I thought I would share some photos of past puppets I have created all in one place.

wire with latex skin painted on

used in "free with purchase" and soundbite challenge

ball and socket armature, green stuff for head

ball and socket armature, used in "piece of mime" and soundbite challenge

unfinished puppet and a clay head sculpt

3 goblins from "public service annoucement"

prize for animation challenge at stopmotionmagic

used in "build a simple puppet stage"

main two puppets from "remotely responsible"

used in "remotely responsible"

used in "free with purchase"

from "third necessity"

prize given away for animation challenge stopmotionmagic

sound bite challenge

used in "piece of mime"

first puppet ever made "orc in limbo"

Well everyone, I thought I needed to post what I have been doing lately.

I am still working on the co-op film that I started last January with several other animators. Several people helped write the script, then Emmyymme (Emily) and Woolly Monster (Ceri) made puppets and props and mailed them to me. I have been animating with them for the last several months. There is still a few more months left before the film is complete. More on that later.

But while I am animating on that film I am getting the ideas together for my next film.

It started with the idea of making a King’s throne room or great hall and all the props that went with it. Then I added the idea of the castle’s gardener being involved. So I took a notebook and wrote down the 20 basic plot themes one on each page, then I tried to come up with story ideas in each theme that could be set in the throne room. My wife and I eliminated some, then picked one we liked.

So, the basic story is based on the “escape” theme.

King, knights, and the cook and the gardener are in the throne room doing their normal daily activities when  creatures attack and  capture everyone. In the end the gardener will save the day.

So now I have begun storyboarding which for me just means making a ton of notes in a notebook. I am now acting out the scenes on paper to see if the props and the staging will work.

I have begun some props including some wood items turned on the lathe and a chainmail shirt for one of the knights. For the chainmail I found some 5 mm jumprings at a jewelry supply place and I am opening/closing each one to form the chainmail shirt. The shirt itself has taken three days so far and still not done.

I will get some pictures in here of the co-op film and of the new idea stuff.

Go ahead, make a mess, have some fun.

This is my method to create a wire armature for a new puppet.

I take a loop of aluminum wire and put the ends into the cordless drill. I think it is about 16 or 18 gauge.

I put the loop of wire around a pencil and hold it while I use the drill to twist the wires together. Don’t over twist the wires.

I make two strands like this.

I wrap these wire strands together to form the spine.

The top of one wire forms one arm, the bottom part forms a leg. The top of the other wire forms an arm, the bottom forms the other leg.

I form another wire and wrap it around the hips and back down the legs. Below it is ready to be put into the drill and twisted.

Lay the third wire over the hips, and wrap down towards the feet. This will give the legs more stiffness.

Begin to wrap down the legs.

This gives you four strands down each leg. I unwind the wires about the knee level, so they are easier to bend at the ankle level. Cut the wires a little bit long, and begin to untwist them back to the knee level.

Below you can see the four wires at the ankle joint ready to be glued into the feet blocks. Having these wires un twisted together makes the ankle move easier. Below shows the first three wires.  Wire one formed left arm and left leg, wire two formed right arm and right leg, wire three goes from one foot, up the leg, across the hip, down the other leg, and to the other foot.

I cut the arm wires about elbow level. (I use a lot of smaller twisted wires for fingers so I cut the arm wires at the elbow to prevent the wrist from getting too big and thick and bulky). I  twist some smaller gauge wire  (about 22 gauge or 24) together to form fingers. I make a twisted wire, wrap it around the shoulders, and down the arms. In the below photo, it is the smaller black wire. Notice the wire starts at one hand, goes over the shoulders, and down to the other hand all in one piece.

I twist another wire, and start again to form the second fingers. Again start at one hand, run all the way over to the other hand with one unbroken piece of twisted wire.  Then do it all again to form fingers number 3.  Again if you want four or five fingers.

So, the fingers will get cut to length, finger tips formed with green stuff putty, and the ankle wires attached to feet blocks.

This is my current method and seems to work fine for me.

I have been working for the past few days on a new armature for a new puppet. I have no idea what the final puppet is going to be, I just wanted to work on my armature skills.

The final armature feels really nice, it is still not professional quality but it does feel good when you move the joints.

I used stainless steel 302 balls and rods. The plates are aluminum. Remember when working on your armature that hobbyists can not solder aluminum. Anything that needs solder has to be steel, or brass. The aluminum plates are easy to form and cut and look like the stainless steel parts to make the whole armature a silver color.

