Q&A - Sun. June 24th, 2012

Curse Of The Wolfs Heart © 2012 Jeff Lafferty

Curse Of The Wolfs Heart © 2012 Jeff Lafferty

Curse Of The Wolfs Heart © 2012 Jeff Lafferty

Curse Of The Wolfs Heart © 2012 Jeff Lafferty

Curse Of The Wolfs Heart © 2012 Jeff Lafferty

Curse Of The Wolfs Heart © 2012 Jeff Lafferty

Curse Of The Wolfs Heart © 2012 Jeff Lafferty

Curse Of The Wolfs Heart © 2012 Jeff Lafferty

Curse Of The Wolfs Heart © 2012 Jeff Lafferty

It was just so hot here yesterday, that I never did get outside to do the latex work. I figured I would go ahead and answer some of the questions from yesterday in this blog post.

Rich asked about the tape loops, and how did I cut them …. They’re actually K&S brass tubes, the size is 1/8 x .014 round #127

The easiest way that I’ve found to cut them, is with a drywall knife and a new blade. I set the knife on top of the tube, and ‘roll it’ along a table while pushing down. If your knife is sharp it doesn’t take long to go through.

Rich also asked which is more durable, latex or silicone? … and the answer is silicone, it will last a lot longer. Latex will eventually harden and crumble, but that takes years.

The main reason I’m going with latex at this point (and this may change, cause not everything I try works) is because I’ve found a great way to paint it.

Since I’ve been an artist a lot longer than I've been an animator, I feel like the only thing I really have going for me in stop motion is my painting skills. I can put together a pair of boots from sculpey, fabric and glue, and they work and look ok … but once I paint them, they become part of the costume an really work.

Anyway I found this stuff called No-Tac Adhesive (from Monster Makers - Link) that makes painting latex really easy. I’m able to shoot it through an airbrush or just sponge it on, but I can  easily paint as well with this stuff as I can with just straight acrylics, and that’s a huge plus for me.

Yesterday in the comments Shelley - Link brought up “if the wire can withstand the constant abrasion of the tube edges” … I had that exact problem with earlier experiments trying to bone out the fingers. I would make a finger with the segments, and because of the constant stress on such a specific point on the wire (and possibly the abrasion of the edges) fingers would break with just a few bends.

I eventually abandoned the idea of finger joints, but I always loved the way those hands looked because the movement was so natural.

The answer finally came to me when I started experimenting with wire and testing different types. I would basically take a piece of wire and a pair of pliers, start bending, and see how many times I could bend it without breaking it.

The first thing I noticed was aluminum wire (which is weird because its what most of the stop mo forums recommend) would break the quickest. I noticed steel wire was a little better, and eventually found a (steel) green gardening wire that seemed to last a lot longer.

With the aluminum wire I was getting a maximum of about twenty bends. With the gardening wire I was getting more like 70 bends (mind you, this was with a pair of pliers, basically trying to break it. Under normal circumstances inside a puppet, aluminum wire isn’t usually under that kind of stress)

So I made a finger from the gardening wire, with brass tube for joints, a little gauze wrap and dipped in latex. Then I just played with it for a while. The last few weeks, whenever I sat down at my computer I would bend on it. I’ve been trying to break it since I made it (almost a full month) and I haven’t been able to break it yet.

So I’m not 100% sure I’ve found the answer to making jointed fingers, but I’m very, very hopeful.

Thanks for all the questions and comments, and thanks for reading the blog guys.

Jeff

2 comments:

JON said...

Very cool, Jeff! I love the way that hand looks. If you smeared a teeny tiny bit of epoxy putty on the inside of the finger tubes it might keep the wire from stressing against the edge (not sure if that would work, or not. Just an idea). Can't wait to see more!!!

Jeff Lafferty said...

Thanks Jon, its a good idea, I'll try it.

Jeff