I sculpted polymer clay puppets to illustrate the story of the crane wife.

It involved both

The crane wife is a sort of sad tale of love and selfishness. 

A FISHERMAN find an injured CRANE and nurses her back to health.  Later a mysterious WOMAN shows up at his door. Because it's a folktale, they fall in love and get married. 

But then they encounter money problems and the Woman says she can help by weaving fabric to sell. It's a one time deal. The one rule "don't watch me weave." She goes to a room, shuts the door, and weaves away. Later she comes out with the fabric and they sell it and everything is okay. 

But it's not. The Fisherman starts getting greedy. And he asks the Woman to weave again. She hesitates but agrees, because love and folktales. It takes longer this time. He's impatient. However, it works out they sell the cloth and it's fine for  a while. 

Once more, folklore rules apply. The Fisherman asks a third time. The Woman says "I'd rather not." The Fisherman keeps pressuring her. She acquiesces. It takes much longer this time.  

Eventually curiosity gets the better of him, and the Fisherman opens the door. He doesn't see his wife. He sees a crane, plucking out it's own feathers and weaving them into the loom. The last bit of fabric is red from blood of the bird. She's plucked too many feathers. 

The Crane looks at him, then flies away though an open window. He never sees her again. 

This project involved some challenges... 

For this character I needed a figure that I could move and pose well. 

She required hair and a dress as accessories. 

I ended up using makeup to enhance the realism of the face. The hair was glued in small knots of unwoven embroidery thread individually to the head. The dress is hand stitched. 

Her face needed to be expressive enough to evoke emotion, but ambiguous enough to create different expressions using lighting and angles. I used deep-garnet glass with some clarity so that light could reach depths and create expression. 

I wanted a stern face that was slightly less "open." I created squarer facial feature to evoke that "villainous chin." I used iridescent dark-red glass for the eyes. They have a slightly matte finish that creates emotional distance in certain light. 

This figure had a sturdy foil core to add lightness so the figure could stand with it's own weight. 

 I ended up decided not to shoot this particular puppet in this set. I did photograph him in some other sets. 

These figures are the companions of the Crane Wife. They also serve as representations of her journey. 

Crane 1 is standing with a somewhat calm expression. Before it all happens.

Crane 2 has outstretched wings and an expression of faint sorrow. 

I used a heavier wire gauge for the cranes to support their wings and allow them to stand.

I used black glass beads to allow glint in the small eyes. I created human like "expression" in the faces of ambiguous sadness. 

 Their delicate wings were easily breakable so I used Sculpey Premo (which is a more durable polymer clay) over a wire armature coated in some foil. 

Requirements:

1)Mobile: The figures needed points of articulation for poses

2)Expressive: The details needed to have a "lifelike" quality that could be reflected in photography

3)Durable: The figures needed to last long enough for poses and a reasonable degree of durability

    PROCESS

I looked for available tools that would suit my requirements

1)Mobile: I used aluminum wire and foil to build armatures that would serve as "skeletons" for the crane wife, her husband, and the cranes. I chose polymer clay because it could be baked in a home oven to create "hard" puppets that were reasonably durable. 

2)Expressive: I used various glass beads of various shades and sizes to add a lifelike quality to the figures. I studied facial muscles to create slight tensions in the faces. I took a forensic facial reconstruction class with Karen T. Taylor through Texas State University at the Freeman Ranch.  

I also referenced the use of angles to evoke the illusion of varying expressions.

 (See: Noh Masks, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Noh, for inspirations) 

I experimented with a variety of wire gauges and foil combinations to create armatures that would be reasonable sturdy. 

I made several practice figures to experiment with bake times. 

    FINISHING

I photographed the figures in a variety of settings, experimenting with lighting to create different atmospheres and expressions. 

    FUTURE

At some point I may use these for a short stop motion. 

THE END.