Here is a list of parts and tools I used. For cutting the aluminum, I used my bandsaw, but you can use a hacksaw or dremel tool. I shaped it with a variety of files and a few different grits of sandpaper. This is what the mostly finished armature looks like.

This is the head. The piece sticking out is the bottom jaw. It can move up and down.

From this side you can see the screw that goes through the bottom jaw, through the middle spacer, then into the threaded part of the other side.

I really wanted the head to have great movement. I put a joint near the collar bone area, then one inside the skull area. There are actually three movable points there from the neck up and into the head. I was only striving for two. I could have locked down the middle one if i wanted.

I cut the shoulders at a 45 degree angle to help give the arms more range of motion. The shoulder joint rods are held into the chest block with allen wrench set screws. The holes are tapped with 8-32 threads, and the allen screws are ground down until they fit without too much sticking out.

In this shot you can see the upper arms are open ball and socket as well as the lower spine. The screws are 4-40 threads and are countersunk into the plates to help reduce thickness.  The spine rod goes all the way through the chest block upto the neck joint. It is held in place with an allen screw. The upper legs are also regular open ball and socket joints. The rods are 3/32″ stainless steel 302.

The lower legs have a step joint so it ends up with a ball on one end, and the open plates on the other end.  The rod is held in the plate with a set screw. i had to go back and add the extra screw to keep the plates all lined up.  In the lower leg joints the top screw holds the rod in place, the lower screw holds the three plates together.  The lowest screw puts tension on the ankle ball.  I used to put a joint in the toe, but usually it gets in the way as I animate so I put a solid foot in this armature.

The feet are cut from a solid piece of aluminum, The rod is held in place with a screw coming in from the back of the foot. The hole is a tapped hole with 8-32 threads for the tiedown.  The aluminum is 1/4″ thick from flat stock.

This hand design is my version of a hand I saw in one of Tom Brierton’s designs. It is cut from a solid single piece of aluminum. I cut a rectangle first to size, drilled all my holes and tapped the holes while it still had square flat edges. Once all the holes were done, then I filed it down to size. The two screws have the finger wires wrapped around and then tightened down to hold them in place. I could not figure out a better way to lock down the thumb wire since it has to emerge so far down close to the wrist. I will make sure it is secure before putting skin on it. I put green stuff on the finger tips to give them shape and to cover up the sharp metal edges. The slot cut down the hand from the wrist gives it enough flex that the screw can pull the plates together enough to lock down on the wrist joint ball. It is tricky to get all this to work.  This is the top of the hand.

This is the palm side.

I welcome all comments.

Go ahead, make a mess, have some fun.

This is a very rough draft of the story for the new co-op film. I am looking for advice from any writers out there.  The puppets are monsters, and the sets have been built so that will not be changed, but no animation has been done so the story can be changed or improved.
Long shot exterior house to set scene. Probably a combo of a real house prop and
a digital matte background

Dad enters kitchen with bags from DIY store, greets mom and son
Everyone is all excited for the new projects

Dad enters bedroom and sets bags down
Dad fetches his tools
Dad sets up ladder, lays out tools

Painting begins,
Seems to go ok for awhile, brush moves, applies paint
Runs into first problem,

Paint spills onto carpet, Dad tries to clean it up to no avail
Dad slides the rug over to cover the spot

Paints a bit more, but runs out of paint,
Covers unpainted spot with poster

Painting is done, parts put away
Now tries to put together bed
First two pieces go together
Now pieces everywhere
Gets worse, and bed looks bad

Flashes back to kitchen and mom and son are eating, playing, whatever

Dad still working,
Finally gets the bed looking almost like a bed

Dad is supposedly finished,
Room looks kinda crappy, paint drips all over
Bed pieces laying around
Signs of bad craftsmanship all over

Proud Dad brings in son and Mom to show off his work
They look but are not overly impressed
Kid burps a flaming fire ball

The whole room is charred and burnt

Maybe Mom hands Dad a “how to” book

Somehow roll credits and show a photo somewhere of all three standing in new
room and it looks great.

Marc Spess and I are running an animation challenge at stopmotionmagic.com

This puppet is the prize. I created this puppet especially for this contest. I see so many animators with tons of heart and desire to animate but when they get started, their puppet just doesn’t do what they want it to do. I created this puppet using the same techniques I use for almost all of my puppets.

