Armature Samples:

I made this sample to show how the armatures are to be made for the final pieces, the materials I have used are aluminium wire, which has been bent in two and braided using a drill and an epoxy putty called "Fix It". Each piece of braided wire was then cut and bent in half to form two fingers and placed one inside the other in the epoxy putty. The thumb is made from a single piece of braided wire and inserted in to the epoxy putty and bent in to shape. The putty takes 5-10 minutes to dry, it also helps to build out the weight of the armature and acts as a guide to certain parts of the body such as the hand. 

I covered the armature in a polymer clay called "Super Scuply", it worked well but I found it showed any little impurities in the sculpting process, however I found from a tip online that rubbing baby oil in to the clay with your finger smooths it out perfectly 

 Armature hand example and baked polymer clay hand example ready to be used for casting to make further samples. 

Further Advice from Doug at Tiranti

Hello Daniel,

The flexible polyurethane foam we supply is buried in the casting section of our website in the sub catagory of polyurethane resins, it comes supplied as a 3kg kit and expands approx. 6-8times its original liquid volume.

if modelling the sculpt' in polymer clay you may be able to produce a mould from it beofre baking, this would make it easier to use a rigid plaster to produce the mould, if unbaked you shouldn't require a release agent.

if however the polymer clay is baked then i would advice you use soft soap as a release on its surface, and also between the sections of plaster mould.

the advantage of using plaster as a mould to swill latex is that it absorbs the water content of teh latex and dries it much quicker, you do not need a release agent as it will slow down the drying effect.

the foam being poured behind should bond pretty well to the latex, it will physically trapped anyway.

as for painting latex the best thing to do is add pigments to the latex and start using it as a paint. if there is a particular base colour you have in mind this can be added to the latex swill in the mould so all you have to do is paint on the additional details.

regards

Doug

Advice From: www.tiranti.co.uk

After looking at the process needed for foam latex I have been looking for an ukternative that would do the same job. After contacting two of the college tutors they told me to ask someone at Tiranti and see what they say, here is there reply...


"

good morning Daniel

There are other alternatives to using foam latex which would not involve such a complex process of mixing and baking, but would still use similar products like latex.

The main alternative that would give a similar result is to model you item in clay, produce a plaster mould as you would when preparing for foam latex but simply swill a mouldmaking latex into the mould, pouring a few layers and allowing each to dry before pouring the next, once a reasonable skin has been developed you can then use an expanding polyurethane foam to cast into the latex. this will fill the shape and give you a latex skinned flexible casting. you would require an armature to be cast into the piece, this could be made from a soft aluminium armature wire which will be posable. this would need to be in place when casting the foam around it so that it is fully encapsulated.

kind regards

Doug"

I will discuss this further with my tutors but I feel this will be the process I use for the final

Armature Example: Windy Miller

This is an armature that was used to create the character of Windy Miller in the series Camberwick Green. As stated before the armature is a basic metal skeleton inside a foam latex body that holds the flesh in place from each frame.

Stop Motion Example: Life On Camberwick Green

Life on Mars was one of my favourite series ot hit the BBC, while thinking about examples of stop motion animation this came straight to mind. My mum told me that this is based on an old series called Camberwick Green which I will also be looking at as examples.

Stop Motion Animation: New Findings.

For the last few days I have been making some samples out of plasticine, I have been testing the weight, durability and movement of it for this particular piece and found it to not be working. I found this to be the reason why....Introducing an armature

Traditionally made from soft aluminium wire and sheet the armature becomes the moving skeleton for most stop motion animation puppets. I found that the creators use a polymer clay to build up the character from this skeleton then make a cast of the character. They then insert this skeleton in to the cast and fill it with foam latex to make the final movable puppet for the stop motion piece. Since these findings I have ordered the materials to make my own characters in the same way, now I just need to find some foam latex and then the more advanced sampling can begin.

Final Piece: The Layout Plan

(Above) 3D Plan of Final Layout

My final piece will be a stop motion animation video, I wanted to present this in an artistic way and not just on an overhead projector mounted to face the wall. I also wanted to tie in the stories origins as a book but also as one in a series of stories by the brothers Grimm, so this is my plan.

I want to download the stop motion animation piece to a tablet PC and house it inside a custom case that looks like a book, made from book binding materials, I will also make five more books to the same size but with no content. I will add the title and some surface decoration to the cover of the case and the spines of the mock books. The mock books will then be stuck together in a set of three and a set of two leaving a gap for the video book to be removed from the series. The books be mounted to two book ends (I am hoping to have time to cast two elves from clay, one for each book end). This display will then sit on the table against a wall as if on a sideboard or shelf with the video book removed and open to show the tablet screen playing the video

Stop Motion Samples: The Basics

This will be my first stop motion animation so I decided to start with the basics and use some plasticine to shape a simple form. I originally made a basic human shape but found that the plasticine was too soft and flexible for the model to stand, this could be solved with either wire or a fine mesh. I have attached my first two basic stop motion videos covering movement of the model and the models arms. During these experiments I found that it is crucial to make sure that the finger is out of shot and the camera is in focus.

