Sunday 13 May 2012

Prototype Puppet

For the last couple of days I've been making a prototype stop motion puppet from the plasticine maquette I've made.
I'm learning how to carve in foam and make basic armatures. The ones I made earlier weren't made from the right wire.
I like carving in foam- if i do cut too much away I can just glue more on. I haven't got as far as putting detail on.
I like the look of the tail because you can se the construction and it doesn't look 'normal'.

I made the tail by attaching polymorph discs to the twisted wire. I then stretched tights over the 'skeleton'.


As i haven't done a scale drawing I have to compare
the armature to the model.


At first i was going to make the tail discs like this because they
resembled the fish spine discs more but from the front view they looked
too big a blocky and I want something more delicate.

Pelvis/Tail base and first disc.



Four holes holds them in place better.






The foam was glued onto the armature



Carving with nail scissors to get the basic form.

I wanted to cover the wire with something to make it look more
like spine. The string didn't look that good,
it was to bulky and meant the wire couldn't
be bent as well.

I used physiotherapy bandage soaked in latex and then
added a bit of string to create a spiny look.
But then i removed the string as the bandage on
its own looked better and moved better.

All wire covered.


Testing the tights over the tail armature.




I found some scraps of really nice, soft, thin foam
which i soaked in latex and wrapped around the 'bones'
on the arms

Attaching K and S for the head.



                                      



I'm going to do some tests of the tail being animated tomorrow to see if its worth pursuing. I think for my assessment if i can get a good working prototype and some video tests that will be good- for my benefit I have definitely learnt something and its something i can continue with over the sumer and in 3rd year.
I would like to have a finished puppet but I don't think I will have time. I don't want to rush anything and stress my self out.

I really wish I'd been in a better head space earlier on, I could have done this a week or two ago and had the time to make a final puppet.

But I do have other little experiments that I like and also want to develop further. It just takes me so long to get into self motivated projects. Next year I can't work on my own.

























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