characters from Rayman seem like good subjects for a marionette. And they're good.

[Hunchman801]

A Moskito/Bzzit marionette? It might not be easy, but you can do it, for sure!

[Mr. Phas]

Yeah, the controller will be kinda complicated, because I want to place small magnets in the eyes and body to hold them together, then have each eye attached to a small piece of dowel rod that will be on a sort of hinge that, when flipped up, will make him "fly apart," like when he gets hit in Rayman 1. The other major thing I'll incorporate is a way of opening and closing his eyes (manually, not with strings.... that would be too complicated).

[Hunchman801]

Do you think you could also make him a telescopic sting?

[Mr. Phas]

Hmm.... I didn't think about that, I could try. Thanks for bringing it up. I'll be thinking of ways to do that.

[Hunchman801]

This would not be that easy, you would have to assemble tubes with different sizes...

[Mr. Phas]

Yeah, I'm thinking the snout will be made of those plastic grid things with material over them, but the attack mechanism is what will be hard.... any ideas, people?

[Hunchman801]

You could use a jack activated by another controller, but I think this would become far too hard.

[Mr. Phas]

Hmm.... or if I had a jack attached to the main controller, that could work. I'll keep it in mind. I will note that it would probably be harder to create the mechanism with strings than with an actual mechanism, so the trigger won't involve normal marionette controller abilities.

Maybe if I had something attached to the controller that, when squeezed, sent air through to something in the snout?

[Hunchman801]

Sending air may be a good idea, but making the mechanism would not be so easy...
By the way, I hope you are going to make videos of Mr Dark moving ^^

[Mr. Phas]

I probably will, it just won't be of the greatest quality; I'll do it once I add the revisions.

[Hunchman801]

There are many Rayman 1 characters from which marionettes can be made, such as antitoons, whereas making a Mr Sax marionette seems impossible.

[Mr. Phas]

Mr. Sax? Impossible? Nah.... although that would take a huge pattern (if a pattern was used), and tons of material.

Mr. Sax would probably be the size of a Limber Louie. But even if I made a Mr. Sax, it would be a while from now, I'm so busy on stuff.... heck, what am I doing here? I need to do those revisions! I'll work on that as soon as I'm off the forums.