Stag - Fur

        A concern which had been lurking at the back of my mind since I began working on the stag puppet was exactly how I would create the fur. While faux fur fabrics are abundant, most aim to look as realistic as possible, with accurate pattern sizes and pile lengths. Just as a human puppet needs clothing made of fabrics which will drape and sit correctly when cut on a small scale, so to would I need a 'miniature' fur or hair solution. 

        To create the furry characters of Fantastic Mr Fox Mackinnon & Saunders had used goat hair, cut, dyed and applied as necessary. This would not be a viable option for me. I considered using other fabrics such as velvet or sued, which might pass as deer pelt but be thinner and more workable than faux fur. Yet they would lack the depth and visual interest.

        Eventually I found a material which purported to be imitation deer fur, with wonderful depth and colour variation, and a relatively short pile length of 1cm. While this is still a little too thich for the scale of my puppet, the stag does not look swamped, but rather a little bulky and shaggy, as though he has a winter coat. I could have trimmed down the sponge body a little further to compensate for the added thickness of the fur, but sadly I was running short of time.

        There were however areas such as the face and lower legs on which the fur would have been too thick, drowning out some of the finer detail. On these points I made use of a very thin and flexible faux leather, and fine knitting. While the combination of different fabrics may draw attention to the artificiality of the puppet, as I learned during Context of Practice, a strong puppet can embrace an artificial aesthetic as long as the underlying structure enables it to give a convincing performance. Hopefully the time and effort spent on the armature and its sponge covering will give the stag this ability.