Puppet Feet

In this post I will show the process of making feet for the Mail Man and Actress Puppets. It's important to make the feet strong and sturdy because they will be supporting the rest of the puppet. Also they need to have a 'tie-down' system to anchor the feet to the ground.

I started by making foot plates out of steel sheet. I used a paper template the mark out the shape of the feet and where the tie down holes would go. Before cutting out each foot I drilled all the tie down holes. These holes will be where a bolt enters the foot to secure it to the floor.

I used a hack saw to cut out the feet and rounded the edges using a file. I then cleaned the steel with wire wool.

Each foot is cut into two halves to five the feet a toe bend. I labeled the feet so they didn't get mixed up.

I repeated this process to make feet for the Actress. As she is wearing small, pointed high heels, a toe bend was not needed. I bent the steel sheet to make the shape of the shoe. The long heels will be added later.

Next I cut K&S square brass tubing to be stuck onto each plate. This is to give me a channel to glue aluminium wire into.

The K&S is soldered into place along with M3 Nuts to act as tie downs. I will use M3 bolts and wing nuts, inserted from underneath the set floor to tie the puppets to the ground. Alternately I could use Magnets (attracted to the steel plate) to hold the puppets down.

Finally I glued 3x twist of 2mm Aluminium wire into the K&S on each foot plate. The exposed sections of wire are covered in heat shrink tubing to protect them from dents and scratches . The K&S above the ankle will slot into the legs of the puppet. The next stage will be to sculpt shoes around the feet armatures and cast them in silicone.