Basic Movement

Basic Movement 2: Arms

I will soon be using different materials for the models, including paper. I will also find which timing is more suited to the piece.



Plans: Final Piece Display

I have been thinking about how to display the stop motion animation in a way that would show the stories book origins. I came up with the idea of storing the video on to a tablet computer such as an iPad, possibly one that is a bit less in price, and making a case for it.

I will start by making a book slightly bigger than the tablet computer and gluing each page the size of the tablet to each other and cut them out from the rest of the page to form a space for the tablet to fit in to. This way it will look like a book from the outside but have a screen on the inside for the video to play on.

Cyanotype

Cyanotype is a photographic printing process that gives a cyan-blue print. The process was popular in engineering circles well into the 20th century. The simple and low-cost process enabled them to produce large-scale copies of their work, referred to as blueprints. Two chemicals are used in the process:

• Ammonium iron(III) citrate
• Potassium ferricyanide

These chemicals are mixed to a 1:1 ratio. While researching online I found the following process to be the most commonly used, this involved.

• Mixing the two chemicals (1:1)
• Using just enough of the mixture to cover the area or sheet of paper and leave to dry.
• Apply an image printed on to acetate.
• Place both on to a UV light box.
• Apply a cover over the paper and image and weight/clamp it down on to the surface of the light box.
• Expose the image (in this case for 6-8 minutes)
• Remove the acetate image and place the paper in to water
• The areas of the image will turn bright blue.
• Remove the image and place it in to another bowl of water with a drop of peroxide to fix the image to stop the process.
• Leave to dry.

This process is to be done a a dull light or dark room as the chemical will react to the light. I believe this process could be done using negatives from a film camera, but using paper coated with the mixture instead of photographic paper. Below I have inserted the video demonstration I first watched, I beleive it to be the most helpful and explanatory. I look forward to trying this process in teh near future.

Stop Motion Ideas: Paper VS Clay Pt:2

Just to add, if I where to use paper I'm not sure if i would use 2D cut outs or 3D modelling.

2D would be pretty simple but create a bit more work for the amount of cuts needed for each movement, however it would tie in better with the book origins.

3D would be less work as I would be using one or two models and moving them to fit each frame, however,this would require some thought on how to join the models limbs to and head to its torso while keeping it loose enough to move, sturdy enough to stay in position and hidden from view. Wire, pins, nails, tape, dowel, clips, more paper, so many different ways of doing one thing.

Anyway, I really must get planning.

Stop Motion Ideas: Paper VS Clay

So, I have been thinking about this stop motion animation idea and been looking at a variety of different samples on YouTube (proving to be a very good source of inspirational content). I have found so many different examples using "claymation", some are better than others but I believe that is down to the cameraman and his chosen software. I have found very few "papermation" examples, however the ones I have found are amazing, such as the one posted further down the blog.

I have done some basic samples with clay and found that whilst moving each piece for the next frame it is hard to not get finger prints, nail nicks and smudging. This could be solved with the use of tight fitting latex gloves.

The addition of a thin layer of paper may dismiss these issues but bring a new list of its own, would the joints in the model still be able to move? Could i use glue on all non-moving areas of the model but keep the joints glue free so the paper would just crease on the joint allowing it to move?

Hmmm, with that said I believe its time to do some sampling and find out.

Artist of the Day: Haruki Nakamura - Made My Day! - Amazing

Rewind: Mrs Beeton Project

Just realised I haven't put up any pictures of the final piece from the Mrs Beeton project. I do have them and they will be posted on the blog shortly. I was very happy with the way it turned out, looked very similar to my original designs, that's a first, I have a habit of changing things around. I was very thankful to my family and friends of the family who took time out of their own busy schedules to drive me to places to buy materials that I needed and to find others that I could not.

Pictures will be posted soon.

Brothers Grimm Project: Inspiration

For my final piece for this project I plan to create a short stop motion animation based on the fairytale "The Elves" which is also known as "The Elves and the Shoemaker". This is one of my favourite books from childhood so holds many nostalgic memories for me. I plan to create the animation using cut and folded pieces of paper, I plan to use this method as it will relate back to the book origins of the story. I have noticed recently that stop motion animation is being used in a variety of different adverts for products on the television. I decided to look for some examples on YouTube that have used paper cutting and folding and found this beautiful example. (Below)

I found this advert amazing and totally inspiring, I would love for my final piece to be up to the same standard as this if not better. I know this process takes ages to produce, I remember a girl in my media studies class during A-Levels making one, so I have given myself a month to make the video, more on this as it develops.

Coming Soon

I feel as if I have been neglecting my blog recently while planning my work for the current project using the Grimm fairy tales. I have also been planning some changes for my blog, I will still talk about things happening at college but I will soon also be talking about art related interests that I am working with outside of college. These topics will include the following.

• Behind the scenes of college topics
• Gear reviews
• New skills  
• The big build - Printing Press
• My own clothing brand and designs

And many more, I will be updating the blog three times a week starting next week. Watch this space