Puppet Hands 2

 After you have laid out and sewn your puppet hands, the next step is to create a wire armature which will allow the hands to be shaped and positioned when they are finished. This requires the making of a "jig" for bending and shaping the wire:
 I trace the hand pattern onto a piece of scrap lumber as shown above. Using inch and a half  long finishing nails ( 9 penny I believe is the hardware term for them. Finishing nails have only a slight "head" on them as opposed to standard nails ),  I hammer a nail at each juncture where the wire will need to be bent into the hand shape ( about 30 nails in all ).

 18 gauge galvanized wire works best for the armature. DON'T  try aluminium wire as it won't hold it's shape after inserting into the finished hand . A piece of wire 20 inches long will work for the large hand pattern. 18 inches long for the smaller hand.

Here the wire has been twisted around the finishing nails and then carefully pried loose from the jig. You will find that a pair of needle-nosed pliers will help in adjusting the wire back into shape after jigging. I make as many of these wire armatures as will be needed and set them aside for the next and final step:
Turning and stuffing the hands...