tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-85687994915528151752024-03-21T06:18:23.661-07:00Rayfriend's Adventures in MiniatureAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.comBlogger21125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-53163458667627474822016-04-10T14:43:00.000-07:002016-04-10T14:43:05.170-07:00The Nausicaa Project: Accessorizing Kai - Saddlebags<div style="text-align: center;">
This week's post continues with accessory making for Kai - this week I'm writing about how I made the saddlebags. In all of my references (the manga, watercolour concept art and movie screenshots) Kai is pictured with two saddlebags which are attached on either side of his back behind the saddle. As usual there was variation to be seen - in the movie they're green and more rounded in shape, whereas the watercolour references and manga show a more rectangular type of bag. As with everything I've made so far, I've had to find a medium between all of the references which looks good in 3D. This picture, which I found in the manga, was my main reference for the side of the bags:</div>
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I began by drawing a scale image of the bag and working out the pattern pieces. It's quite a simple design - four sides with a base and a flap that folds over the top. The sides are curved to get that nice shape, as seen in the picture above. I then transferred the patterns to tracing paper and cut them out in the fabric. They're made from a sandy coloured suede material, which is cut up from a coat I found in a charity shop.</div>
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The side pieces were tacked together, ready for sewing. </div>
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I sewed the sides together on a machine with a leather needle. The resulting bag was nice and strong. Here it is with the base also attached.</div>
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The next stage was making the lid, which was sew to the back piece of the bag, the edges folded under and glued to create a neat hem. In this picture I was checking I was happy with the size...scale looking good!</div>
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The bags needed to be joint in some way, but there's never any evidence of how they're supported in the artwork, so I had to imagine the look for myself. I did some research into western saddlebags, and designed a middle piece based on the images I found. </div>
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Next it was time for the details: straps and toggles. The straps are made from a very tiny strap leather cut to shape, the toggles from small wooden beads I filed down. </div>
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This view of the bags from above shows the curve in the centre piece, which fits nicely around the back of the saddle. I plan to add small leather straps which will hold the saddle bags securely to the saddle so they don't move around.</div>
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At this stage, the saddle bags were almost finished. I was yet to add decorative metal studs on the straps, which I am yet to photograph!</div>
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I'm very happy with this little pair of saddlebags. I feel that all of the accessories have really helped bring Kai to life. Next week I'll continue with Accessorizing Kai: my post will be about how I made his bridle. Thanks for reading!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-39229449247868060732016-04-04T15:02:00.001-07:002016-04-04T15:02:09.476-07:00The Nausicaa Project: Accessorizing Kai - Leg Guards<div style="text-align: center;">
My blog post this week follows on from making Kai's saddle - the next accessory I made for him were his leg guards. As per usual I gathered several references from different artworks, and tried to find a balance between all of them that looked best in 3D model form. Here's one example - a section from the manga with a nice back view of the leg guards. You can see the curves at the edges and the straps that hold them to the leg.</div>
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The first thing I did was made a pattern out of felt to try and establish the shape of the leg guards.</div>
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I used the same cord technique that I applied to the saddle to add some definition to the shape of the leg guards.</div>
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I then tried covering one of the leg guards in leather. However, I found that the shape warped and the felt wrinkled, leaving me with quite a messy and unsatisfying looking shape. So it was back to the drawing board.</div>
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I built leg guard mark II with a bit more structure, meaning that the shape looked more uniform, and would hopefully cover well too. The final guards have five layers - an initial calico pattern, lined with a thick suede, topped in felt, which is then smoothed out with nylon and finally covered in a thin layer of leather. This is one of the guards before the leather covering.</div>
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You can see the thick suede layer underneath, which really helped to solidify the shape. </div>
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Then the boots were covered in the same very thin leather I used for the saddle. You can see in this picture that the surface is much smoother and the shape more defined and accurate to the artwork. At this stage, they were just being held together with masking tape, waiting for real straps.</div>
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The final straps were made out of scrap leather I cut to size. I couldn't get the perfect colour I wanted, so painted them with enamel paints I mixed myself.</div>
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Kai is very happy with his new leg guards! Once I had finished these I moved on to make the saddle bags, which I'll cover in my next post.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-88669895971923416472016-03-21T16:18:00.003-07:002016-03-21T16:18:56.492-07:00The Nausicaa Project: Saddling Up<div style="text-align: center;">
My blog post today is going to be about how I made the saddle for Kai. It's probably the most complicated accessory he has, and took a week to make from the scale drawings to the final covering in leather. </div>
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Once again I've been using several references from the manga and the movie, but this one was key to the overall aesthetic I wanted:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjck45e2a4XrUtmCJwE7U866v-VOs6ZGJyfHrLuK7jsvv07txph3p5udxd6A2rWiTXBNYCz3J0NlGAgnUlJsTCGmFrQXG2AouNVjUHcPk2x1tvbiNmcmdO-9xmuA-GNOm9OmG_mMQvFqYoC/s1600/IMG_3260.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="556" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjck45e2a4XrUtmCJwE7U866v-VOs6ZGJyfHrLuK7jsvv07txph3p5udxd6A2rWiTXBNYCz3J0NlGAgnUlJsTCGmFrQXG2AouNVjUHcPk2x1tvbiNmcmdO-9xmuA-GNOm9OmG_mMQvFqYoC/s640/IMG_3260.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I started off by going back to my original scale drawing of Kai and adding a sketch of the saddle, to get a sense of the size and proportions.</div>
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Then I made some more specific sketches, working out the sizes and shapes from all angles.</div>
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Once I had finalised these, I transferred them to tracing paper and cut them out to transfer the shapes onto plastazote.</div>
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The idea was to carve the saddle 'tree' out of plastazote, which is the hard central part of the saddle (most commonly made out of wood on a horse's saddle in full scale). It's a lightweight material which carves easily with a scalpel, and can be sanded and filed. I initially tried breaking up the elements of the saddle tree, but decided after this experiment that it might be easier to carve it as one solid block. It was useful just for getting a sense of the shape and size on Kai himself.</div>
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I then decided to make a quick wire outline model of the saddle, to get a more solid idea of the size, before carving the final tree.</div>
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It was still easier at times to build up pieces, so I had to fill in some gaps with milliput. </div>
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The piping added to the saddle tree is to create the decorative ridges you can see the artwork. The two flaps on either side of the tree are made from felt.</div>
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The lower flaps were then added, also made of felt. At this stage the main shape of the saddle was finished and ready to be covered!</div>
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The leather I used was from a coat I bought in a charity shop and cut up. It was already thin but not thin enough, so I tried to skiver the back with a scalpel. This got messy and I kept on stabbing holes through the material, but then a miracle happened - I discovered I was able to peel back the top layer, a paper-thin sheet of leather...perfect for covering such a complex shape on this scale.</div>
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As you can see, the leather was so thin that it picked up every tiny detail. This is just glued down with UHU glue.</div>
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I removed the side panels to covered them, same principles involved in covering the curved shapes. Just gluing small sections at a time and pressing it well to make sure there were no bubbles in the surface.</div>
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At this point I just needed to cover the base. It was lovely to see it at this stage, starting to look like a real life tiny saddle.</div>
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I discovered near the end of the covering process that a layer of nylon (my favourite material ever) stretched over the plastazote helped to smooth out any imperfections that might show up in the super-thin leather. So I covered the whole base of the saddle in a layer of white nylon first. It's also very thin, so didn't make the shape bulkier, just smoother!</div>
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Sitting it on my hand like this, I was thinking that it would be nice to make it a little wooden saddle stand...with all of the free time of have!</div>
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I'm really happy with the final saddle, and it fits Kai's back beautifully! It just needs some finishing touches now like stirrups for Nausicaa to put her feet in and straps to hold it onto Kai's body.</div>
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Thanks for reading, and check back in a week for my next instalment!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-72128453324885536292016-03-13T15:01:00.001-07:002016-03-13T15:01:47.573-07:00The Nausicaa Project: Tackling Hair<div style="text-align: center;">
This week I'm going to explain how I went about making Nausicaa's wig, which was my first experiment in wig making. I spent quite a bit of time prior to this looking for good tutorials and thinking about how I could apply different elements to building Nausicaa's hair up. Transposing the design of her hair shape from 2D to 3D was another challenge to consider - how would I emulate the hand drawn look in a physical model?</div>
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I began with the most obvious stage - making a wig cap to build the hair up on. It's a couple of layers of a stretch mesh fabric, sewn together with invisible thread. The elasticity gives it a nice stretch so it fits well on her head with no slippage. </div>
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My initial decision for hair build up was to make wefts of hair which would be attached to the wig cap in layers. This involved spreading hair across a strip of mesh material and glueing it down with Gorilla Glue. By the way, the hair I'm using for Nausicaa is Saran, bought from Restoredoll.com. I managed to find a great colour match.</div>
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I made multiple wefts, which were then glued to the wig cap in layers, starting at the bottom.</div>
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The problem is that the hair slipped when I glued it to the wig, and also the stiffness of the Gorilla Glue once the wefts had set made it hard to shape around the skull. So instead I tried glueing the hair in sections, directly onto the wig cap. I tried using a different glue as well - Aleene's Tacky Glue. It's very strong but not as industrial as gorilla glue, and dries clear as well. I stuck sections down, coated them in glue with a tooth pick and then trimmed the edges straight.</div>
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I kept building up the hair until I began to reach the centre of the skull.</div>
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I then cut a fringe across the front of her head to the rough length the final hair would be. It was immediately evident that her hair was very flat on top of her head though - Nausicaa has a big mass of hair on top of her skull, so it didn't look right. </div>
