Lotky Tea Cart COMPLETE

As "wallace" says to "Gromit"..."its amazing what a lick of paint will do..."
Indeed it is!
After sealing and painting using the techniques handed to me by Michaela Bartonova... i can now take a step back and proudly say "you are finnished!"
I cant wait to get the teapots onto this and crank it into action!

Loutky tea cart

Its been a long time since posting...and for what im hoping is a good reason too!

over the last few months i've been away from the computer and in the workshop. This project has been a massive one, and rather than post the progressive nature of it... i figured it best to stick my head down...goggles on and get all those tools cranking!

so... here it is...with the help of some great friends...ive been able to get over the assembly hurdles (and there were many to come our way)... and i am now confident im on the down hill run to having it fully complete (minor detail painting and sealing finish to go).

100s of hours in production...
much sweat...blood and tears...
i give you...
the "loutky tea cart"!!!

Sail Fish - A NEW PUPPET

Once again, it came to pass that a new puppet be started.
During the building of the last puppet - the Murray River Princess - I sketched down a silly idea following a similar concept as the Big Cod...
And so...it was soon refined and in line as the new puppet to be created.

First things first...I had to find a good piece of wood.
As many of you know, I use salvaged Australian woods...this leads to many new challenges for a puppet carver to tackle. One thing I decided is that I wanted a light shade of wood for this puppet to help bring out the colour of the fish. Here is where I had my first challenge...as many of the woods I had gathered were dark in colour such as "rosewood" or "cedar"...even the "ironbark" I had was of the red variety! After looking high and low, I soon settled on a chunk of "greygum" and then it was clamped up and inspected as to where the puppet would come from within the wood.Heres where another challenge is faced. Australian Gum variety of woods are...well...HARD!
It wasnt a simple matter of putting the half log in the bandsaw...as my bandsaw is set up for fine cutting with a thin blade.
It was then when I remembered one of the great carvers I saw in Czech Republic...He did all his "blocking out" using a chainsaw.
So, it was out with the chainsaw to cut me a slab from the log. And what fun it was too!
Now it was time to use the bandsaw and shape the slab...And once I had the rough block cut to shape...It was onto the challenge of rounding out the form. I always do my best to use the hand chisels for as much of the work as possible...and although I did in fact try to block out the form...it was not getting the results I needed due to the hardness and texture of the wood. So I grabbed the Arbortech Mini Grinder and went to work on the form...Although purists may scoff at using such tools, I cannot stress enough how great these work! They are an Australian product, made for working hard on woods like Australian Hardwoods!Now it was time to settle into what is known as "the rhythm" and begin on the facial features of the fish. For this task, hand carving tools were definitely the weapon of choice as they enable complete control in the details. Hand tools worked well here because the area was small, refined and required only small amounts carved at one time.Now if you know your fish, you will notice that this sail fish doesnt have the long pointy nose that they are renowned for. There are many reasons for this, but rather than give away the end result (although in one of the pictures you can get a glimpse of what direction it might be taking), I shall simply share that the following stages are in preparation for that very nose!
And once more, I had to "clean up" around the face a little and add the eyelids...All up, it has been a very productive day on this puppet!
I will keep posting the progress, so be sure to check it out.

Whale Shark Complete!

After many hours of cutting, carving and pure puppet building fun...
I'm pleased to announce that the Whale Shark puppet is now complete!
The photos do it no justice and I simply couldnt wait to get the completed puppet up on this blog.
The Whale Shark is for sale, so if you are interested...please contact me.

Whale Shark Cont..

After a very productive time, the whale shark puppet is progressing nicely.
Unsure if this was a good way to go or not...I decided to trust my instinct and add a stylized version of the whale shark's spots...
Then it was time to split each of the body segments and prepare the back of the head for the flexible leather...Then it was time to prepare the leather. I used a piece of what is called "Mad-dog leather". I like using this due to the fact that both sides have a similar teture and colour...
And of cause I couldn't resist and had to check what it looked like with the body segments on...Before going any further, I needed to prepare the groove for the side fins...
And another test fit with the fins...Aside from the head, it was time for the final assembly (the head segment was set aside for painting)...
And after painting the eyes and details on the head...it was attached to the waiting body...
The handle...for the handle, I used some salvaged "Red Gum"... a native, exotic Australian hard wood. I love discovering the hidden beauty of the grain in old, discarded exotic woods such as these... The handle grain came up brilliant!
There are a few minor things left to do and if all goes to plan, soon this Whale Shark puppet will be complete and ready for sale.

