Witchlette: Dressing begins

Ok, not really much to look at here other than I have added plastic bottle over top of the mech to keep everything nice and secure inside. I then covered the body in burlap that has been soaked in Sculpt or Coat. The resulting body is lightweight and fairly stiff. I have also mounted the cauldron to the top of the books and the motor inside the cauldron. At this point I gave the the dual motors a 24 hour test run...they worked flawlessly with absolutely no heat build up.
I decided to go with a dual voltage desktop power supply with 5vDC going to the head motor and 12vDC going to the cauldron motor. This keeps the two movements out of sync with each other adding to a lifelike illusion.

I have a feeling the outfit on this nasty little gal is going to be a whole bunch of fun. I will be staying away from traditional black cloak and hat and stay in earthy fabrics with alot of texture. I am not looking forward to making a pair of small hands though, and might wuss out and use a pair of plastic skeleton hands.

Witchlette progress: Arms

Witchlette's arms have been installed and tested. I added a bracket to the main front rod to support the shoulders, providing a secure foundation for the jointed arms. Trial and error with the arm lengths resulted in a smooth natural movement. As stated before, I am designing this mech to be as maintenance free as possible so that the eventual owner can enjoy her for years to come.
A loose fitting at the wrists will give just enough play at the natural maple stirring stick to give the entire arm assembly a smooth, natural stirring motion.

Witchlette continued: The mech

The more I thought about it, the more I wanted to add some head movement to the Witchlette. I have made head turning mechs before, but always on a larger scale where the overall size wasn't an issue. This project has several design demands that I have not encountered before.

• The mech must be small enough to fit inside the body.
• The mech must be reliable. In the past, I have made props for myself, and troubleshooting always seems to be par for the course. This mech must work flawlessly and provide trouble free operation.

This is my first successful configuration that will meet the necessary requirements. After the pictures were taken, I have tweaked a few dimensions to make the mechanism even more compact than pictured. The design will allow me to easily adjust the overall height and neck-to-torso dimensions, but for now proof of concept has been achieved.

Witchlette

Here's the start of my next animated, motorized figure. This one is already taking on a life of her own and developing a creepy personality. Like Luther, she will be a motorized prop stirring a small cauldron. I may try to coax a little more movement into her, but haven't quite figured out how to hide the mechanism I have been thinking about in such a small space. I also need to make sure to leave access to any inner workings for potential troubleshooting and maintenance. It is also possible that the stirring motion will be enough. Decisions, decisions....