urSol the Chanter Mystic Puppet Head from The Dark Crystal

This is the head of the urSol puppet from the 1982 film The Dark Crystal. urSol the Chanter is part of the urRu, or Mystic, race which are slow-moving, peaceful creatures. The mystics are the counterparts to the Skeksis. They are philosophers who hold the mystical wisdom of their world. urSol the Chanter has a light gentle voice for speech and a deep resonate voice for song. He believes that music is powerful because it is the most fleeting form of sculpture.

The elongated wrinkled puppet head is made of foam and latex. It is painted in soft brown tones with sleepy shrouded eyes with soft wisps of brown and gray hair on either side of the head. The Mystic puppets were built as several different components that could be connected with Velcro. This meant that the puppet could be disassembled into various parts, allowing the puppeteer to only use the head section of the puppet when filming a close-up scene without being burdened by the weight of the entire body section of the puppet.

The Dark Crystal was a fantasy film directed by Jim Henson and Frank Oz and released in 1982. The film was made entirely with the use of puppets and features no human actors. In the film, two members of the Gelfling race, Jen and Kira, go on a journey to return a lost shard of the dark crystal in order to defeat the evil Skeksis and restore balance to the planet Thra before it is too late.