Saoirse is a stop motion animation puppet, a character I designed and constructed for a project titled Personal Portfolio, centred on developing an industry focused online portfolio.
Saoirse is 10 ½” in height and 5“ in width with an armature made from varied strength posable wire with structural support made from Milliput and a head made from DAS Modelling Clay. The feet contain small nuts in the toes for tie-downs using bolts, a process I discovered from the book The Advanced Art of Stop-Motion Animation. The body was sculpted out of upholstery foam with fingers bulked up by Micropore surgical tape then painted with Citadel acrylic paint and glossed with Liquitex high gloss varnish. The puppet’s skin is made from two way stretch red fleece fabric from The Cloth House in London Soho, hand stitched to fit the body. The clothing is constructed from second hand fabrics, with t-shirt design hand painted with Citadel acrylic paints, thin lightweight leather belt with a buckle made from repurposed paperclips as well as earrings made from tiny jump rings. Lastly, the puppet’s eyes are white Milliput with pupils made from small circular office labels for easy replacement when animating.