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I tried building it up with multiple layers to get the desired but this didn't work well, so I ended up making an upholstery foam former on top of her skull, with hair lying over it, to get the look I wanted.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUVAVHulZRU5AukdNk5Mm99epmAQ1fW1Tr14iUJv7m1EjoWaHhK9Jo1J0UZBDLiAMGbCuwHTKBSgiRVZ174chicLPmDmmed82PquX7HIMnqXF94tG1dSKKw9YEm5G9WrpC7TmVti_ZY9_J/s1600/IMG_3155.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUVAVHulZRU5AukdNk5Mm99epmAQ1fW1Tr14iUJv7m1EjoWaHhK9Jo1J0UZBDLiAMGbCuwHTKBSgiRVZ174chicLPmDmmed82PquX7HIMnqXF94tG1dSKKw9YEm5G9WrpC7TmVti_ZY9_J/s640/IMG_3155.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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As you can see, this made a huge difference to the volume of hair on the top of her head. The former also helped me to make a neat hairline - I made a slit in the upholstery foam so I could fold the hair in and under, making what looks like quite a natural hairline, free from glue marks.</div>
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So the final stage was to cut and style the hair. Cutting hair is something else I've never really done before (and it's harder than it looks, trust me!), so I just had to take it slowly and try to work out how to achieved the shape. I layered the bottom to get that curved bob shape Nausicaa has.</div>
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Once the shape was mostly right, I had to work out a way to style is and get that clean, graphic look. I experimented with a few things, but in the end a varnish - 'Future Floor Polish', worked amazingly at holding the shape of the hair without making it look too rigid or ruining the finish of the saran.</div>
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It meant that I was able to give the fringe more definition, and also taper the ends of hair in places to give it that anime look.</div>
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The wig isn't completely finished - I'd like to taper the hair in at the skull more so it flares out at the bottom. There are some other little tweaks I could make to help it match the artwork more accurately. But it's a good start, and for my first attempt at wig making I'm quite happy with the results!</div>
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Thank you for keeping up to date with this project, and check back next Sunday for my next post, which will be about how I made Kai's saddle.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-30620001786539176592016-03-06T13:56:00.000-08:002016-03-06T13:56:58.677-08:00The Nausicaa Project: Forming The Face<div style="text-align: center;">
In this week's blog post I'm going to explain how I covered Nausicaa's face in nylon, and my general conclusions about the overall build up of the face, which has been a delicate and frustrating business at times.</div>
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First of all, I should mention that I ripped off the soft sculpture and started from scratch not once, but twice...partially because I wasn't getting the results I wanted with the wire, and also because the shape wasn't looking right. It pays to get these things looking as you want them to!</div>
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First attempt:</div>
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Second attempt:</div>
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Third attempt:</div>
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There, that's better. So once I was satisfied with how the face shape was looking, I stretched and pinned the first (pink) layer of nylon over the face. Lisa Lichtenfels needle sculpts the face in the same way as the body, but because Nausicaa's skull is a hard resin I couldn't do this. My alternative was carefully glueing down the nylon with tiny dabs of UHU glue. This was only necessary on the details, like around the eyes and nose - the rest could just be stretched over the face.</div>
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Snipping and glueing around the eyes was particularly fiddly work. The desire is to get the nylon evenly stretched, so the colour is consistent and the grain is going in the same directions across the planes of the face.</div>
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Regarding the wire in the face - by this stage I had come to accept that the only wire working well to animate was the eyelids. Unfortunately the mouth and eyebrow pieces are hard to manipulate, I think because the scale is so small. I have a suspicion that this technique would work well on a larger scale, which is something I'd like to experiment with in the future.</div>
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By the time the second layer was on the whole face was looking very smoothed out. I apologise for the poor photo quality, the lighting is awful when I work at home so it's difficult to take good progress photos! I was trying out some eyelashes here, just to see how they'd change the shape of the eye.</div>
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I took a lot of care to glue nice clean seams under the chin that can't be seen. There are darts stitched on the head, but they'll be covered with the wig so it doesn't matter that the stitches are large and visible.</div>
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The next stage was making her some ears. This was very difficult, it took me two days to work out something I liked the look of! The final method: little wire pieces that formed the shapes and depth of the ears:</div>
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These were then spray painted white and built up in wadding in specific places before being covered in nylon, which was glued down. I failed to take any photos of this stage because I was so focused on making them look right! But here's the first finished ear, pinned on and about to be sewn. I made them to emulate an anatomical ear shape, but with the anime, hand drawn simplicity - so more just concaves in the right places:</div>
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Once I had sewn on the other ear I continued to play around with eyelashes and eyebrows. I found that strands of thread, glued together and tapered at the ends, worked well for the eyebrows:</div>
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The end result was looking pretty nice! I might experiment a bit more with the brows and lashes, but for now I'm liking how they look.</div>
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Overall I'm feeling really happy with how her face is looking. I'm still amazed at the definition and shape that can be achieved with just wire, wadding and nylon. Despite some struggle and frustration it's been wonderful to see this puppet come to life, and I definitely want to experiment more with soft sculpture in the future. It's time consuming and painstaking, but I think the results are worth it in the end!</div>
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Next weekend I'm going to write about how I made Nausicaa's wig, which has been another 'teach myself from scratch and hope for the best' sort of journey. Thanks again for reading!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-14088456356166720902016-02-29T00:18:00.001-08:002016-02-29T00:18:43.550-08:00The Nausicaa Project: Experiments in Nylon<div style="text-align: center;">
This week's blog post is about how I gave my Nausicaa puppet a covering of nylon skin, and my general experience with using the medium for the first time.</div>
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As you'll know from a previous post, the method I've been experimenting with for this puppet is 'soft sculpture'; building up layers of stitched wadding to create a 3D shape with the intention of covering it in a stretch nylon to emulate human flesh. My inspiration comes from the artist Lisa Lichtenfels, who achieves amazing results with this technique.</div>
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Once I was happy with the shape and smoothness of the wadding on the body, the next step was to pin and stretch nylon over it, ready to be sewn. I had previously dyed white nylon tights to two shades, a light pink and a pale skin colour. I used Kemtex Rit Dye in 'Sand Beige' and 'Cerise Red' for this:</div>
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The light pink was the first layer to be applied. The idea is that by layering two different colours more depth is created, the overall result being a naturalistic warmth in the skin. Before pinning down the nylon I covered any obvious seam lines with little wisps of stuffing to help smooth out the shape. Ideally you want as few seam lines as possible on the nylon, or at least for the necessary seam lines to be in subtle places. So here, I used the same piece of nylon on the legs and the front of the torso, creating the seam at the side of the body and around the armholes:</div>
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Getting a neat seam line is vital to the overall look of the skin being fluid, so clean cutting and neat pinning is an important part of the process. It's also important to pull the nylon taut enough, so the nylon doesn't ripple or distort the shape of the body:</div>
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At this stage I started needle sculpting in details, like around the toes. The final layer will hopefully look its best, if time is taken on the first!</div>
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Once the pink nylon was fully stretched and stitched down I started to apply the second, flesh coloured layer. In some areas, rather than stitching in the details I applied a tiny covering of glue and gently pressed the shape. I found that this gave a nicer result than needle sculpting in some areas, which I definitely need to practice more! The shoulder blade detail came out quite nicely with this technique:</div>
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At this stage I was really starting to appreciate just how well the nylon and wadding creates the looks of flesh, and feeling pretty happy with the results! They're such basic and unlikely materials, I'm still amazed at what can be done with them.</div>
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The hands were incredibly fiddly, and took me a whole day to get right! They're not perfect, but I managed to make the stitches pretty subtle.</div>
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Regarding how I stitched the skin down, for the first layer I tried just pulling the two raw edges together as gently as possible, but the result was quite a visible line which looked uneven and messy. For the skin toned layer I tried a slip stitch instead, which rendered a much more subtle and neat result.</div>
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Her face took days of work and I have a lot to say about it, so I'll save it for next week's post. Nausicaa is now fully covered, and I'm definitely very happy with how she's looking overall. I still have a lot to learn about this soft sculpture technique, and working on this puppet has only made me more curious to experiment more and keep learning.<br />
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Thanks for reading, check back next week for my post on covering the face!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-23000222441138399082016-02-21T14:48:00.000-08:002016-02-21T14:48:04.047-08:00The Nausicaa Project: Blue Plumage<div style="text-align: center;">
My Post this week is going to be on how I made miniature feathers for Kai. This was my main reference for the overall look and colour:</div>
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I considered some different methods of how I might make the feathers - silk fabric, tissue paper - in the end it made the most sense to use actual feathers, as you can't get closer than the real thing! The only issue was scale, as this puppet needed to be covered in 2cm long feathers, with stalks that were very thin. </div>
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I experimented with cutting down the top of a regular sized feather and found that it looked like the perfect miniature:</div>
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So now I had to work out how many feathers I'd need to cover Kai, and order a bulk lot of the same type for consistency. I ordered 600 white goose feathers, with the intention of hand dyeing them blue myself. I considered buying them pre-dyed to save time, but for the right colour match and a natural variation I figured that mixing the colour myself was the best option.</div>
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I then spent 10 hours dyeing 600 feathers! I discovered two valuable things: one, the waxy surface of feathers don't like to take dye, so you have to give them a really good wash in soda ash first. Two, rit dye doesn't work very well, silk dye works much better. I guess that's because it's made for a natural material. I ended up using a combination of rit dye and silk dye in the vat, in two different shades of blue.</div>
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By changing the consistency of how long I dyed different batches of feathers for, and how concentrated the dye was (or varying the colour - I dipped some of them in a separate purple vat) I ended up with feathers in a myriad of blue and purple tones, just what I wanted!</div>
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I started by building up the tail, as I'd need larger feathers for this part. My aim was to get the 'fan' look, similar to Miyazaki's artwork:</div>
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I started at the base of the tail and built backwards, starting with smaller feathers and working my way out to the very large ones.</div>
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The feathers are glued to the nylon skin of the bird puppet with a dab of UHU glue.</div>
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I was able to build up a lovely fan shaped tail, similar to the artwork. My only thought is that it could be held higher, so I might revisit that at a later point and see if I can get the larger feathers around the edge to stick up more.</div>