For this one, I started by sculpting a clay body. I use Prima clay. It is like Roma clay except Prima is sulfur free. I tried Roma but the sulfur smell gave my wife a headache.

http://www.dickblick.com/products/sculpture-house-prima-plastilina-clay/

When that was done, I made a silicon rubber mold in two parts of the body. Once the mold was complete, I brushed in mold builder latex that was tinted with green paint. I think the silicon rubber I used was this:

http://www.smooth-on.com/Silicone-Rubber-an/c2_1113_1136/index.html

I then made a wire armature using annealled wire. The green areas are a two part sculpting putty called “green stuff”. The real name is kneadatite.

http://www.thewarstore.com/product18832.html

The wire is twisted in a hand drill before wrapped together. The wire is un-twisted at the ankles and knees to make it easier to bend while animating. The puppet is about 8″ tall to top of head.

For the muscles, I wrap the thin parts in athletic bandage tape (the springy soft stuff used underneath athletic wraps in sports), and for the body I cut a piece of cushion foam (like you would find in a chair cushion). The foam is slid around the wire and glued in place. I use Aleene’s tacky glue.

http://rebornsupplies.co.nz/images/thumbnails/aleenets.jpg

The feet are made from a piece of aluminum stock, cut to fit with a hacksaw, bandsaw, or dremel tool. The tie down hole is drilled and then tapped with a 8-32 screw thread. Then 4 tiny holes are drilled for the ankles wires to slip into. The wires go down through the holes, then are bent back to ensure they come out. The wires are covered with more green stuff.

I added some wire for toes, and green stuffed over it all. Then wrapped the leg wires with bandage wrap.

I gently peeled the skin out of the mold and glued on his chest using brush on latex. I held it in place with thread until it set. The arms were coated in brush on latex. Squirt some paint into little cup, add a teaspoon of latex, stir well, then dab it on the puppet. Apply a few coats to build it up. Let it dry between coats.

The head is more green stuff sculpted around the eyes. It is then painted with a brush on primer. I use model paints from Vallejo Acrylics. Most people know these as Games Workshop paints.

http://www.acrylicosvallejo.com/

I don’t put latex on the head because it peels off too easily while moving the head around.

Apply the back and keep touching up the latex. I added antennae just to give you something else you could animate. The wire is attached to the head with green stuff as I formed the head. The balls on the end are just more green stuff.  Don’t look at the props, they are for my next film.

The eyes are doll eyes. New ones, not stolen from a doll by the way. The doll eyes came from a hobby store long ago in the doll making section.

So there you have it, one puppet built. It took several days while I waited for latex to dry and green stuff to harden. Good luck with the contest, maybe you will get to animate this frog/alien/bug guy.

Go ahead, make a mess, have some fun.

well everyone, the flying ship film is finished. It is called “Remote Responsibility” and it is uploaded for all to see on my youtube page.  Here is the link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhPhJuR-r58

I thought I would do some behind the scenes shots now. It all started with the idea of a flying ship flying across a large landscape. Here is the start of the ship.

Next came a few props and some set building. These are tiny orc huts for the outside landscape.

This is the captain’s bridge after all the shooting was complete.

This is the  background  painting for the outside set. It is done on a 8′ long piece of sheetrock  (drywall).

This is the rig used to move the ship and the camera at the same time. A threaded rod pulls the whole sled along.

TThe jar of vaseline (used to lubricate the threaded rod) can be seen on the set below and give you a sense of scale.

The white jar is soldering flux, used as weight to make the sled hang straight down.

The sled is just scrap wood that slides along a metal tubing, pulled along by a threaded rod.

The bolt in the middle allowed me to move the ship and camera up or down to get the right angle.

This is a set shot before it was completely finished.

This shot the ship moved along, but the camera was stationary mounted off set.

This is after all the shooting was complete and the set tear down time has come.

I tried tiny black thread to hold up the ship, but every little breeze moved it, so I hot melt glued two rigid sticks to the top of the ship and erased them later in photoshop.

Ripping apart the cavern side where the ship rose vertically.

Some parts and props were saved, but most of the styrofoam landscape all got thrown away.

I finally get my woodshop back again. It was an incredible amount of space tied up with the set.

Stack of styrofoam scenery waiting for the trip to the dump.

Now time to start the next film. So go ahead, make a mess, have some fun.

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.

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…

the first 9 seconds are shot. The editing and clean up are not done but you can get an idea of the capt and the deckhand loading the airship