Sorta Cute

I'm putting off completing the cut-out characters until I'm on winter break next week. I want to concentrate on finishing the stop-motion monster puppet by the end of this semester. I've been experimenting with different techniques since the summer, but didn't begin building the final pppet until this past weekend. I really got stuck on trying to make a very cheap yet professional armature. Originally, I had my heart set on ball and socket but I had some trouble modifying cheap parts and got frustrated. So I switched to wire and brass tubing and tried a few thing out but wasn't satisfied. I've decided to meet in thy middle and make a half ball and socket and half wire armature. So far it is working out swell.


The ball and socket joints can be found in his jaw, neck, and stomach. His arms, legs, tail and tongue are wire. Because he's a dough blob he has no fingers or toes. Of course I am planning on the ball and socket joints needing to be tightened and the wires needing to be replaced, and I think this design is simple enough to allow this to happen without much fuss. I've already replaced the two "toe" wires because they were too weak.


The next step is to make his flesh out of foam. I cut it with a long razor and carefully glued it onto the armaturet with stinky contact cement. After glueing the foam block seen in this photo, I decided to start over and make a sort of "monster sandwich" by sticking the armature between two blocks and cutting out the silhoette. I forgot to take a picture of this.


I then proceeded to make a huge mess as I carved the monster out of the foam block. I'm going to be finding foam for months.


Finally, the monster is taking shape. I used these handy green clips to keep everything in place while the glue dried.


Roar!!! He really is sorta cute. I still have some foam clipping to do, but I'm almost there. The next step is to apply his skin.