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For the main feathers on the body, I'd need hundreds of teeny tiny feathers. I worked out that 2cm was a good looking standard size. One by one, I started cutting the large feathers down, production line style! Unfortunately half of each feather went to waste, because it gets to the point where the stalks are too thick and out of scale.</div>
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I started by layering these on the back, once again using a dab of UHU glue on the ends to secure them to the body. At this point I really began to appreciate the effect of the colour variation.</div>
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I used the most fluffy, downy feathers for Kai's chest, as they have a lovely fluffiness to them.</div>
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The build up process was surprisingly quick! Although repetitive, each new patch of skin covered was very satisfying.</div>
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I also used the downy feathers for the bottom of the legs, where they'd likely be smaller and fluffier.</div>
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I like how the feathers have an almost armour-like quality to them when they're layered up. The trickiest part was the top of the legs, as I had to get that curve looking natural.</div>
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The stalks on the feathers got a little thick here, as I was running low and having to use offcuts. I think they'll look just fine if I paint out the white stalks individually.</div>
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From the front, nearly finished and looking noble!</div>
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The head was the last section that needed covering, and required the most detail. I made the feathers smaller on the face, especially around the eye. As you can see at this point, he's got a silicone skin piece that sits around the eyeball. I sculpted this, made a plaster mould for it and cast it.</div>
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It got to the point where I had to make my own feathers by glueing two sides cut down from a large stalk back together again, because I'd totally ran out of feathers in the right scale. Can you tell the difference between the fake and real feathers in the photo?</div>
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Kai isn't 100% covered yet because I ran out of feathers, leaving half of his belly naked. I've ordered some more and will be dyeing them soon to get him finished and ready for prop decorations - his saddle, bridle, saddle bags etc.</div>
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Thanks for reading and following my project!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-53209885970942342012016-02-07T13:13:00.000-08:002016-02-07T13:13:03.580-08:00The Nausicaa Project: A Prehistoric Beak Takes Shape<div style="text-align: center;">
Hi there everyone! Time for another update on a rainy Sunday evening in Cardiff. In this post I'm going to talk about the process of making Kai the bird's beak, from sculpting through to mould making, casting and painting.</div>
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I had a few references for Kai's beak from the manga of Nausicaa, the film, a Bandai model kit and also Miyazaki's watercolour concept art. Most of them were similar to look at; a large smooth beak with a horned tip and flat nostril on the top. In one watercolour piece the beak was a bit more interesting - the surface had more shape and detail, which I quite liked. So I decided that my main inspiration for the beak would come from this image:</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0VaI_WfcwD6COgUI5Va1EfDzcJxRX9o1lpR334idj9ANn0nnsnY-2tgidtKa9fpJUthQXSYvJBTNglrRw1bCn2xjlK1ogre75U1SCbKjoEz1jcV8v6NDtYbv7IMZ0oAZtmyaxRLM5qtlY/s1600/20120511_001_Nausicaa_04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="464" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0VaI_WfcwD6COgUI5Va1EfDzcJxRX9o1lpR334idj9ANn0nnsnY-2tgidtKa9fpJUthQXSYvJBTNglrRw1bCn2xjlK1ogre75U1SCbKjoEz1jcV8v6NDtYbv7IMZ0oAZtmyaxRLM5qtlY/s640/20120511_001_Nausicaa_04.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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My plan was to sculpt the beak, based on my scale drawing, in two separate halves. However given that I was making it hollow and quite large, I needed something to support the final shape that I could sculpt on top of.</div>
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Here was the solution: I made a solid shape of the beak which was the length/width/shape of the hollow inside I wanted. I then covered this in cling film and built on top of it with a thin Milliput base. Milliput is very strong, so once this solidified I was able to dig out the clay, leaving me with a firm but hollow shape to sculpt on top of. Note that I left a reasonable gap around the eye socket. </div>
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Here it is after the clay was removed, the perfect shape and size for building onto. Major credz to Nathan Flynn (Sculpt Double) for teaching me this technique!</div>
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I then sculpted the beak onto the Milliput base in medium plastilline clay.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioIXVvHGC0WKYDV-qz1uo145QiQvpuIBDglusPcyrF9sqRCAO2IuIeilWI83QbTZNTg17j4Ai6bSaZGofrBiUpqoKjLiwbv8AT0ao8Is-LBO4OZKC-psIkRa61zRxnHMDCNICTxTh98y3Y/s1600/IMG_2073.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioIXVvHGC0WKYDV-qz1uo145QiQvpuIBDglusPcyrF9sqRCAO2IuIeilWI83QbTZNTg17j4Ai6bSaZGofrBiUpqoKjLiwbv8AT0ao8Is-LBO4OZKC-psIkRa61zRxnHMDCNICTxTh98y3Y/s640/IMG_2073.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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I textured the surface slightly using the end of a bristly paint brush, to give the beak a nice surface for getting that weathered, nomadic animal look!</div>
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Once I was happy with how the top half of the beak was looking I made a mould box for it out of foam board glued together with hot glue. The pour spout (coming out of the base into the back of the skull) has a piece of brass rod going through it which was glued down to the base of the foam board, keeping the heavy sculpt stable and secure.</div>
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Here it is fully boxed up and ready to be poured!</div>
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Here's the resulting silicone mould, just after I poured the two part Fast Cast resin in. It's blue and pink because I ran out of silicone halfway through and the catalyst for the new batch was a different colour! </div>
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The resulting beak cast! There were a few air bubbles and such that I needed to clean up, but nothing major.</div>
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The next stage was to sculpt the bottom half of the beak, which was very tricky because I had to make it fit nicely with the top half and also stay true to the design in the artwork.</div>
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I got there eventually and was happy with the final look. Here it is after also being moulded in silicone and cast in fast cast:</div>
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After some filling, sanding and a general clean up, the two pieces were ready to paint.</div>
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I spray painted them in a base coat of Tamiya 'Wooden Deck Tan'.</div>
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I used a combination of ground down chalk pastels and washes of brown acrylic paint to get the desired look. The head is attached to the neck through the skull, the aluminium wire glued to a piece of hollow brass rod I set inside the skull. The bottom half of the beak is attached to the top half in a similar way.</div>
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Skipping ahead to where I'm currently at with this puppet, the beak has really come into its own! I'm very happy with how it's looking. Thanks again for following this project, and check back next week for another update.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-3498035588461519092016-01-31T11:40:00.001-08:002016-02-07T12:25:40.104-08:00The Nausicaa Project: Soft Sculpting the Face<div style="text-align: center;">
Hi everyone! Big apologies that this post has come two weeks late - I've been awfully busy recently and haven't found time to update my blog!<br />
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I'm going to continue from where my last post left off, which covered the process of building up Nausicaa's body in soft sculpture. I've made a lot of progress since - she has a face now and is ready to get her nylon skin!</div>
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Once I was relatively happy with the shape of her body, with only a few minor adjustments to make, I moved onto the face.</div>
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Lying her against my scale drawings was helpful to check the shapes and proportions.<br />
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Onto the head: before I could build up the face in soft sculpture, I need to put her eyes in. They're 10mm white balls which were drilled through the centre with the smallest drill bit I have (less than 1mm thick). I then used a dremel to make oval concaves for the iris', and painted into these. The final process was to fill the concaves with a blob of clear epoxy resin glue, which is what gives them that bulging 3D look.<br />
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Once the glue had set, I drilled new holes into the pupils - these will be used to move the eyes in the sockets during animation.<br />
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I had previously covered the skull in a layer of thin wadding, glued down with UHU glue, to give it a sewable base.<br />
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The next stage was to insert the wire elements that would make up the features for soft sculpture. I used copper wire for the non-poseable elements, the ears and the nose. The aluminium wire for the eyelids, eyebrows and lips is very flexible so they can be animated.<br />
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I had to carefully drill tiny holes to insert the shaped pieces of wire, and glued them in with a 2 part epoxy.<br />
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The next stage was to apply a base layer of nylon to the wire elements. This is particularly important for the eyelids, as it creates the skin for them. This is stitched down to the batting in preparation for soft sculpture.<br />
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Once the base layer of nylon was down, I started building up the batting on the face. At this point it looked pretty weird!<br />
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As with the body, it was a case of pin and stitch until the shape looks right. I don't know if I ever went into much depth about the design of the skull, but it was cut back from my original sculpture of Nausicaa's 'finished face' by 3mm - the result being a simplified but accurate skull that I could soft sculpt on top of.<br />
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Given the scale it was very fiddly work - I used a fine curved needle to stitch on the tiny pieces<br />
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At this point she was finally starting to look like Nausicaa! The long pointy chin, large forehead and tiny nose are what make her face.<br />
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Comparing her face to my original sculpture was incredibly helpful - this is what she should look like when the nylon covering smooths out the seam lines.<br />
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So the next step on Nausicaa will be her skin covering, but right now I'm working on giving Kai some feathers and writing my dissertation. Next week I'll be back with a new post, discussing the creation of Kai's beak, which involved quite a lot of different processes.<br />
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Thanks again for following this project, it means a lot to me to know that you're interested in these puppets and the processes involved in making them!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-1081758791020427572016-01-10T16:15:00.003-08:002016-01-10T16:16:06.138-08:00The Nausicaa Project: The Beginnings of Soft Sculpture<div style="text-align: center;">
Hello everyone!</div>
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I'm back this Sunday to talk about my experiments in soft sculpture, the method which I'm using to build up the bodies of Kai and Nausicaa. My inspiration for this came from the amazing artist Lisa Lichtenfels, who I talked about in an earlier post. You can read about that <a href="http://rayfriendsadventuresinminiature.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/from-inspiration-plan-is-hatched.html">here.</a></div>
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The basic idea is building up layer after layer of a very fine wadding to create a 3D shape. The sections of wadding are based on the muscles of the puppets. These are pinned to the armature's sewable yarn base and an initial layer is sewn on. It's a process that takes a very long time, and requires a lot of patience, but I've been making strides with it!</div>
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In this post I'm going to focus on my progress with Nausicaa. Next week we'll take a look at Kai.</div>
