Your heron sounds delightful! The body seems quite workable. The neck sounds a bit tricky, though. Will it need to flex very much in use?

I just bought a couple 6 ft/2M lengths of plastic foam pipe insulation to protect my outdoor pipes. I was thinking that they would make fine necks for something in PM. Unfortunately, they have a hole running through the center for the pipe. They would be more valuable for PM if they were solid. But then they wouldn't be much good for pipes.

What do you intent to use for the armature for the wings?

Welcome to the PM board. We expect great things from you!

Sue

Well hello!  Thanks very much for the puppetry link.  I got so distracted checking it out yesterday that I didn't leave myself enough time to reply back here on the forum.

When I made my previous jointed bird, I had made the wings from wide, repurposed wood house trim that I cut roughly into sections of feathers.  I wired the pieces at the folding joints and strung them together closer to the ends so that the wings spread and folded the way I wanted them to.  It worked decently, but each wing was pretty thick by the time the wood layers were joined togeher, which wasn't really obvious when the wings were spread but I noticed it when they were folded at the crow's sides.  This time I was thinking of cutting my wing section shapes out of muslin fabric, and building the paper mache layers onto each side of that, provided I can drill through it when it's done without the fabric being a problem.  I'm hoping I'll get a reasonably thin wing compared to last time, but still with some strength to it, so that the wings won't be too... wobbly?  I'm not sure how that part will go yet. 

The foam pipe insulation sounds like fun.  I'm picturing a giant squid, with the twisty tenacles, plus suction-cups made from short cross-sections, making the hollow center a plus!  As for the heron, I would prefer that the neck still be flexible when finished.  My concern there is whether the parts will slide against each other too easily or not easily enough.  I was patterning the neck construction after that of an old wooden toy that belonged to my father when he was little.  It looks like a dog but has very long legs and a long neck and long tail, all made of a combination of large wooden beads, with short sections of drilled dowel that have been rounded in on the ends to fit over the beads.  It is held together by tension wire that is strung straight through from the end of each limb, into the torso, and it mostly stays put how it's bent due to the pressure and friction, while still manipulating very easily.  I'm not sure that I can reproduce the effect, so I may make mine a it more loose, to ensure that is will be posable at least by suspending the head and moving its string.  I should be making some real progress this coming weekend, and then I'll know more about where I need to revise my plans.  Of course, critism, concern or advise are always welcomed and appreciated!