Wire Frame Progress Pictures - Squee

That feeling when you haven't uploaded anything but progress photos over the last few months. ;_; I-I'm busy with stuff! Y-yeah...

So some folks were wondering how I make the jaws move on my wire-frame masks so here's there.

***WARNING: WIRE IS SUPER DANGEROUS***
I only make these masks for myself because if I poke myself in the eye it's my own damn fault. If you want to try and make one yourself you do so at your own risk!

I use 16 gauge wire for most of the frame. The areas where two ends need to be tired together are done so with 24 gauge wire, which is soft and usually used for crafting things like jewelry. Both these materials can be found at Home Depot and Walmart respectively, probably tons of other places too!

1. So this is how I start out: That bottom piece is shaped like the character, but also loops around my head. It should line up right around my cheek. That top wire goes on top of my head an hold the bottom piece in place.

2. See those little "u" shapes? Those are attached to the bends in the bottom wire, as seen in #3. I usually hot glue them in place, because getting the jaw on can be rather tricky when they slip. :I

3. There they go! I only circled one of 'em.

4. I added a re-enforcement wire in the forehead because he was getting to be kind of flimsy. I add these where I feel appropriate. No two masks have the same shape, so I kind of just use my gut to place extra stuff.

Here we also have the jaw piece. I try as hard as I can to bend one long rod, then the jaw shape from the middle out. Using two pieces of wire for the jaw might not work out. (Like if I cut a piece too short or something)
I usually bend once, measure it up to the loops and upper jaw (don't want an under-bite) unbend and repeat. This one took a couple of tries.

See those hooks on the ends? That's important.

5. Yeah those hooks go into the "u" shapes from before. I had to trim these a little (After I hooked them in) because there was too much excess in the hook. Better too much than too little.

6. I bent it into a loop~ Now is around the time I pick it up and rock it back and forth to make sure the jaw has some nice swing to it. If it doesn't swing, I usually have to fiddle around with the loops on the ends. ;_; Luckily I didn't have too with Mr. Squee here.

7. Ta-da! Done with the frame. I added one extra thing (besides hot-gluing the joints ahaha) and you'll see a red-arrow pointing to it in #8. This red arrow is pointing to Midnight. I did not notice her until I was putting these shots together. :I

The jaw is usually really light now, but with the added weight of model magic or foam it settles down and becomes easier to control. It bounces in it's current state.

8. See that red arrow? I have a wire going from either end of the jaw in the back. It rests under my bottom lip/chin. This is what keeps the jaw moving with my mouth. Yay!

So there you have it. This is just a really simple set of pictures, I hope it better explains how I do my puppetry!

Ah, the character, if anyone is interested, is a Squee from the MYST series. (To be specific MYST III: Exile) He's kind of a personal project of mine, and I hope to have him done for Halloween. I have a lot of other projects I'm doing right now though, so those come first of course!