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First of all I wrapped her armature tightly in a white yarn. The fingers and toes were wrapped in white thread too. This creates a sewable base for the wadding to be built up onto.</div>
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Next I cut some upholstery foam to shape in the gap between Nausicaa's ribcage and pelvis. This is the best material for creating a nice flexible stomach when she leans over. I glued this in place with UHU glue.</div>
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The wadding I'm using is Thermore ultra thin quilted clothing batting. It's just a couple of mm thick and doesn't pile at all, so is perfect for building up a body of this scale. I started off by just sewing an inital layer over the body core and the feet. In this photo I also gave the hands a base and started to build up the knee bones. The bone shapes are sewn in felt because it's thicker than the wadding and nice and dense. By viewing the armature as the 'skeleton' of the puppet and working from the inside out like this, I should get a better looking muscle build up later.</div>
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I had to be extra-careful when sewing around the fingers, which are really teeny tiny!</div>
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The cast skull was attached to the armature before I went any further with the build up process. Having her head on would definitely help with keeping things in scale later.</div>
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In this photo I'm starting to build up the muscles on Nausicaa's legs. I have two diagrams of reference based on my initial scale drawings, one of the front of her body and one of the back. The red half is a more acurate rendering, the blue side is a simplified version. Using these as a reference I make pattern pieces, cut them out, pin them to the armature and sew them on.</div>
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After a whole day of building up the body, very little had changed from face value! It takes a while for recognisable shapes to form, but building up in layers is completely necessary for the structure of the body to be solid. The body looks dishearteningly strange at the beginning of the process for this reason, but you just have to trust that it will evolve!</div>
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Using steel wire, I gave her a collarbone and some shoulder blades.</div>
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Precise pinning and careful sewing are crucial - the wadding must lie as flat and seamlessly as possible on the puppet.</div>
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After just three full days of sewing, Nausicaa is certainly starting to take shape. My week ahead will be entirely dedicated to finishing her body build up, so keep your eyes out on my Instagram account for daily progress photos!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-20833505900185995482016-01-03T15:44:00.003-08:002016-01-03T15:44:39.884-08:00The Nausicaa Project: From Clay to Latex Legs<div style="text-align: center;">
Just a quick update this evening, as unfortunately I've been quite bogged down in dissertation work this weekend! In my last entry I talked about the process of making Kai's legs, from realising the design in clay to moulding it in plaster.</div>
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When the two part plaster mould was set, cleaned up and ready to use, I poured latex into the hole where the top of the leg begins. I left this for about half an hour before turning the mould upside down and tipping it out again, which was long enough to create a reasonably thick skin. Obviously I wanted the leg to be hollow so it would fit over the armature. I then left the mould for 24 hours to ensure that the latex was 100% set.</div>
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Once removed, this was the result!</div>
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By the third attempt I had two feet I was happy with.</div>
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The next step was the bulk out the leg armatures so that the latex feet would sit over them solidly. This is often achieved with snipped upholstery foam, but as I'm making the flesh of my puppet using the soft sculpture technique, I thought I would try this out on the feet too.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2QJZnnuXbnEBa9Htfs3_XYuuX2sXuVG-dNfvK-LeUNDIz6QyXnQPPVTDEEgDKtackUFjNxg1HDj9Im85wO9GCkI45dQMSv-T5t1LLQIV8xhf49ga9rYk0owvLpjpcAS6qR8qs3GYeVQav/s1600/PC222261.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2QJZnnuXbnEBa9Htfs3_XYuuX2sXuVG-dNfvK-LeUNDIz6QyXnQPPVTDEEgDKtackUFjNxg1HDj9Im85wO9GCkI45dQMSv-T5t1LLQIV8xhf49ga9rYk0owvLpjpcAS6qR8qs3GYeVQav/s640/PC222261.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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It has worked just as well, and was quite an accurate way of building up the shapes. I haven't included the claws at this stage, as they're going to be added seperately in fast cast later.</div>
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I cut the feet in the corners, slipping the toes over the padded out armature like socks. Once re-aligned, I glued the cut edges back together with contact adhesive. The boots Kai wears have straps which fasten around the toes - these should cover the seam lines nicely.</div>
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In this photo I was trying to disguise the seamline left by the two part mould by building up more latex. I had already painted a base coat of acrylic onto the foot, but I didn't realise that this would simply crack and peel when positioned. I had to work over the top of it with acrylic mixed with latex paint. This worked nicely and gave a much better finish too!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLyRCFRT3vs02MZMs9DK3LQ4_rzyphb1XuK4SC94-shyWJtyRPMcHO92406UWdzrJVPe4yN-7Kud4f4YjF79jEORiZp36QJsfRpu4wSZ439WUXhHhfOo37PmMgein8U6i8Qoq8K8v2tc_0/s1600/IMG_2026.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLyRCFRT3vs02MZMs9DK3LQ4_rzyphb1XuK4SC94-shyWJtyRPMcHO92406UWdzrJVPe4yN-7Kud4f4YjF79jEORiZp36QJsfRpu4wSZ439WUXhHhfOo37PmMgein8U6i8Qoq8K8v2tc_0/s640/IMG_2026.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Here's a photo of the final base colour, after touching in the seamlines on the toes for some hours to get them looking really smooth. As mentioned before, these aren't actually the final toes. These ones are going to be snipped off and replaced with fast cast alternatives. The hard plastic will be a much more suitable material and will provide a nice contrast to the rubbery legs.</div>
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That wraps up my latest Sunday update. Thanks again for reading, and do check back next weekend. I'll probably be discussing soft sculpture in more detail, as the body build-up is what I'm primarily working on in the coming week.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-44636431595389844932015-12-27T14:39:00.002-08:002015-12-27T14:39:25.766-08:00The Nausicaa Project: Sculpting and Moulding the Bird Feet<div style="text-align: center;">
In this week's blog post I'm going to discuss the creation of Kai the horseclaw's bird feet. Good references for the horseclaws are generally hard to come by, especially full body images. There's a close-up shot in the movie of the feet, which are quite simple in shape with small claws. I noticed how when the feet land, they splay out on a 180 degree angle, creating a square. The back toe is a bit shorter but the front three are the same length.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqHwsAsjXVllowgyLEDYG4Hsgb1Jn8MDUY0sfnphiIY2npZPitsc-o0yC77ORp_00N99KxDOTcwxQ6W4-UVHn0cUTH1CRYECuYeIgUAb5Kq8l0ETtCaAbBgllRZLkdPmZ84tbhISU8v4vj/s1600/Movie+Foot+Reference.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="342" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqHwsAsjXVllowgyLEDYG4Hsgb1Jn8MDUY0sfnphiIY2npZPitsc-o0yC77ORp_00N99KxDOTcwxQ6W4-UVHn0cUTH1CRYECuYeIgUAb5Kq8l0ETtCaAbBgllRZLkdPmZ84tbhISU8v4vj/s640/Movie+Foot+Reference.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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I managed to find a few references for the feet in the manga, which provided a much more detail and interest.</div>
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Note the ridges under the toes and the much larger claws. I followed these images more closely as a reference, with the movie still in mind for the colour palette.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpvi4BOGvMA4pPbMvGk9Z-blEsLBKpln73v8LSZP01L9xthx9nzFwHNmZIy1R1lvK-Xkny6ewYW-yeKyhCQbuKerzVq6eM9eKjn14-k49lrD8FhTokuMMw0RSGlRkizjnPqcpQvJp4CRTK/s1600/IMG_0903.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgpvi4BOGvMA4pPbMvGk9Z-blEsLBKpln73v8LSZP01L9xthx9nzFwHNmZIy1R1lvK-Xkny6ewYW-yeKyhCQbuKerzVq6eM9eKjn14-k49lrD8FhTokuMMw0RSGlRkizjnPqcpQvJp4CRTK/s640/IMG_0903.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I made a pair of replica leg armatures to sculpt onto. I realised soon afterwards that I could just sculpt one foot and use it for both, as there was no differentiation between left and right.</div>
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I started off by building up the basic shape of the leg, sculpting with plastilline clay. In this image it's still quite rough, but you get the idea.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicSleSs3nzFtGbJkJQ64FkDu4Fmgq2jtvtdUkPtElIimyY4AdYgcj9H2kyA6QorUeZ8zsYN894Q7GrmKEvcVFMYRPj0Cw53gJZqTVpyRgVd-drleHeWzRpqSJ20PCu9uWYCTw_-zU3Cat2/s1600/IMG_0918.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicSleSs3nzFtGbJkJQ64FkDu4Fmgq2jtvtdUkPtElIimyY4AdYgcj9H2kyA6QorUeZ8zsYN894Q7GrmKEvcVFMYRPj0Cw53gJZqTVpyRgVd-drleHeWzRpqSJ20PCu9uWYCTw_-zU3Cat2/s640/IMG_0918.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Once I was happy with the overall shape I started to add detail. The underside of the foot was the most interesting part, with its dimples and texture.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEaAWSJoLRo89xW-x1HKcLky_lj2mK8n_8SrbmlNFAPZizjYwnWPPO-krHZCQXCeaMq9ccI5aHUjShaUUStaxZFCiMYtlIhKhilGMUODc5GMajRVJFp2U-_di5JxyCIwSfc3XwSmMC2GZc/s1600/IMG_1770.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEaAWSJoLRo89xW-x1HKcLky_lj2mK8n_8SrbmlNFAPZizjYwnWPPO-krHZCQXCeaMq9ccI5aHUjShaUUStaxZFCiMYtlIhKhilGMUODc5GMajRVJFp2U-_di5JxyCIwSfc3XwSmMC2GZc/s640/IMG_1770.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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When I was happy with the finished article is was time to make a two part plaster mould, so the foot could be cast in latex. The first step for this was to roll out an even sheet of grey clay and shape it around the bottom half of the foot on a piece of foam board. It's important that there aren't any gaps between the sculpt and the clay for a clean mould.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjurOpZiOI0GvT3b0O6ayNABJcPcRkPQ5eTB3fgE3Z3gkv0ZLfn8NUgKFz93Zp_sUeFlFDNBqAl2bXNGaz-DNR1k6nFpctsstUZyh6vB4r1MtBsrl1tJ2PYqkRu0w6a-1mtJccuPSzMoeD1/s1600/PC052186.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjurOpZiOI0GvT3b0O6ayNABJcPcRkPQ5eTB3fgE3Z3gkv0ZLfn8NUgKFz93Zp_sUeFlFDNBqAl2bXNGaz-DNR1k6nFpctsstUZyh6vB4r1MtBsrl1tJ2PYqkRu0w6a-1mtJccuPSzMoeD1/s640/PC052186.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Four beads were pushed half way into the surface of the clay. This is so when the second half of the mould is poured, the two halves line up perfectly for casting.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkJ5HF2O5TOqVXcpr61sa1-zbo2gDwsOEouy1I6C4rEaj3r5MbK0hkOtZmMVHxZChYKEaXNqLyEuTBGlhmo7DnQsykLxBWYfFtcuT9A3ZrieyAYtSoI-kfYgaSbdTwVr-hQ_PuuY5PhaEw/s1600/PC052190.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkJ5HF2O5TOqVXcpr61sa1-zbo2gDwsOEouy1I6C4rEaj3r5MbK0hkOtZmMVHxZChYKEaXNqLyEuTBGlhmo7DnQsykLxBWYfFtcuT9A3ZrieyAYtSoI-kfYgaSbdTwVr-hQ_PuuY5PhaEw/s640/PC052190.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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A foam board box is made around the clay shape and stuck together with hot glue. This secures it to the base piece of foam and also stops any plaster from leaking through the cracks.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xfepxfCla9TfSfhsnLr9e7g3fOAeurbwFyULgR7k8hZ_C3r4ggKSfHa9PZMf7lvEA441jTh63Oq99qXEZp0yTf-wsUzniPpBZmSmfJp-6MTdtQMbzTK4vI_eaophRe6akKWPh2wUoAw6/s1600/PC052203.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1xfepxfCla9TfSfhsnLr9e7g3fOAeurbwFyULgR7k8hZ_C3r4ggKSfHa9PZMf7lvEA441jTh63Oq99qXEZp0yTf-wsUzniPpBZmSmfJp-6MTdtQMbzTK4vI_eaophRe6akKWPh2wUoAw6/s640/PC052203.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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A batch of plaster is mixed and poured, the box given a little shake while the plaster is still wet to try and illiminate any lingering air bubbles. I then left it a couple of days to set, to make sure the plaster was 100% dry. The area where the leg is visible will become the pour hole for the latex later.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6MqJErMoAQ9gZplqCZ8GfgL9Fav8OhImSrDcgSMDm-is4Stiu3UozV77hJqhGdJrtCIi3PKXsGeSDNnBi5jW7UD6y9TPYsQDbKM13Cj1xl396iW6nUtwkbxGZddagybu62p0r-q9c3OA5/s1600/IMG_1877.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6MqJErMoAQ9gZplqCZ8GfgL9Fav8OhImSrDcgSMDm-is4Stiu3UozV77hJqhGdJrtCIi3PKXsGeSDNnBi5jW7UD6y9TPYsQDbKM13Cj1xl396iW6nUtwkbxGZddagybu62p0r-q9c3OA5/s640/IMG_1877.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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When the foamboard was removed, the mould was flipped over and the grey clay was peeled back, I was left with one half of a mould looking like this.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_16kXWaQ9bfhwNq2_CYuEpRYMxg3UWKO-Jd2a7exgjfZXnFznVlX7y9VIdUpzKrro9BqHsEhwXU8sfF5bvF1N9wVn4SRbd7JCTyVa2ncg37ZF81OY50Qxzdn-10iR0N4d30I4mvpIdvpl/s1600/IMG_1880.