Build 69 - Chair, Cup, Stove

I then made the morris dancer a balsa wood camping chair, and a camping stove out of some bits and pieces, I made the cup out of a cocktail stick container.

Build 68 - Finished Tent

I then finished the tent by putting a heavy wooden base on it and putting wire through the tabs to hold it up. I then made an identical tent without the base, and folded it up so I could animate it opening. I also made a milking bucket by spraying a plastic cup, this can be seen at the bottom right of the picture.

Build 67 - Hedges

I made 3 hedges about 50cm long each out of upholstery foam. I chopped into the foam with scissors then used spray paint to paint them green.

Build 66 - Tent

I made a dome tent by cutting 4 panels of rip stop nylon. I then stuck black strips of fabric along the seams before sewing it together and cutting a door in it.

Build 65 - Poetree in motion

I then started making the trees, I got big tubes of cardboard and cut blocks of wood to go on their bases. I then stuck a screw through each one, and glued one to the bottom of each tube. I then used PVA glue to stick sheets of newspaper round each tube.

Build 64 - Mooving on

Now Mrs. Moo is complete as she has he udder.

Build 63 - A story for an udder time

I needed the morris dancer to be able to milk the cow, so I had to make a stretchy udder. So I made one out of plasticine, then cast it in fast cast, and poured pink silicone into the mold.

Build 62 - Mrs Moo

I then made Mrs. Moo, the cow for my film. The pig in the background is from my last years film. I made Mrs. Moo from polystyrene balls and felt.

Build 61 - Neck'st stage

I then made a plasticine nack and made a mold of it in fast cast, I then made 2 necks from the mold out of silicone.

Build 60 - Bat

Then I made a little bat out of felt, he is the bat form of the vampire.

Build 59 - Little details

I added bells to the morris dancers feet, as all morris dancers need bells of some kind, and shoe laces to the vampires boots.

Build 58 - Finished Mouths

These are the finished mouths on the puppets.

Build 57 - Paint the Mouths

I sprayed the mouths flesh tone, and made fimo tongues.

Build 56 - making bottom teeth

I made a set of bottom teeth for the morris dancer. I then made a mold of them in dragonskin, and reproduced them a few times, not all the mouth shapes need bottom teeth.

Build 55 - Shaping the Mouths

Then I painted the inside of the mouths black, and used milliput to shape each mouth differently around the teeth.

Build 54 - Casting lots of chins

I then cast 15 of each chin out of fast cast from the mold.

Build 53 - Molding the chins

I then made a new mold of the chins now that they have teeth in them. I used cocktail sticks to make channels at the end of the teeth to stop air bubbles getting stuck in them.

Build 52 - Finished hair

This is both of them with finished hair

Build 51 - Top teeth

I then made fimo teeth and stuck them into the mouths with milliput. These are the vampires fangs.

Build 50 - Heads

I finished the hair and used hot glue to stick it onto the head, however before doing this I used spray paint to colour the heads flesh tone. I also ground out a hole from the chins to make a mouth.

Build 49 - Plan the hair

I made the pattern for the hair out of scrap felt to get the right shape before making the final hair.

Build 48 - Finish morris dancers robe

Build 47 - Morris dancers robe

I the started to finish the morris dancers outfit.

Build 46 - Clothes continued

Then I made the vampires sleeves and both of their trousers.

Build 45 - Vampires cloak

Now I have to put the sleeves on.

Build 44 - Start making the clothes

This is the vampires cape.

Build 43 - Pad out arms and legs

I padded the arms and legs with thin upholstery foam.

Build 42 - Final core foam

I finished the core foam by sanding it to shape and gluing it onto the armature with epoxy glue.

Build 41 - Finished shoes

I reattached the foot plates, with the silicone feet onto the armatures, I have not yet permanently glued them down.

Build 40 - Core Foam

This is the morris dancer with her finished shoes on, I have started to bulk her out with core foam which is not flexible, and will make a good chest and pelvis.

Build 39 - Casting the feet

I cast both sets of feet in dragonskin silicone. It takes a few hours to cure, I added oil paint to colour them.