Big Bird Costume Puppet Replica

So Big Bird is coming along really nicley, this week I have been able to see him as he should be: very big, and covered in yellow feathers. Last week I patterned the body and began to see him taking shape, but was unsure of his awkward nature, but this week with individually glueing 1500 feathers onto him I've been able to see him shaping up. Here's the progress, I was excited to see Adam Savage recognise the costume on his Twitter as well and he even tweeted out the link to this thread which was incredible as well.
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OMG, This is AWESOME!!!!

I can't image that its particularly comfortable to operate. How long do you think you'll be able to "be on stage" before needing a break?
 
OMG, This is AWESOME!!!!

I can't image that its particularly comfortable to operate. How long do you think you'll be able to "be on stage" before needing a break?
Being inside the suit isn't so bad, but it's the pressure upon your arm to keep him alive that kills, Carroll Spinney said somewhere that he can perform Big Bird for 12 minutes as an optimum amount of time, though there was one occasion that he did the character for 90 minutes (at a parade in Melbourne, his logic being that the pressure was worth it for a free trip to Melbourne haha). Currently I can only manage around 5 minutes in the suit, though I've only tried it on twice, I'm hoping to make it up to 12

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How do you operate him? Arms, head movement, beak movement, sight?
Here's all of my design work which should explain how he is operated a little better, in short, I am inside with my right arm above my head operating the neck and beak, whilst my left arm moves his left wing, a fishing wire is then strung up to the beak which makes the right wing mirror whatever the left does.
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This looks fantastic! I'm curious what you used for the stripes on his legs? I've looked at so many pictures of the original costume and can't figure it out. It looks like an elongated pompom or something?
 
Sorry I haven't updated in a while, here is the progress so far, I've made a cover out of yellow fleece and have begun to individually glue around 1000 of the 3000 feathers I intend to use, as you can see here, it is shaping up to look pretty accurate, particularly to the late 80s early 90s model of Big Bird.
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How did you attach the head to the body
 
How did you attach the head to the body? Sorry if I asked this already but I plan on building my own and would really like to know.
Sorry I haven't updated in a while, here is the progress so far, I've made a cover out of yellow fleece and have begun to individually glue around 1000 of the 3000 feathers I intend to use, as you can see here, it is shaping up to look pretty accurate, particularly to the late 80s early 90s model of Big Bird.
71a706ccd10b4cb01d492c4586748274.jpg
3b237f98ed6bfed8ed84bdcf081f8208.jpg
24fd4dfb7d45ae3785c9f82348da4b93.jpg


Sent from my SM-G930F using Tapatalk
 
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