: the Bellaphant - Skull

Finally in the building stage on the Bellaphant rather than the planning. It's really exciting to get my hands dirty. I'm realizing that a well planned project comes together really fast. Also, there is always some reworking that has to be done midstream. The picture below shows the frame we will build the head of the elephant on.
My hand is on the lever that controls the first section of the trunk from inside the skull. The second and third sections of the trunk will be articulated by levers coming off the main lever. The pipe above the trunk is where we will mount the eyes. It's a bit difficult to see in this shot, but there are also cross shaped connectors where we will attach the ears. The whole head will connect to the main frame of the body via the wooden dowels on the vertical sections in the rear. (The dowels are a bit thinner than the pipe, allowing me to form hinges.)

The trunk is six feet long. I'll be jointing it and adding all the mechanical bits to make it fully articulated tomorrow and Thomas and I will start building out the head on Tuesday. This is the most complicated part, so once the head is done, we'll fly through the rest of the body.

I can't wait.

Leave a comment, let me know you're out there.

-m

: the Bellaphant

Circus Bella has commissioned the creation of a giant elephant puppet for their 2010 season. The above picture shows the scale of the thing. (The guy pictured is 6 feet tall.) It will be manipulated by two puppeteers inside of it. They can also control the ears and the articulated trunk. He will definitely have a mouth, and hopefully we will get permission to complete his digestive track...

The main frame of the body is PVC on backpack frames, with sprinkler tubing forming the finer contours.

The skeleton will then be covered in foam and then canvas treated to look like elephant skin. The puppeteers will wear special padded pants and stand on elephant feet made from chunks of cork.

Thomas John and I are starting work on the project this month. We're currently building prototypes for the trunk mechanics, checking out materials, drawing plans, etc. Expect to see more construction updates in coming weeks.

-m