Getting a feel for how the stools will fit into the decor. A little tall --- standers-by need to look up to talk to the seated, but I do like the way their tiny little legs dangle so comically. Imagine the difficulty for them, climbing onto one of these! Oh, and click the above pic to see it in megagigantic size at Flickr. I don't know, I MIGHT have to make shorter stools....
Ok, tonight things went a lot better than the prototype stool last night. I've worked out a methodology that turns it into a pretty simple production line, and gives me much better control over the finished product. Look how much taller and prouder the new stool is in the above pic than its predecessor, all sort of slumped and bedraggled looking. Plus of course it has a nice rectal tiedown on top!
The heart and soul of my assembly line.... the leg jig. No no... it's NOT a sharpie cap with gaffer tape wrapped around it... it's actually intricate state-of-the-art equipment, made of beryllium. Ber ILL eeee yum. yeah.
Round-thing-on-top wrapping jig. Ahem. No, it's NOT the end of my coping saw handle! It's made of carborundum. say it. Emphasis on third syllable - carboRUNdum.
The Kwikweld station. A nice little tack-weld to hold everything together and reduce fidgetty, flippy floppy action as I work. This step might not even be necessary really. Think I'll eliminate it from the workflow. Kind of hard to clean up sticky nasty Kwikweld that likes to run down the legs.
Then a little blob of 5 minute Fasteel epoxy putty with a cut-off 6-32 screw stuck in. This is a purely structural layer, to be covered by the cushion when we arrive at the upholstery station.
Ring-thing bending station. NOT a chisel handle. MAAANG-a-neez, ok?
Final assembly and cleanup. Seat cushion made from 20 minute Kneadatite A+B epoxy putty (gives me more time to sculpt it, plus a better color to paint later). The ring is hotglued to the legs on the underside, where it hopefully won't show, and the gap is hidden behind one of the legs that will be in the front. And we're done. Total time, about 1/2 an hour. Schaaaa-weeeet!
13 comments:
Excellent stools! The new one is far better and a tiedown screw will definately be helpfull to stop your puppet moving around. You would need a nut in the puppet's bum though. Will be easy enough. I like the height of them too. Great job! In 'The Child Snatcher, a Victorian Tale' there is a bar scene and so I will most likely have to make stools. (Obviously in Victorian style though) Do you have any ideas on how to get that dated victorian look to the ones you've made. Its a nice construction. :)
The puppets do have rectal tie-downs. I Kind of wish I had come up with a way to run a little piece of wire up through the chair though rather than a screw... wish they could move around a little more.
One thing I thought about doing is bending the legs into a bell shape. You could do that, and maybe add some more, thinner guage wire... some decorative struts. But when I think of Victorian, I imagine carved wood. I think I'd make wire stool armatures and sculpt over them in super sculpey or something... maybe make one and make a mold and cast the rest.
Gorgeous work, Mike! The bar set is really beginning to come together... Such ambiance!
Thanks Mike! I've nearly finshed the street set, the buildings just need decor and the same for the road. Pics and stuff are up at my blog if you want to have a look. The bar set will be started after it so those stool tips are greatly appreciated.
Mike, You are a master of the peeeer-e-odd-ik tables, I mean barstools!
They look fabulous! This film is getting really exciting now!!!
Acks - tried posting earlier but apparently with no luck.
They look great! Does the tie-down turn up or will they spin onto it to sit down?
I'm impressed with how many high tech tools you have for this project! The beryllium one is my favourite ;)
The tie-downs are fixed in place, I just have to screw the whole stool into the puppet. I don't plan to show anybody climbing on or off the stools (would be difficult anyway, thanks to their proportioning... some weird physics involved). I now have 6 stools finished... might need 1 or 2 more.
What a cool shot! I love how unique your visuals are.
well done and fun to watch the process.
jriggity
Hello Mike, what a fabulous work this film of yours is... I found you on Shelley's blog, but also at StopMo.com where I was greatly helped by your framethief tips... (I think it's you anyway?) Thanks a million..
I'm an illustrator and rather novice animator compared to you guys .. it's brilliant to see the nitty gritty of a long patient work like this... will be happy to follow the progress... And I thought those puppet heads looked familiar. Scott Radke's work is great :)
All the best to you from Scotland
Rima
Hi Rima!
I THOUGHT the name and the avatar were familiar.... THAT'S where I know you from - Shelley's blog! Wow, thanks for emigrating over here to Darkstriderland!
And yeah, I've yammered quite a bit about Framethief over there! Chances are if it's about Framethief, I probably wrote it. I sure do write a lot, don't I?
And patient is right... I've now been working on this film for 2 & 1/2 years! Wow, and I thought it was going to be pretty quick and painless! But it's nearing completion now.... sloooowly but surely. I hope to finish it around the end of the summer or in the fall.
But my patience is nothing next to Shelley's. I don't know if I could take on a massive project like Halfland!
The coolest stools I've seen, bar none! (Well, since the ones I had analysed to see if they were indeed from the believed-extinct Tasmanian Tiger, and to see if there were traces of rectal tiedowns...)
But anyway, they got style, and perfectly in keeping with the world you are creating.
I can imagine a closeup, showing the puppet from the waist up, where it seems to get on or off the stool (but has out-of-shot platform to tiedown feet, or jumping rig), followed by a wider shot where it just lands on the floor and walks away from the stool. Or the good old cutaway to another character - definitely can be worked around with editing.
So good when I see a burst of progress here in my favourite watering hole.
Nick H
Thanks Nick!
Yeah, I've got a couple ways I could do the dismount if I want to.... could even do it in a full shot with a wire rig and erase it afterwards, and just have somebody sort of jump down off the perch.
And I do have one stool with a hole and a tie-down screw hotglued in, so I could remove it and fill the hole with plasticene.
The way it's written now, nobody needs to get off their stool, but it could definitely add some tension (and would look cool).
And hey, I think you're the godfather of stopmo pubs around these parts!
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