Puppets
I love making puppets - both stop motion and hand operated. My work involves a variety of materials and fabrication processes, including:
Fabric template making
Mould making
Wire armatures
Latex build up puppets
Mechanisms
Click the images to see more detail on each puppet.
Paul is a hand puppet, made primarily from foam with a fleece and feather covering. His hands and feet are cast in latex and have wire armatures for posing. His head includes eye mechanisms for blinking, and his arms are controlled with steel arm rods.
The Goblin is a stop motion puppet, made using the latex build-up method. Her mouth, eyes, eyebrows, ears, and nose can be animated allowing for a wide array of expressions. Her patchwork linen outfit was made fully by hand. The Goblin will be featuring in my first short film The Worm Turns.
Knobbi is a hand puppet of a talking garlic bulb - made primarily from foam with a fleece covering. His head includes mechanisms for raising the brow and looking side to side, and his arms are controlled with wooden arm rods.
Yeti is a stop motion puppet, made using moulded latex skins and a fabric covering. His trunk, mouth, eyes and brow can be animated.
Goldi is a claymation puppet with a wire armature, replacement mouths and moving eyes.
Stop Motion Animation
I’m currently developing my stop motion animation skills, using armatures and puppets that I’ve built.
I’ve begun work on my first animated short The Worm Turns (see progress here), and through this I’m learning other key aspects of stop motion production such as storyboarding, set building/ dressing, compositing, and rig removal.
Below are some of my stop motion tests.
Some clips contain flicker, these were my earlier tests before I had access to a fully blacked‑out room.