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_16kXWaQ9bfhwNq2_CYuEpRYMxg3UWKO-Jd2a7exgjfZXnFznVlX7y9VIdUpzKrro9BqHsEhwXU8sfF5bvF1N9wVn4SRbd7JCTyVa2ncg37ZF81OY50Qxzdn-10iR0N4d30I4mvpIdvpl/s320/IMG_1880.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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Using plasticine, I built up a tapered wall, surrounding the sculpt. This will create a negative space between the two halves so they can be removed easily later. The plaster left bare was covered in vaseline, including the circular indents. Otherwise the two halves would stick together, making the two half mould just one block! I then had to build a new foam board wall and pour the second half of the mould, taking the plaster a good inch above the sculpt.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Y_jZBEWP-3EZHBuhKH6RlvfVLA5hz05FyD3b-B3z5xo-kgTsmXrl0v6sDpRGGfWje1SUUlzkb_6h2uTFyi7fh0uO7NR5vRmVUdOo7cyGLYvA4IS_BGbP1yaQcbT8h7gtafBRetPzHdlj/s1600/IMG_1915.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8Y_jZBEWP-3EZHBuhKH6RlvfVLA5hz05FyD3b-B3z5xo-kgTsmXrl0v6sDpRGGfWje1SUUlzkb_6h2uTFyi7fh0uO7NR5vRmVUdOo7cyGLYvA4IS_BGbP1yaQcbT8h7gtafBRetPzHdlj/s640/IMG_1915.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Once set, I separated the two halves. I then had to take out the sculpt as carefully as possible, without damaging the mould. As you can see the clay from the leg got left behind in the mould, so I had to scrape it out with the end of a paintbrush and flush it through with lighter fluid.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUa81EepcaFhR_6pzp_TZgFrUA14XW5JHNAEIPj8_bB0oPA7KQ_4m9GeUyXtLgz2NfizSrSyIdZ4vgb4X5XRuEGB4z0yhowQcnQJCsahgZEQCZk7UM3DCHmefjSVJvPBTNFxAKUD86HL0n/s1600/IMG_1917.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUa81EepcaFhR_6pzp_TZgFrUA14XW5JHNAEIPj8_bB0oPA7KQ_4m9GeUyXtLgz2NfizSrSyIdZ4vgb4X5XRuEGB4z0yhowQcnQJCsahgZEQCZk7UM3DCHmefjSVJvPBTNFxAKUD86HL0n/s640/IMG_1917.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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After cleaning both halves of the mould, this was the result, ready for latex casting.</div>
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In my post next week I'll cover casting, seam trimming and applying the latex feet to the armature. Thanks for taking the time to follow my Nausicaa project, you're awesome!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-26833241962509368322015-12-20T11:33:00.001-08:002015-12-20T11:33:29.140-08:00The Nausicaa Project: Making the Head<div style="text-align: center;">
Now that 'Santa's Stressful Day' is over, I'm back to my Nausicaa stop motion puppet making project. I haven't really had any time to look at it since the summer, but for the past couple of weeks I've been planning and starting to make again. In this post I'm going to talk about making Nausicaa's head, which I began sculpting in the summer holidays.</div>
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Before embarking on this project I had hardly sculpted anything before, and I won't pretend that I didn't struggle at first! Like learning anything new it took some practice - and several hundred screwed up heads - but I eventually got there.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl_K4SjeOeJzjsz4VvJ7F0KCowVm6ZjS88TjIc4Wa57wCqaLiYcT3s95KkGeSYMAJHrodR_uaJh5vBMwPjSnAtuTeyF7-fC6ilhnTFUdcNOPP84WNQn950Otv4NZrzqWj_wuTeJ_TWYSyw/s1600/IMG_1088.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl_K4SjeOeJzjsz4VvJ7F0KCowVm6ZjS88TjIc4Wa57wCqaLiYcT3s95KkGeSYMAJHrodR_uaJh5vBMwPjSnAtuTeyF7-fC6ilhnTFUdcNOPP84WNQn950Otv4NZrzqWj_wuTeJ_TWYSyw/s640/IMG_1088.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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The first step was making a core to sculpt the head onto. In this photo, I've sculpted a layer of plastilline over the neck ball and socket joint, to the thickness that the neck should be. I rounded off the top of this in a dome shape, covered it in a layer of clingfilm and slotted a larger piece of square brass rod over the smaller piece which was attached to the top of the neck. The milliput built over the clingfilm cures on the brass rod, creating a head core which can slot on and off of the neck. </div>
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Because the plastilline on the neck sets the right width, the head core is an accurate size to start sculpting on. This will also come in handy later when it needs to be cast.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh06oBa7AZ98bHOpvzk05m-hgiWunFeq3as-zEg741RH59OquixOW22H0LIlhV5J3CF1WR-mfI4O9FkgeYMp1_dz5K44u6FDBdN6AVXkCDiy8YrsX4T0lGgeXwQI8ObodJiXM7dJNZlOniQ/s1600/IMG_1188.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh06oBa7AZ98bHOpvzk05m-hgiWunFeq3as-zEg741RH59OquixOW22H0LIlhV5J3CF1WR-mfI4O9FkgeYMp1_dz5K44u6FDBdN6AVXkCDiy8YrsX4T0lGgeXwQI8ObodJiXM7dJNZlOniQ/s640/IMG_1188.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I roughly blocked out the main head shape and positioned and inserted the eyes. This stage is crucial - if the eyes aren't in the right place or are unlevel the sculpt will never look right, no matter how refined it is!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcTOsCaYI0aRJ8ujbGFWh0VkpkyMWSwuwcMNA9TmbLqj35oQOTsuPMKQ26ZuAhcfGo2_n6DQfLu4kLF2iBKonZzRZgmkQ_-qFiFid0d2vheQb6TqyFgR1P2mn8PqQRtW8FuYF_X5CK19B1/s1600/IMG_1198.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcTOsCaYI0aRJ8ujbGFWh0VkpkyMWSwuwcMNA9TmbLqj35oQOTsuPMKQ26ZuAhcfGo2_n6DQfLu4kLF2iBKonZzRZgmkQ_-qFiFid0d2vheQb6TqyFgR1P2mn8PqQRtW8FuYF_X5CK19B1/s640/IMG_1198.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Next I started to roughly build up the features. Having reference images of Nausicaa from all angles was very helpful.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0BiiJfr9uE9e1lg8rChOKlaeVrMIxIkhbp_OBKkXXA8N_BCaFlD5f4zJKF5-r2HSl6ZKKmR3z9yXCR99cauvmj3yRSRnfVsqdyy5aM0ate9CAutRFIubMZmGcNsz6eHgSDiZhl6qEEX3X/s1600/IMG_1258.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0BiiJfr9uE9e1lg8rChOKlaeVrMIxIkhbp_OBKkXXA8N_BCaFlD5f4zJKF5-r2HSl6ZKKmR3z9yXCR99cauvmj3yRSRnfVsqdyy5aM0ate9CAutRFIubMZmGcNsz6eHgSDiZhl6qEEX3X/s640/IMG_1258.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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Starting to smooth those features out. From my experience the trickiest thing is to get both sides looking the same, especially on a face like Nausicaa's which is so clean and smooth in shape.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuf2-RuadGpzT0Jo_EXVXU0GKIl_VW-Uimz4rLldyoZ_toaF30goVpT9-UiyW-TrHGZKnnLsun4Djp1vM86aMfwe2FR0x8yIOixi2o7KlNTThVyGA0Kj-pmGsRQDr0hXRuLsvELpeRNAjt/s1600/IMG_1804.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuf2-RuadGpzT0Jo_EXVXU0GKIl_VW-Uimz4rLldyoZ_toaF30goVpT9-UiyW-TrHGZKnnLsun4Djp1vM86aMfwe2FR0x8yIOixi2o7KlNTThVyGA0Kj-pmGsRQDr0hXRuLsvELpeRNAjt/s640/IMG_1804.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Eventually I felt quite happy with how the symmetry was looking. I'm left handed so I naturally feel like this side is easier for me to sculpt, but all in all not bad!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmlP6vx0NfegAXynOiaQyukHdmquMbKRDOzD3DklaY1o5XZsjHc-OKbN_E0JVKdZX1XVMPzH-gXtv6fIUjkZs2xCJpuRrVuszDmUeAyMWBCLhMsA4Pn1XwEVdmN3kOYfAUvNfVA3s54oBJ/s1600/IMG_1808.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmlP6vx0NfegAXynOiaQyukHdmquMbKRDOzD3DklaY1o5XZsjHc-OKbN_E0JVKdZX1XVMPzH-gXtv6fIUjkZs2xCJpuRrVuszDmUeAyMWBCLhMsA4Pn1XwEVdmN3kOYfAUvNfVA3s54oBJ/s640/IMG_1808.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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I checked her against my original scale drawings before feeling happy that she was ready to be cast. At this stage the back of her head needed shaving down a bit and her ears were too wide.</div>
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So with casting, the plan was to make a block silicone mould and cast the head in Fast Cast polyurethane resin. My friend Nathan Flynn who is a sculptor helped me with this, as I had never done it before. He's generally helped me a lot with this project and still is, so I'd like to take a moment to sing his praises and say, check out his and his brother's website! - <a href="http://www.sculpt-double.co.uk/">http://www.sculpt-double.co.uk</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYgTJycjzYRHb2CSE2ZhUqLOQHCOrfAV4fF1aVLuy12MlTQORW06LiThC6TYNn59-MtQrA_MHLYQaG5ExQVJeGDnCOzeN7J6kzYlCTNke4yB8TAsmJDR9d26bDdVyquPE0vmi7GF9c7-wF/s1600/PC052195.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYgTJycjzYRHb2CSE2ZhUqLOQHCOrfAV4fF1aVLuy12MlTQORW06LiThC6TYNn59-MtQrA_MHLYQaG5ExQVJeGDnCOzeN7J6kzYlCTNke4yB8TAsmJDR9d26bDdVyquPE0vmi7GF9c7-wF/s640/PC052195.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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So, here's how we made the mould. Firstly the head was attached to a piece of of foam board with brass rod and hot glue, and then the neck was tapered out to create a pour spout.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOjEzHtKR0NKMObBR79SNFb5vY89DqF8G2NkMifj4NvaqulpDH5IFdswRirSaGN4z9IHDwWzEa24lahp_6gJGZN5nZfMIAZt3zY2wb99THCK5bF_xxm6LCZzVBfh1xNYGBcT0wKbES_EAn/s1600/PC052200.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOjEzHtKR0NKMObBR79SNFb5vY89DqF8G2NkMifj4NvaqulpDH5IFdswRirSaGN4z9IHDwWzEa24lahp_6gJGZN5nZfMIAZt3zY2wb99THCK5bF_xxm6LCZzVBfh1xNYGBcT0wKbES_EAn/s640/PC052200.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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A bit of silicone is mixed with the catalyst and painted onto the head. This is to ensure that the mould picks up all of the fine details before the rest of the silicone is poured.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJvt2wAUgo-0ub37nu2Y0d4gtAhe-Wes5tRnj6UeavdbkJsnXCKxctbOhhIDKKGHyB4fjt0obeSQOTYz7tHRCjRWJOxDbWKT899ka998KqJQXvqIoqgw2Q543NcFYhbm4z02FkBOvyIxTQ/s1600/PC052201.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJvt2wAUgo-0ub37nu2Y0d4gtAhe-Wes5tRnj6UeavdbkJsnXCKxctbOhhIDKKGHyB4fjt0obeSQOTYz7tHRCjRWJOxDbWKT899ka998KqJQXvqIoqgw2Q543NcFYhbm4z02FkBOvyIxTQ/s640/PC052201.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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A cut down paper cup acts as the mould box. It's a good size for the head, and is positioned over it before being hot glued to the foam board. We mixed a batch of silicone with the catalyst before pouring it. I've learnt that the trick is to pour from a height, creating a very thin stream, and to pour in only one area of the mould. This way the silicone naturally fills up the mould, and it greatly minimises air bubbles.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQkn_VLjgRxYLwzd9PdUQGR-oMtFGfjOLLbWB4huiT_3_Dm3RwnCoNjg1evqE-OllBUEV-E_gSXo9sv4FKkJS4_NHBSvhrxok0-ftuvdXu3BlPgDcSLU-bx-UDtkstN9xMwcf_8uzziPcW/s1600/IMG_1840.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQkn_VLjgRxYLwzd9PdUQGR-oMtFGfjOLLbWB4huiT_3_Dm3RwnCoNjg1evqE-OllBUEV-E_gSXo9sv4FKkJS4_NHBSvhrxok0-ftuvdXu3BlPgDcSLU-bx-UDtkstN9xMwcf_8uzziPcW/s640/IMG_1840.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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When the mould was set I cut it open in a zig-zag shape on one side and removed the sculpt. By cutting in a zig-zag the two sides meet each other again very easily when the mould needs to be used for casting.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQkDFhDfqiYrBnbHBUs1dltrM6TQskWk7gqK_U4RMVXHrM5Torv-vT6FCGf-7kfUgWnRNu23v6gmzqF2iGVc5jpSnn4vqEKzRnx-6C8F4IwRpfpN8tnPSbq6mnuz4-jGKcz_HCILro9vH/s1600/IMG_1843.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwQkDFhDfqiYrBnbHBUs1dltrM6TQskWk7gqK_U4RMVXHrM5Torv-vT6FCGf-7kfUgWnRNu23v6gmzqF2iGVc5jpSnn4vqEKzRnx-6C8F4IwRpfpN8tnPSbq6mnuz4-jGKcz_HCILro9vH/s640/IMG_1843.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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As you can see, the sculpt came out as good as new! The mould was put in another cup to keep the sides securely together, ready to casting. Equal parts of A and B were mixed together in a cup before being poured into the mould.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDoLVdeTvBYmAqcAmoLuB7kh6kqSiAnYNeA8MRDxdneEd0-gZb_zPY_0ZUyQjPd8IVyZIOC4xvL4JOcO9tSc1RM6I0EEWEcoHSMJL3COL6pyRvidNuKmqf7OEIncpXYRikgonyrIaHaZQN/s1600/IMG_1844.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDoLVdeTvBYmAqcAmoLuB7kh6kqSiAnYNeA8MRDxdneEd0-gZb_zPY_0ZUyQjPd8IVyZIOC4xvL4JOcO9tSc1RM6I0EEWEcoHSMJL3COL6pyRvidNuKmqf7OEIncpXYRikgonyrIaHaZQN/s640/IMG_1844.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Ta-da! The head came out pretty nicely, I'm very pleased with it. Despite the amount of effort that went into making this head it's just a reference for the final thing, which is going to be built up on a fast cast skull (a cut-back version of this head) using wire and soft sculpture, much like the body. This whole technique is very much an experiment so I can't predict if it'll work as I hope it will, but fingers crossed!</div>
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I'm really determined to take Sundays off from now on and keep my blog updated on a weekly basis, so check back next Sunday for a new post!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-49537560298686453192015-11-29T02:14:00.000-08:002015-11-29T02:14:29.512-08:00The Joy of Character<div style="text-align: center;">
Hello everyone!</div>
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First of all, I'm ashamed to face the fact that the last time I wrote on here was almost a month ago! I've been up to my ears in puppet making for the past four weeks, but the hard slog has paid off - just about everything is ready for the first rehearsal of 'Santa's Stressful Day' tomorrow. With the show opening in a weeks time, it's all starting to feel very real. Speaking of which, my puppets recently got a little feature on the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama blog - pretty cool! The company 'Western Power Distribution' are sponsoring the performance so that local children can have the opportunity to access live classical music. I've got a little paragraph in the article explaining how puppets will make the story more engaging for young children - you can read all about it here:</div>
