Dehlia Doornail

Dehlia is a small simple puppet made to test out my Pepper's Ghost theater prototype. I knew I wanted to make a ghost character, using stuff I already had, with lots of texture to test out the illusion.

I've made many simple characters with sculpted heads and fabric bodies, so there isn't much to add here.

I painted her face in the shades teal that I usually use for my ghost characters, inspired by the colors in the Haunted Mansion ghosts. Since I'm using her to test out my Pepper's Ghost theater, she needs to have very stark lines and clear shading. Anything subtle will be washed out by the light.

With a combination of super glue and string, I stuck the wires of the hands onto the ends of wooden skewers. The wire of her head is glued to tin foil shoulders, which also get a wooden sewer. All of it got pianted black since the poles may be visible under her dress.

I decided to try a trick I remember hearing about in Sesame St. workshops - or maybe it was building the Avenue Q puppets? I watch a lot of puppet content - where you use beads to provide weight to the arms. I still could have used heavier beads to be honest, but these worked well in providing some weight and structure.

I cut a slit into a square of fabric and wrapped it over her head and around her body, tying it off underneath. This will all be hidden so I'm not too worried about it looking nice. I sewed the end beads of the arms to the shoulders, and to the wrists.

Her dress is another large square with slits cut for the head and hands to pass through. The edges are frayed.

With the main structure all finished, I rooted through my scraps to fill out her costume. I had planned since the beginning to give her a head scarf. She got a shawl made out of layers of lace, ribbon, and this lovely grey spiderweb lace that I bought to use on my General D. costume and am still obsessed with. The clasp in the middle is a heart charm with the loop cut off, and the pin inside is actually keeping it in place. A little tufy of grey wool for her hair (another scrap that you'll recognize if you've read a couple of my projects).