replacement heads

Here is a side project I am working on. I am trying to figure out a way to make decent replacement heads. Here is what I have so far. First I sculpted a head in neutral position out of plasticine clay. In the photo below it is the brown one.  From that I made a two part silicone rubber mold. Into this mold I poured melted van aken clay and then let it cool. Once cool, I popped out the head and poured another one. I made 7 or 8. Those are the red ones below.

I took each red head copy and sculpted it into a new expression, sad, happy, etc. From each of those new expressions I now have to form a new two part mold so I can pour plaster into. When that is done I have a hard head in “sad” expression. Each head needs a new mold so I can make a plaster head. One thing I did to save on silicone rubber and moldmaking is to make a mold for the back of the head which never changes and always use that and just make a new face half mold.

The blue mold half is the back of the head, I reuse this one over and over and just make a new face half for the different expressions.

It is not a perfect system but I am working it out. I think I will take all the finished plaster heads  when they are done and make a holder that will hold them all in the same position and I will drill a hole for a rod or brass tube that will slide over the puppet’s neck so they all align.

flying film progress update

Well everyone,  it has been awhile since my last update. Here is what is going on with me and the film.

The ship’s interior sets are complete. One set is the captain’s bridge, and the other is below decks where the deckhand is hanging out. All the props are made and installed. I began filming on these two sets a week or so ago.  I have filmed about 8 or 9 shots so far.

The outside sets with the large landscape is still sitting in the shop outside waiting to be completely finished. It is about 95% complete.

So, the flying ship film is still moving forward and I am slowly making progress. I have been working on since October.

So, in other news, I am on the side trying to make replacement heads. I sculpted a head in plasticine, made a two part silicone mold of it, poured in melted van aken clay, made 9 copies in clay, sculpted new expressions in these clay faces, and then started making silicone molds of each new clay expression. In these new molds I am casting plaster of paris to end up with a new hard head with the new expression. Tons of work, and I will blog about this more later in detail.

My flying ship film also needed a robotic arm so I have been soldering stainless steel balls onto rods and making aluminum plates to form ball and socket joints for the the robotic arm, also working on a claw for the end.

I started a coop project on stopmotionanimation.com and that is progressing along also. So far we have a basic storyline kinda figured out.

More later with photos when I can…