0614 //Trial run with the materials
In the past week I had the chance to drop by a couple places to pick up the materials needed for puppets.
I visited Fibre Fusion studio in Kew and had a pleasant chat with the owner Chrissy. She was very friendly, and we talked, for hours, about fabrics and felt and their different uses. I learnt so much, but also realized how little I knew about felting.
She gave me the contact for a lady named Catherine O'Leary, who was a professional felt artist. I emailed her last week but haven’t heard anything back. I’d love some expert help on this one, but I’m not scared to learn everything from scratch myself.
I visited my parents in Frankston on the weekend, and on my way back I went to Hobby Tools Australia in Braeside. Picked up a couple things, most importantly some K&S metals, and some epoxy putty & glues.
Yesterday I went to Bunnings to treasure hunt. I’ve been trying to devise my own ball&socket joints, and was looking for different metal parts I could hack together. Found none, and just ended up getting some extra tools. Wanted to get a drill set but damn they are expensive.
Eckersly’s is closed today. I need some more armature wires from them, and some polyethylene foams. I also need some magnets to make a tie-down system... the list goes on and on.
And all the shops are so far away from me. I’m based in Foorscray area, and I’ve spent close to 6 hours in the past week just on commute.
Anyway. Here’s the family photo:
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This morning I am working with tubes and wires to plan for the armature.
Since I couldn’t get my hands on the b&s joints, I have to rely on armature wires for bending and rotating. Thus the priority is to strenghen them as much as possible.
For the core, I am using a 1.6mm armature wire, halved and twisted, then further enhanced by a layer of hot shrunk tube. I got the idea from the book The Advanced Art of Stop-Motion Animation By Kenneth A. Priebehe.
I’ve been bending and twisting this thing in the centre while microwaving my lunch. I counted about 200 back-and-forths and it still is fairly intact. I’ll bend it some more just to see how far I can push it. Have a wrist or spine broken in the middle of a shoot is the last thing I want.
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Then the wire is slotted into a 3/16 (4.76mm) K&S tube, which is made from copper and very rigid. It is a nice and snuggly fit. This will form the majority of the limbs. At where the joint sits, a gap will be left for flexibility.
The 3/16 is one size down from a 7/32 (5.56mm), meaning that one can be plugged into another. I plan to use this to design an armature with replaceable limbs.
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No one:
Agnes: ummnomnom.

I visited Fibre Fusion studio in Kew and had a pleasant chat with the owner Chrissy. She was very friendly, and we talked, for hours, about fabrics and felt and their different uses. I learnt so much, but also realized how little I knew about felting.
She gave me the contact for a lady named Catherine O'Leary, who was a professional felt artist. I emailed her last week but haven’t heard anything back. I’d love some expert help on this one, but I’m not scared to learn everything from scratch myself.
I visited my parents in Frankston on the weekend, and on my way back I went to Hobby Tools Australia in Braeside. Picked up a couple things, most importantly some K&S metals, and some epoxy putty & glues.
Yesterday I went to Bunnings to treasure hunt. I’ve been trying to devise my own ball&socket joints, and was looking for different metal parts I could hack together. Found none, and just ended up getting some extra tools. Wanted to get a drill set but damn they are expensive.
Eckersly’s is closed today. I need some more armature wires from them, and some polyethylene foams. I also need some magnets to make a tie-down system... the list goes on and on.
And all the shops are so far away from me. I’m based in Foorscray area, and I’ve spent close to 6 hours in the past week just on commute.
Anyway. Here’s the family photo:
This morning I am working with tubes and wires to plan for the armature.
Since I couldn’t get my hands on the b&s joints, I have to rely on armature wires for bending and rotating. Thus the priority is to strenghen them as much as possible.
I’ve been bending and twisting this thing in the centre while microwaving my lunch. I counted about 200 back-and-forths and it still is fairly intact. I’ll bend it some more just to see how far I can push it. Have a wrist or spine broken in the middle of a shoot is the last thing I want.
Then the wire is slotted into a 3/16 (4.76mm) K&S tube, which is made from copper and very rigid. It is a nice and snuggly fit. This will form the majority of the limbs. At where the joint sits, a gap will be left for flexibility.
The 3/16 is one size down from a 7/32 (5.56mm), meaning that one can be plugged into another. I plan to use this to design an armature with replaceable limbs.
No one:
Agnes: ummnomnom.