Adam Ant

I'm working on an ant puppet, for the Joshua Junebug and Friends project. At this point I'm planning to name him Adam. In many ways the process of the build is similar to the termite build the major difference, other than cosmetics, is the internal mechanism. I decided that I wanted the mechanism to be small enough for the puppeteers hand to fit inside the puppet and still work it. It took a bit of thinking but I was able to come up with a new design.

The bulk of the mechanism is made out of 1/2 inch pvc tubing. The spring is a section I cut from a old fashion screen door spring. this spring is secured by forcing it into the top of the pvc tubing. The bottom jaw is made out of a wood dowel whittled down so that it would fit snugly into the spring. The trigger is made from a 1 inch dowel. I drilled a 3/4 inch hole through the dowel and then carved the dowel down to prevent finger pinching and cut a grove to prevent pressure points on the fingers. 14 gauge wire secures the trigger to the bottom jaw.

The mechanism works great. I think I'll probably use this design for all my new rod puppets.