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<a href="http://blog.rwcmd.ac.uk/press-release/western-power-distributions-sponsorship-with-rwcmd-supports-local-children-accessing-live-classical-music/">http://blog.rwcmd.ac.uk/press-release/western-power-distributions-sponsorship-with-rwcmd-supports-local-children-accessing-live-classical-music/</a></div>
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Now, let me fill you in on where the past month has taken me. In my last blog post I talked about fabricating my lion, and specifically the process of covering upholstery foam puppets with stretch jersey fabric. At this stage the lion puppet was just a blank canvas in the right colours - since then I've given him the details that have really brought his personality to life.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibz6Gzp5LjGEBHh0y6wHNWPQGtJgX0lVu7YAlFwBjaMAiils_7ZL-bmaBEl4MuFscwaYpYukW975gZbAY4aifgO_F68xHfxYZqMvTqjL7Aa1v_4ZeKf0eqMnz5H_XNp_4eWc53OABVHHbn/s1600/IMG_1581.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibz6Gzp5LjGEBHh0y6wHNWPQGtJgX0lVu7YAlFwBjaMAiils_7ZL-bmaBEl4MuFscwaYpYukW975gZbAY4aifgO_F68xHfxYZqMvTqjL7Aa1v_4ZeKf0eqMnz5H_XNp_4eWc53OABVHHbn/s640/IMG_1581.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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From the moment I gave him pupils I started to believe he was real - it's amazing what eyes do for the character.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmEHcuWWdcgs7BhYnq07KChPqcLUtt6C-LyZbHKhlQZcdpXIlejrqE7cOwnTcxm0PbjddkZ1qiW6xZMfoS2HqzUZ0kusodu5xoi8ZUxFdCtz2lSUYrPkeYHhCdm0FgLwEVgFs5kuRHMEx2/s1600/IMG_1578.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmEHcuWWdcgs7BhYnq07KChPqcLUtt6C-LyZbHKhlQZcdpXIlejrqE7cOwnTcxm0PbjddkZ1qiW6xZMfoS2HqzUZ0kusodu5xoi8ZUxFdCtz2lSUYrPkeYHhCdm0FgLwEVgFs5kuRHMEx2/s640/IMG_1578.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
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The teeth were really fun to make. These are plasterzote foam, snipped into shape and painted before being given a final glaze with clear nail polish. </div>
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With puppet making, I often find that the materials I have to hand help inspire and form the personality of the character. For example, his frizzy whiskers are made of some unwound rope I had leftover from the initial structure building. I wanted the crinkled look I had imagined in my original drawings, and this stuff worked wonderfully. I tend to hoard materials and oddments for this reason - you never know what might come in handy!</div>
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Here's a shot of Rudolph after his initial covering. At this stage the puppets look very flat, but are a canvas for detail just waiting to be explored.</div>
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A crown and cape are just what Mr. Lion needed to give him an air of nobility. At this stage Rudolph was also starting to get some character - a fuzzy white belly, some cute little antlers and a rather large red nose (which actually lights up, might I add!) I wanted the style of Rudolph to echo mid century illustrations. </div>
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As the weeks went by and my making list grew longer I got worse at taking photos of my process, so I have very few of Santa in the making unfortunately. Here's part of his creation that I did document - the costume making. This is the start of Santa's coat, which was great fun to make. I don't know as much as I'd like to about costume making and am always looking to learn new techniques!</div>
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I've come to find that a lot of puppet making is trial and error. There were many ways that I could have made Santa's facial hair, but I came to the simple solution of brushing PVA glue onto faux fur to give it a permanent shape and texture.<br />
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In this picture the puppets are near the stage of completion. This project has been great for me personally; having such a short amount of time to make make many puppets has meant I've had to put my perfectionism aside and find quick ways of making to a high quality.<br />
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In the past week I also made a gang of guinea pig puppets, but I'm going to give them their own feature in a seperate post.<br />
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Thanks for reading, until the next time!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-51808468855036122392015-11-01T14:37:00.000-08:002015-11-01T14:44:01.610-08:00Foam to Fabrication<div style="text-align: center;">
My last blog post followed my process of designing rod puppets, through to building their pipe and plywood cores and bulking these out with carved blue foam. The next stage is to realise the fabrication, which is when the characters really start coming to life. </div>
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Before covering the puppets in fabric I wanted to make sure that their body surfaces were extra-smooth, so covered the blue foam in a thin layer of wadding.</div>
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I'm fabricating one puppet at a time, with the aim of finishing one per week. I've started with the lion, going by this illustration for the general final aesthetic and colouring:</div>
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After covering him in wadding, I started to think more about how I would make the mane. I felt that it needed some sort of structure as the base for covering, so started to build up blue foam shapes which emulated hair.<br />
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At this stage the lion was ready to be covered. It's important that the 'skin' of a puppet doesn't hinder its movement, so I chose a fabric with plenty of stretch in it. This also means it can be pulled nice and taught over the foam, creating a finish with minimal creasing. I dyed stretch jersey a deep caramel for the main skin, and also a variety of scrap fabrics for the mane covering.<br />
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Pinning the fabric to the foam is helpful for initial positioning, especially on more detailed areas like the face. The fabric is secured by either glue or a hidden stitch, whichever is more appropriate.<br />
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The covering process is quite organic - it's hard to 'pattern cut' for it as such. It's a case of pinning, cutting and re-pinning until a nice smooth finish is achieved.<br />
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When the basic covering of the body was finished, I started thinking more about the textures and shades of rusty orange I wanted to cover the mane in. I narrowed down my dyed fabrics to my three favourites and cut them into lots of strips - strips shaped like the blue foam underneath. Following these contours, I built up layers of these fabric pieces to create the look of a flowing mane.<br />
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My lion puppet is now fully covered, but there are still many details and stages of rendering to go through before he's finished. This guy is looking forward to having eyelids, whiskers and a tail to name but a few things! Let's not forget that all-important kingly crown.<br />
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Stay tuned for my next post, which is likely to include some photos of this guy finished and Rudolph's covering in the works.<br />
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Thanks for reading!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-45943937410273963992015-10-19T15:15:00.001-07:002015-10-19T15:18:06.087-07:00Santa's Stressful Day<div style="text-align: center;">
Hi everyone!</div>
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First of all, apologies for the absence of posts during the past month. I've been settling into my third year at university, and embarking on a new project which will last the duration of this term. Don't worry, The Nausicaa Project will be back in full swing after Christmas!</div>
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<b>Santa's Stressful Day:</b></div>
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As part of my final year as a Performance Design student I have to take on the role of designing a college show. For me this is a perfomance called 'Santa's Stressful Day', which is a brass/percussion piece accompanied by a narrative. The story revolves around Santa having a crisis - discovering his reindeer are sick the day before Christmas Eve, and having to travel to different countries in search of other animals to pull the sleigh!</div>
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This production has been put on at my college several times with great success, but my involvement will be the introduction of rod puppets to accompany the music and narration. I'm designing and making Santa Claus and the host of animals he encounters on his quest. This includes a Rudolph, a lion and a bunch of guinea pigs. Another girl on my course is making the kangeroo and panda bear.</div>
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My puppets have to be ready for rehearsals by the end of November, so I'm already very much underway with making them. </div>
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My process began with gathering research and thinking about how these puppets would look and work. Given that the animals talk and interact with Santa, I decided to take an anthropomorphic approach with their look and function. I felt very much inspired by Disney's Robin Hood (1973), in which the animals are quite obvious animals, but have the mannerisms and two-leggedness of people.</div>
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I sketched and painted a lot of ideas for how the animals might look. Here's an early design for the lion:</div>
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I like the idea of them having some element of clothing.</div>
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The guinea pigs Santa encounters in Peru are dressed in traditional attire in my drawings here. As Santa goes to different countries to look for animals to pull his sleigh, I thought it might be fun to include a stereotypical or traditional element of that country in their appearance.</div>
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The aesthetic of the puppet is only half the story - knowing it wil function in the desired way is very important. Taking my 'final designs' in terms of appareance, I drew out scale drawings of the puppets, in order to work out the internal mechanisms.</div>
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Due to my small time frame I didn't have time to maquette much, and therefore lots of things have been worked out and changed along the way. This is often the nature of making anyhow!</div>
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My original plan was to make jointed legs out of plywood, so I worked out how these would function with cardboard mock-ups.</div>
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After carefully drafting out all of the pieces for the arms and legs, I worked out there would be over 100 pieces to cut out on the bandsaw and sand. This would mean needing a lot of plywood and time, neither of which I had! It was a beneficial exercise as I now know how to construct functional wooden puppet limbs, but I worked out a method which would be quick, easy and work just as well.</div>
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These limbs are made of PVC pipe and leather. The leather acts as the 'joints' of the puppet, flexible enough to pose but also strong. There are bigger half pieces of pipe on some of the joints that act as stoppers, so the puppet can't pose in an unatural way. For example on elbow joint of the arm there are two pieces of half pipe that meet in the middle, so the arm can bend towards the body but not swing backwards. I don't want my puppets to look like they have dislocated limbs!</div>
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This photo shows the basic internal structure of Santa, Rudolph and the Lion. The two plywood spheres mark the shoulders and the pelvis. They will act as formers for building up the body shape. There is rope inbetween the formers to seperate them the correct distance and give the space inbetween some flexibility. The black, corrugated pipe should also create a natural bend in the body. </div>
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The sturdy pipe which grows from this is the rod which operates the head - it can manually be turned by hand so the puppet can look from side to side. The trigger on the white pipe is attached to a lever which connects to the lower jaw, and this makes the mouth open and shut when pressed down. These motions will be controlled through the back of the puppet. The other hand of the puppeteer will control one of the arms on a rod.</div>
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Building up the body shape is the next stage. I'm builking out my puppet bodies in upholstery sheet foam, which can be layered up and cut into shape with scissors.</div>
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As you can see, the shaping of blue foam can transform plastic tubes and plywood ovals into a very three dimensional puppet! It's incredibly lightweight stuff, which is an added bonus.</div>