Whale Shark Puppet

After some time away and gaining insight, inspiration and a clear head...
It was time to get serious about making puppets.
With the "Tea Cart" still in production, I put it aside and began work on a new puppet - a Whale Shark.

First...some research followed by a few design sketches and form concepts...
And then it was time to find the wood...
Some of you who know my work, may recognise the selected chunk.
It is the base used for the "thylacine" puppet...
It is a piece of "beef wood" - an Australian wood that is very rare and has a very unique grain pattern. This was also selected as I was searching for a grain pattern that would resemble the pattern on the back of a whale shark.
On with the rough cutting...And blocking out ...
And after a lot of work...The grain patter worked brilliantly!
Both hand carving tools and Arbortech power carving tools were used to get the Whale Shark to this stage.


Stay tuned as this Whale Shark enters the final stages of birth...

BIGining of the Tea Cart

After much research, inspiration and contemplating....I have taken the first steps in what is potentially the most ambitious project to date!
The project is what will be known as "the loutky tea cart".
As the name suggests, this big idea is planned to be a fully functioning tea cart. The cart itself is part of an even bigger project...but more of that another time.
The first step was settling on a design concept...then came the fun tadk of selecting the wood.
For some reason, i thought using "tasmanian oak" was a wise choice as it is readily avaulable and reasonable in price.
I had never carved tazzy oak before...and let me say...although a hard, splintery wood....im gaining a great "feel" for carving this stuff.
Back to the tea cart...the first thing to build is the "sculpted side beams"...the way this was set up was by laminating 19mm thick pieces together. Each individual piece was pre-cut to a rough profile shape before gluing and clamping.

I have begun carving the 1st beam and it is coming along nicely.
Hopefully you can see the face begining to find form.

Due to the hardness of the tasmanian oak, i decided to use the Arbortech "Power Chisel" to help rough out the form...but i soon found that the wood responds to Pfiel hand chisels really well....although quite physical and exhausting, the result is very rewarding.
I plan on using the Arbortech tools to rough out more of the shapes in each of the beams.

I am hoping to follow the progress of the "loutky tea cart" on this blog...so keep visiting to stay up to date.

Lil' Boy Blue Ring Completed

Today i was able to put some finishing touches on Lil Boy Blue Ring.
Im very pleased with the results!
I used a PupHed as the blank starting point for the facial features...the puppet was fully hand carved...
The "rock" is carved using an arbortech power chisel on salvaged "ironbark".

Barra boy completed

Today i had the pure joy of completing the long awaited barramundi puppet titled "barra boy".

The wait was mainly due to finding the right method to mount the puppet. Being carved from salvaged rosewood, i needed to find a way to ensure the "fish-like" movement would not break the arm of the puppeteer due to the weight of the fish. By chance i came across an old office chair at my parents house with perfect wheel base.

As mentioned in earlier posts, this Barra was mainly carved using an Arbortech Power Chisel with salvaged Rosewood. The leather piece running through the body is "Mad dog leather".

After some quick, creative descisions....it wadnt long before the barra was ready for action! This puppet can easily be slid across the floor or table top thanks to the castors. ..allowing all focus of the puppeteer on the movement rather than physical strain! Huge thanks to my parents and sister for allowing me to destroy a potentially "fixable" chair!

Barra-boy puppet production

Ive been busy carving many small scale puppets over the last few weeks as well as passing on some skills to younger generations during the school holidays...
But one personal project has been moving along nicely...the barra-boy!

This huge fish is nearly completed with only painting and mounting to go. He was carved in salvaged rosewood using the Arbortech Powerchisel for 99%of the work. My initial aim was to produce a puppet carved purely with the Powerchisel...but the unpredictable nature of the salvaged wood forced me to use an angle grinder sanding disc.
I figured i should post the production process thus far.
"maddog leather" is used as the flexible body strip.