Le Poisson Steve Push Puppet

Le Poisson Steve is now a little floppy desk buddy. I saw those wobbly arms and legs and knew what I had to do. 

Printing

Anything goes, really--whatever is appropriate for your needs for layer height and material. I like to print four beads between each foot/hand and end bead, but you can do more or less!

Additional Supplies

• Thread, twine, or other string. I used crochet thread
• Glue (optional), for stiffening the end of your string to make threading it through everything easier and to secure knots once assembled
• Spring
  • Roughly 10-12mm long. Diameter variable; default is a 10mm spring of 1mm wire
  • If your spring isn't strong enough, you could try doubling it up with another

Assembly

Clip the two halves of the fish together. The tail has an orientation triangle marking which way should be pointing up--Steve is not symmetrical

Run a thread up through the figure, starting from the inner base and going through the base, foot, leg beads, leg top bead, the body of the fish, out the arm hole, and through the arm beads in like fashion. Knot off the end of the thread and cut yourself a generous tail below the base. Repeat for the other leg/arm pair.

Insert your spring between the base and inner base. Tie the two tails hanging from the inner base using a surgeon's knot. Pull the first knot nice and tight so the spring begins to engage, then complete the second overhand knot. When you release the strings, the spring's tension should cause Steve to stand up. Push in the inner base to make him flop!

Model Notes

Steve's .f3d has several helpful parameters:

it is otherwise a mess. If I were cooler, I would have included a parameter for spring height; I did not.

Very Important Hat Tip

The clip in this model for joining the two halves of Steve is designed by @DexTech; see the clip in all its excellency here: https://www.printables.com/model/1133096-connector1