videos - about - workshops - behind the scenes - contact

Palm of hand:	Back of hand:
This is the mechanism that gives Moss his working left hand. It's very low-tech, made of cardboard, drinking straws, elastic bands, masking tape, and invisible thread. The mechanism is based largely on this activity from Canadian children's science magazine YES Mag. Below is a video from 2006 of the mechanism in action:
The red trigger seen in the video is from one of those "snapper" toys with a plastic animal head on the end of a stick. In 2010, I replaced the trigger with the arrangement seen at right: the four threads run through a hoop (made from a paperclip) on the arm rod's dowel and tie onto a plastic ring, which I pull to close the puppet's hand. This method gives me more control and a wider range of motion.