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The heads of the puppets will also be carved from upholsterty foam. This process is more laborious, as it involves cutting the shape from a rectangle block which is the front and side dimensions of the head.</div>
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Once again the foam is very light, so the head adds hardly any weight to the puppet.</div>
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I've been making these puppets for the past three weeks, and much of the process has been trial and error! I'm happy with how they're looking so far, and am on schedule to have the bodies ready for fabrication in a couple of weeks time.</div>
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Now that I've got my bearings on this project I'm going to endeavour to keep my blog updated on a weekly basis.</div>
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Thanks again for reading about my work! </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-59762214920342067032015-09-10T13:46:00.004-07:002015-09-10T13:46:54.050-07:00Nausicaa Mark II: Planning is Important!<div style="text-align: center;">
After sharing my work so far with fellow puppet makers (who also happen to be big fans of Nausicaa), it was brought to my attention that the armature I had made wasn't quite suitable for her character. I had been focusing so strongly on how to encorporate soft sculpture with an armature that I hadn't thought enough about her specific proportions, which are very different from the standard human skeleton.</div>
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Nausicaa has an oversized head, very large feet, a teeny tiny waist, extra-long lower legs - the list goes on. Despite my hard work on my first armature it seemed fruitless to use it for my Nausicaa puppet, and so I started re-planning. It began with going through the film and taking a lot of screen shots, my best reference material:</div>
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This is ther perfect front-on reference for her face and torso shape. See what I mean about the waist?</div>
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Then I began re-drafting my scale drawings, but this time starting with the 'finished' Nausicaa look and working backwards. That way I knew that the body beneath the clothes would have to be a bit slimmer, and the armature would have to work with the body shape.</div>
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So firstly the costumed layer is drawn. The tracing paper didn't like being photographed, but hopefully you can see Nausicaa is wearing a tunic with gloves, leggings and big boot covers.</div>
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From this I worked out the fleshed out nude version.</div>
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By doing this, I knew that the armature I designed underneath would fit the desired body proportions. As you can see, it's quite a bit different from my original design.</div>
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I did the same for all three layers for the side view. All the while I'm trying to keep my scale drawings as accurate as possible to Nausicaa in the film.</div>
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So it was time to build! I began by cutting and preparing all of the pieces I needed to make the armature and laying them out on my front-on armature drawing.</div>
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The new ribcage and pelvis are carved from blocks of plastazote foam, which is a very high density but also extremely lightweight foam. It was simple enough to carved with just a scalpel and mini files. I'm trying zote as an alternative to wire for soft sculpture, because its more accurate and less fiddly to shape. I also think the solidness of it will be more suitable for animating.<br />
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It was time to start glueing the pieces together. As you can see, the zote foam cores are sliced down the middle and hollowed out where necessary to accomodate the K&S brass tubing inside.<br />
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Putting the legs together is always satisfying.</div>
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I made the feet in the same way as my last armature, the copper toes secured with milliput and embedded with M3 nuts for tie-downs. I'm using a scale foot drawing to make sure that the toes are in the right position on the foot.<br />
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The final detail which I didn't get onto with my last armature are the hands. I'm using double ball joints for the wrists, because I want that twist so the hands can be positioned palm-side up or down. I'm using a double-twist of copper wire for the fingers, which is a bit stronger than aluminium but still holds its shape well.<br />
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The hand is made strong and secure with milliput. There are tiny M2 nuts placed in the centre of the wrists for potentially holding props.<br />
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I'm much happier with my second armature attempt. I think it will work very nicely for Nausicaa's proportions.<br />
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One last step was adding rig points to the pelvis. There's one in the front, one in the side and one facing downwards at the back so she can be slotted onto Kai's back.<br />
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Taking the time to plan very carefully is a valuable lesson learnt! Now I can get on with sculpting Nausicaa's head, Kai's feet and his beak.<br />
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Thanks for taking the time to check out my work again, and look out for my next post soon!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-65047740957856956062015-09-02T03:52:00.000-07:002015-09-02T03:52:48.438-07:00Building Armatures: Kai the Horseclaw<div style="text-align: center;">
Firstly, apologies for the lateness of an update! I've been suffering from an eye infection but am on the mend now, so let's carry on from where we left off: Kai's armature. Here's a reminder of this prehistoric looking bird's appearance:</div>
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I had already made a maquette from steel of the horseclaw which I was happy with the scale and proportions of, so rather than drawing out multiple angle scale drawings for the armature like I did with Nausicaa, I just made one of the side profile. This is my initial model; although crude, it has the desired shape of the bird:</div>
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It was important to look carefully at references of the film to check Nausicaa's proportions against Kai's. The Nausicaa puppet will be 15" tall, which makes Kai 18" tall.</div>
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I started off by cutting, filing down and sanding the pieces of brass K&S that would make up the legs and the pelvis.</div>
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In the same way that Nausicaa's armature was built, twisted aluminium wire protected by heat shrink tubing makes up the joints of the leg. There's a twisted loop at the bottom of the leg to create a base for the foot.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9WlGlqnPk1xSt0I1PbhFRQLEJgMUjY1cNeaxy8rk8Xm9L3tNYT3WBm7iHO1y28xbva1UD_ZihEBKwEaH4fz_IyoJEw448-QOogiIXT2QzCEu_CQRWws4xlizuUKtMfY0hD2BQvGRM_4we/s1600/P7201654.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9WlGlqnPk1xSt0I1PbhFRQLEJgMUjY1cNeaxy8rk8Xm9L3tNYT3WBm7iHO1y28xbva1UD_ZihEBKwEaH4fz_IyoJEw448-QOogiIXT2QzCEu_CQRWws4xlizuUKtMfY0hD2BQvGRM_4we/s640/P7201654.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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The toes were then created with four seperate pieces of wire, and glued into the loop for extra strength. The three front toes are the same length, the back one is shorter. You can see from this screenshot that when the horseclaws put down their feet the side toes are splayed right out, rather than being angled towards the centre front toe.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcbtv10JW8K_3N2sDR9Kf-TzZMhgD901o9t28UZoYWCsETBHmls8GWx9uYftiSDhNPunHvnCIs0j4S0PzxxHTpQPKPVgcIiEXfs5DhscosdfgULgEvqkG1s02IlfkvP4cgug91v7fxC_tF/s1600/Foot+Reference.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="344" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcbtv10JW8K_3N2sDR9Kf-TzZMhgD901o9t28UZoYWCsETBHmls8GWx9uYftiSDhNPunHvnCIs0j4S0PzxxHTpQPKPVgcIiEXfs5DhscosdfgULgEvqkG1s02IlfkvP4cgug91v7fxC_tF/s640/Foot+Reference.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB0K0C0AZ2AnIpGQSZHqqihYaPgVLKM_lfG08HQIzhCIHJ7ZAytH5Lk-bxmzylIPWjGwtzgRf4UOs992y8KZFKe7kezcNyTcx6fJq7USgALRp5rd0ie1LZh81m3fghNKHRJzVVa-X6BVtN/s1600/IMG_0669.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgB0K0C0AZ2AnIpGQSZHqqihYaPgVLKM_lfG08HQIzhCIHJ7ZAytH5Lk-bxmzylIPWjGwtzgRf4UOs992y8KZFKe7kezcNyTcx6fJq7USgALRp5rd0ie1LZh81m3fghNKHRJzVVa-X6BVtN/s640/IMG_0669.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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Here are the finished legs. The toes are made extra-secure to the leg with milliput, and M3 nuts are placed in the middle of the feet so they can be tied down. There are also little milliput blobs on the end of the aluminium to stop the armature from potentially damaging the skin of the foot later on. The pieces of K&S at the top of the legs that angle inwards will slot into the pelvis.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX5EyK_pkfz5e0B1ol0E8uyinEJUD4nMRzuTgwRRi31zqfRMwnwM1-s37tQZKB5GjitmP0scg6ShH_vznDAsGR0UbdSsywOP12oqGzGkRbNz41r6crvMu5S4-iXXI4ZPpLeoltKV7Rt2uA/s1600/P7291714.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiX5EyK_pkfz5e0B1ol0E8uyinEJUD4nMRzuTgwRRi31zqfRMwnwM1-s37tQZKB5GjitmP0scg6ShH_vznDAsGR0UbdSsywOP12oqGzGkRbNz41r6crvMu5S4-iXXI4ZPpLeoltKV7Rt2uA/s640/P7291714.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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The ribcage is formed with a double strand of aluminium wire attatched with brass to the back of the bird. This will be suitable for the soft sculpture build up I want to experiment with.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibmnzJSmpxvUouR_4PTLCie6x6m1bkDTF-JAzZw4ozuUeEQHF221npA6_fLi0zaq5MOFHjilPD27aWfpA5kFvcifRDAtYSS4fJEIKuoYKfqJ6HFkRTdKc6NTiL7-8NUfOJ9Xy5PB8YQzid/s1600/P7301731.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibmnzJSmpxvUouR_4PTLCie6x6m1bkDTF-JAzZw4ozuUeEQHF221npA6_fLi0zaq5MOFHjilPD27aWfpA5kFvcifRDAtYSS4fJEIKuoYKfqJ6HFkRTdKc6NTiL7-8NUfOJ9Xy5PB8YQzid/s640/P7301731.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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The same is done for the pelvis shape. Once again, any joints that might not be strong enough with just glue are made extra-tough with milliput. At this stage the armature is nearly ready for the 'wrapping' process. The only thing that I forgot to photograph were the rig points added. There are rig points in both sides of the bird's ribcage should he need to be supported when animating. There's also one in the base of his back for Nausicaa to be slotted into when she's riding him.</div>
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The entire armature is wrapped in yarn so it has a sewable base for the wadding muscle to be built up onto.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjITYds7FGXOkESuLTP9mCoK8EPQgqyWRH15lMfd_dTzIO3Ne6ba64FaXhGPdaML0qSMMwzouXwKivL2uJeucW6_a78SRTRSxSZGctT-ixSjjYF3ubjldUEmiqOF3hUVN1N09hxzuPfRqkf/s1600/P9012083.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjITYds7FGXOkESuLTP9mCoK8EPQgqyWRH15lMfd_dTzIO3Ne6ba64FaXhGPdaML0qSMMwzouXwKivL2uJeucW6_a78SRTRSxSZGctT-ixSjjYF3ubjldUEmiqOF3hUVN1N09hxzuPfRqkf/s640/P9012083.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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I based this armature on a combination of different bird skeltons, looking at the leg shape of chickens and the ribcages and pelvis' of terror birds for reference. Ultimately it's been made to fit my scale drawings, and should be proportionate to Nausicaa's armature which I made alongside it.</div>
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Before I start giving this armature flesh I need to make the skull and the beak. The same goes for Nausicaa's head. Having the heads of my puppets on the armatures will help to keep the muscle build up even and in proportion.</div>
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Thank you for reading, do check back for another post very soon!</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-59503922236637196412015-08-23T03:58:00.000-07:002015-08-23T04:00:16.746-07:00Building Armatures: Nausicaa<div style="text-align: center;">
I began planning this project in April, and when the summer holdiays finally came around I was ready to start making. </div>
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The first step was to draw scale images of my puppets from different angles, and use these drawings to design the armatures. Let's start with Nausicaa.</div>
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I knew that I wanted her to be 15" in height, the size of an antique Japanese doll I own. I scaled up a front, back and side profile of a skeleton diagram to use as a base, and traced over it to plan the armature. </div>
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The skeleton I'm making for my Nausicaa puppet is a more advanced version of the previous skeletons I've made for soft sculpture experiments. Although the pelvis and skeleton will be steel, the arm and leg joints are twisted aluminium, which holds its pose best for animation.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqWv2S_drlplkn3AMGTAlt9asz57OdLaK_Z9OsUk8zHocB67NK1Ar-Bavu-CuPvYYekkjqbYq7FqxRTbEddfmdO0B6Rj-BzX1Vcr4GY7rrdzYGzQXNzlFzzik_RnsIU_uP1nvPHbhTBqiI/s1600/P7221664.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqWv2S_drlplkn3AMGTAlt9asz57OdLaK_Z9OsUk8zHocB67NK1Ar-Bavu-CuPvYYekkjqbYq7FqxRTbEddfmdO0B6Rj-BzX1Vcr4GY7rrdzYGzQXNzlFzzik_RnsIU_uP1nvPHbhTBqiI/s640/P7221664.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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The brass K&S metal forms the 'bones' of the puppet, the gaps inbetween where the aluminium wire joints are. These were cut to size and filed down to remove any sharp edges.</div>
