Monday, January 17, 2011

Ball & Socket Lips




1/8" Ball & Socket lip rig for a stop-mo puppet. Though the mechanics themselves worked, the installation proved more difficult than expected. Need to tweak the process a bit for next time.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You have done a great job, looks similar to those fabricated for Corpse Bride.

I was wondering what are your skulls made out of. Some look transparent (monkey) and others don't. I'm trying to sculpt some myself but are finding it difficult to get the right material. Are you familiar with magic-sculpt?

Jorge from L.A.

Graham Read said...

Hey Jorge,
Thanks for the kind words.

Both skulls were sculpted in Chavant clay, then silicone molds were made from those sculpts.
The white colored skulls are made from a 2 part liquid urethane plastic made by Smooth Cast.
The monkey one is a more dense urethane cast directly onto the armature. Used the urethane for the monkey because the plastic doesn't hold up well under heat and it had a Foam Latex skin cast around it, which required baking.
I'm in Canada and get this kind of stuff from http://www.sculpturesupply.com/index.php
There's probably someplace in California to get this stuff. If not, I'm sure sculpture supply delivers internationally.
I'm familiar with Magic Sculpt and use it from time to time when weight isn't an issue. I find it to be a little heavy for most stop-mo applications. My rule of thumb is "Keep it as light as possible".
The plastics and silicones are pretty easy to use, once you get the hang of it. Usually only 2 parts to mix at a ratio specific to each product.
I'd recommend experimenting with them. Once you get the hang of it, it'll open all kind of options for you.