HOLLY GRACE DESIGN

Wooden Fish Puppets 

This small pair of fish puppets are carved from lime wood using a selection of chisels and whittling knives. I am new to wood carving so there are some small areas that are not perfect, but I have learnt from this process and feel I have a strong understanding of the main principals of wood carving. After carving the bodies I stained them with wood dyes. Each fish has a slightly different pattern so required slightly different colour placement. Once dry, I sanded the surface lightly using a fine grit wet and dry paper to bring out the texture of the carving. To finish I dry brushed white paint to make some areas very white on one of the fish. Other details were added with coloured acrylic paint to give cleaner lines and more vibrant colours. On the other fish I did not add any white. To assemble the puppets the bodies had to be divided into sections before sandwiching a piece of coloured leather down the centre. The shape of the leather fins was cut before inserting. To finish, the smaller fins were added and the control stick was secured. They are a seemingly simple design but took a lot of careful carving and assembling to make them move as if they are swimming and overall I thing the final range of movement in both of the fish is really effective.  

This project was completed using a kit and online resource created and designed by puppet maker Sarah vigars.