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The aluminium wire has heat shrink tubing applied to it, which will prevent the aluminium rubbing against the brass when bent - any nicks in the wire will weaken it and might cause it to break. The wire is then glued into the brass tubing with a strong 2 part epoxy.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYU8PacYjv7gpW4Mj_nPzqrmhsAB9weFRzVeX9JPXz0n9ZNCWh4dgnWI6MGFmA8Q2yQjObqlSiCW45RrhRHlJviy2b4ky2DnYnYlRbnLu8n35Bbt0wlIKbjzrg9hBzKRqnmYR77Atci_C_/s1600/P7261675.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYU8PacYjv7gpW4Mj_nPzqrmhsAB9weFRzVeX9JPXz0n9ZNCWh4dgnWI6MGFmA8Q2yQjObqlSiCW45RrhRHlJviy2b4ky2DnYnYlRbnLu8n35Bbt0wlIKbjzrg9hBzKRqnmYR77Atci_C_/s640/P7261675.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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The square K&S creating the basic pelvis structure will also serve as a rig point. If the puppet needs to be supported whilst being animated, a smaller piece of K&S attached to a rig can be slotted in through the back.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLXELtFssjApwO7SVD-udDiCYHA7nDiu00RENsgR7JQYp_CZYaWbiFgozevdJOLDVd0hCpBUh17tqWLP3B1fj-BTQ7QmqFjXvCxgstv-Ud9D_uEtVwoJBVORY85dIUKa9jFuI-J12gYHV3/s1600/P7261678.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLXELtFssjApwO7SVD-udDiCYHA7nDiu00RENsgR7JQYp_CZYaWbiFgozevdJOLDVd0hCpBUh17tqWLP3B1fj-BTQ7QmqFjXvCxgstv-Ud9D_uEtVwoJBVORY85dIUKa9jFuI-J12gYHV3/s640/P7261678.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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I made the feet in a similar way to Lisa Lichtenfels, with the wire twisted to make that nice back heel shape. This will work as a nice structure for soft sculpture.</div>
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The toe shapes are then added on, formed from a very fine copper wire.</div>
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By adding nuts to the balls of the feet, they can be tied down to a set. The nuts were first glued to the foot and then encased in milliput. Milliput is an incredibly strong 2 part putty, and once cured goes solid as a rock. This will stop the nuts from potentially coming loose.</div>
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Now that I had the basic shape of Nausica's body, is was time to build up the 3D skeleton element for soft sculpture - the ribcage and the pelvis.</div>
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The ribcage has always been tricky; getting symmetry and that bell shape with steel wire is quite difficult. I decided to try something a bit different, using very small brass tubing on the spine to slot the wire of the ribcage into.</div>
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This seemed to work very well, as it helped with the placement and shaping of the wire. Here is is half built up. The ball joint at the top of the puppet is so that the head and neck can be posed in a natural way. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSgP8I4Dd70yxSPwjEo4xkwE2PQeiaLsxAS7qh72whoSAUfn9SxWTcxlH0L5yxISUUwbBmLY1IxpTk9-loOb16rCjhf536y-X-PFwB7FgttB6rK01H9xkDQ0fQ3UYh_WvTOZR60lnlXRmD/s1600/P7281707.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgSgP8I4Dd70yxSPwjEo4xkwE2PQeiaLsxAS7qh72whoSAUfn9SxWTcxlH0L5yxISUUwbBmLY1IxpTk9-loOb16rCjhf536y-X-PFwB7FgttB6rK01H9xkDQ0fQ3UYh_WvTOZR60lnlXRmD/s640/P7281707.JPG" width="480" /></a></div>
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I cut the threaded rod to size, which is where the length of the neck. In this image they're just temporarily threaded on - the thread needs to be soldered to the ball for permanence.</div>
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The finished ribcage - I'm happy with how it came out!</div>
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And here's the final armature, minus the hands (I'm waiting on some wrist joints, so will talk about those in a different post!). I'm quite happy with how she's turned out, and have certainly learnt a lot along the way. The next stage will be wrapping the armature in yarn for soft sculpture, but before I can do this I need to sculpt as cast the skull for the head.</div>
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Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for my next post, which will be about making the armature for Kai the bird.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-81859013545836740902015-08-14T13:54:00.001-07:002015-08-23T03:59:01.057-07:00From Inspiration, a Plan is Hatched<div style="text-align: center;">
I decided to make Nausicaa and her bird because I love her character and the world she lives in, a world of giant insects and spectacular flying machines. But committing to this project was just the first step; my next course of action was to research and plan just how I would make these puppets.</div>
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There are many ways that stop motion puppets can be fabricated, so long as they can be animated for their desired actions. Think of old school Wallace and Gromit, sculpted from plasticine, compared to the 3D printed faces in Laika's 'Paranorman'. In this sense my options were wide open, but I already had my mind set on pursuing a different making technique entirely, one which hasn't really been used in animation before...</div>
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Discovering Lisa Lichtenfels:</h3>
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For me, research is ongoing and daily. I'm forever reading articles and scouring the vast ocean that is Google Images for new inspiration. On one fateful day I stumbled across an artist who would excite my mind so much that I had to buy her book straight away to find out more about her work. That artist is Lisa Lichtenfels. </div>
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Lisa creates incredibly detailed, life-like human sculptures from the least expected materials - batting and nylon tights. She firstly creates a wire skeleton in the desired final pose, and then sews layer after layer of thin batting onto this armature. Once satisfied with the shape, she stretches skin coloured nylon over the body and stitches it into place. The results are incredible, like nothing I've ever seen before. Here's one of my favourites from her book:</div>
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As I naturally gravitate towards sewing, this idea of 'soft sculpture' was immediately exciting to me. Upon receiving Lisa's book, 'Figures in Fabric' and reading more about the process, my mind wandered to the possibilities of using the same technique for puppets. If the wire armature underneath was reposed, would the wadding pose with it, and hold its shape?</div>
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I began making my own figures with her book as my guide, and experimenting with poseability. Although I never got past the wadding stage, it was enough for me to see that this could really work for puppets.</div>
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This is a skeleton from one of my early attempts. As you can see, the wire armature is wrapped in yarn, which means it can be sewn onto. The bones are then built up with felt.</div>
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This is the body at a later stage, after having been built up with many layers of wadding. She's stood next to my 15" tall japanese doll for scale. This is the size that I intend to make Nausicaa.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK74MoGSJMt_sFZkLgnygi7BMmfQsstKwKU1InJfCmTMCN_aODWMN0WIsX1ZR_-OPCggntYJVCwp8bCEtrd5PzLJQdXo9SXVm4ojn4zhhUlAVRXpH-FOZJeNGn0DpvlgP40AsS_N4zy0Wx/s1600/P4121292.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK74MoGSJMt_sFZkLgnygi7BMmfQsstKwKU1InJfCmTMCN_aODWMN0WIsX1ZR_-OPCggntYJVCwp8bCEtrd5PzLJQdXo9SXVm4ojn4zhhUlAVRXpH-FOZJeNGn0DpvlgP40AsS_N4zy0Wx/s640/P4121292.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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I love the challenge and patience required when sewing on this scale. The results are very satisfying.</div>
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From reading Lisa's book I discovered that she was actually once an animator at Disney, and made character designs for 'The Black Cauldron' using soft sculpture. I contacted Lisa to ask her more about the connection between her sculptures and animation, and what she thought the possibilities were. Her encouraging words to pursue this project have given me confidence that the results could be good!</div>
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Initial Research:</h3>
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With the knowledge of how my puppet's bodies would be made, I started gathering visual imagery for their finished appearances. For Nausicaa this mainly revolved around her face, which is very particular in terms of shape and proportion.</div>
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She has those massive anime eyes, tiny nose and big forehead. Having a lot of references to hand when I make her face will be be important for achieving an accurate model.</div>
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My research for Kai the bird has been even more extensive. Finding many good pictures of 'Horseclaws' has proven tricky, but the discovery that they're based on prehistoric Terror Birds was helpful. I've studied their skeletons, as well as the general skeletons of birds, to help me think about how the armature will look. Here's a quick little maquette I put together to help me with visualising the shape:</div>
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I try to sketch and collect images every day - anything to help expand my understanding of what I'm trying to make. To me this will always be ongoing, right up to the point when I'm adding the finishing touches to my puppets.</div>
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In my next post I'll be talking final maquettes and scale drawings. Thanks for reading!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05088835141254726601noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8568799491552815175.post-35897352316957729612015-08-10T00:32:00.001-07:002015-08-23T03:59:20.353-07:00A Girl and her Bird - The Nausicaa Project<h3 style="text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Firstly, thanks for visiting my blog! My name is Rachel Brown and I'm a Performance Design student at The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff, Wales. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm about to start my third and final year, and intend to use this blog as a platform for documenting and reflecting on my projects. I hope what I learn along the way will be of interest to those who also love making in miniature!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">During my third year I have to complete three specialist studies for my exhibition, which should be relevant to my desired career path. Stop motion animation is my keenest interest, and I decided a while ago that puppet making was something I really wanted to explore further. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I spent some time thinking about the characters I could bring to life, and wavered between designing my own from scratch or realising existing images. I eventually decided on the latter, because although I enjoy character design, it would be another layer of processes on top of what will likely be an extensive making project.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">My final choice of character comes from one of my favourite animated films, 'Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind'. Set in a post-apocalyptic world where giant mutant insects and a toxic forest dominte the terrain, Nausicaa must try to heal the broken bond between humanity and the earth.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I'm unable to pinpoint Hayao Miyazaki's design for the film, which is a wonderful blend of period and sci-fi. From the architecture to the costume, every detail is considered, which greatly appeals to me and my making sensibilities. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">One of the fantastical creatures in Nausicaa's world is the Horseclaw, a giant dinosaur-like bird, genetically engineered as replacements for horses. Nausicaa's love of animals is one of her strongest traits, so as well as making a stop motion puppet of her, I also intend to create Kai, her noble steed:</span></div>
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Stop motion puppet making is very new to me, and as I'm not on a course that specifically teaches it. Therefore most of my knowledge will come from online resources, friends in the industry and trial and error! I'm excited for the challenges that this project will throw at me, and the amount I'll learn about new processes and materials.</div>
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I'll base my puppets on a variety of references, my aim being to create two fully animatable puppets which accurately depict Miyazaki's original designs. I intend to fabricate every detail, from Nausicaa's costume to Kai's embossed bridle.</div>
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Stay tuned for my next post, where I'll be sharing my research and puppet design process!</div>
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