Make a wooden character to animate

 

This is Scrapy, the ambassador of scrap wood city. I wanted to create a character out of scrap wood for this blog. I wanted him to be simple but to be able to bend certain parts of his body.

This is how Scrapy was build. First of all I begun by sketching my idea on a piece of paper.

Then I laied down Scrapy's basic parts. His limbs are made of dowels and his other parts out of scrap pieces of spruce.

 

I clamped my block plane on a vise  and rounded over some edges. I also carved out his head and feet a little bit with a sharp knife.

The rounded profile of a foot

 

This is the result

 

To connect the body parts together I used super glue and brass wire. I drilled holes for the wire to sit in. This way I can easily move the limbs of my character. If something brakes over time I can easily remake it.

 

For Scrapy's eyes and ears I used screws. For his hair small nails.

 

And my buddy is ready for action!