This past fortnight (I know, I know… a “weekly blog” she said) has been again, not to sound like a broken record… a bit of a blur. Once again, I felt like I had accomplished very little, but upon reflection, actually learned a lot and undertook a lot of different tasks, some of which were completely new to me. It is so strange (I know a lot of you are experiencing similar feelings) that time is moving so fast and yet so slow simultaneously. Today is our 50th day in quarantine… I have now officially been here longer in quarantine than in the studio… which is bonkers, and a little depressing.
I am however determined to make the most of this opportunity. It is very likely we will be in some version of quarantine for the majority of my stay… and that is a tough reality to face. But on my good days, I can look at my situation and still feel incredibly blessed (for want of a better word*) to be here.
I am still able to learn, I am still able to grow as an artist, I am still managing to be productive and contribute (though I don’t always feel like I am). I am still making valuable connections and having a unique experience that will change the way I work and the course of my career forever.
With everything that is going on with You-Know-Who, I have so much to be grateful for. I have been adopted in to this wonderful stop-motion family, and it is just that - a family, with open arms, and have been challenged, encouraged and supported. Of course I am extremely lucky to be living with the incredible Mattzilla Duron, who has worked in the stop-motion industry for over a decade and who teaches me and supports me daily. Plus having access to his very well equipped basement studio, not to mention the emotional support from both of my housemates Zilla and Chris (I honestly couldn’t have asked for a better place to be).
A friend asked me earlier today “Are you still glad you’re there?”. I didn’t hesitate for a second. I am so glad I am here. No, it is not what I had expected, but really, were any of us prepared for this? Regardless of what is happening with You-Know-Who, I am so happy to be where I am, having this experience, with so many wonderful people around me, here and at home, digitally and IRL.
*The word “blessed” does not always resonate with me as it alludes to some higher power being involved. I am not always a fan of the word “lucky” either, because I work very hard for everything I have and attributing things to “luck” seems to suggest otherwise. I realise that I have just used both words above, and right now, I do feel it.
But enough of that…
GET ON WITH IT!
All this learning and growing you keep talking about Jhess… tell us about that!
Ok, ok.
In the last two weeks, I have done a lot of different tasks, to do with moulding, casting and some simple armatures. Mostly tasks relating to the film, and one small personal project. A few people have asked me about my little self portrait stop-mo puppet, and I am sad to report, she has had no progress at all in the last two weeks. She got unconsciously shelved, due to A, the high volume of tasks I had to work on for the production, and B, I just wasn’t feeling it. As I have mentioned before, the struggle with motivation has been real.
The small personal project I did work on is a new one… my chess knights.
I am honestly quite amazed at how long it took me to realise this, bewildered even, but my name is only one letter off being a chess knight. It was only a few years ago, when I googled myself (some shame) and google auto-corrected me - “showing results for chess knight”. Ever since I have had the desire to collect chess knights, have them around the house, make them in to earrings and broaches etc. But you never see a loose chess knight. They are never just floating around on their own, gone rogue! They are part of sets. But 2 weeks ago, when Zilla and I were rummaging through the drawers of random knick knacks in the props department at the studio, what did I find? Some little rogue plastic chess knights!
I took the chess knights home and decided to make a mould of one of them. That way I could cast more for myself and make all sorts of fun things. Plus, a good low stakes way to practice my mould making.
I moulded the chess knight in silicone, as I intended to cast in a hard resin. A one part mould as the bottom of the knight is flat, I simply hot glued the knight to a board, boxed it up and poured in the silicone (after mixing and evacuating the silicone). When the mould was ready, due to the shape of the horses head, the knight would not come out of the mould easily. This was a blessing in disguise as Zilla had been wanting to teach me how to jewel cut for some time, and this was the perfect opportunity.
A jewel cut in this case is where you use a sharp blade to slice your mould open, and in the process zig-zag the blade to create keys that will hold your mould together in the right place when casting. I practiced on some old moulds of Zilla’s before trying it on my mould. It will take some practice to get the hang of it, but my first few attempts were passable if a little rough. The tricky thing with the knight mould was that the piece is so thin at the base of the head, that trying to cut directly down the centre line proved quite tricky. I didn’t entirely succeed and so decided to try the mould again! This time I decided to include two knights in the one mould.
My jewel cut for this mould was much more successful. My first attempt at a cast using 320 resin, showed a need for some vents. Because I am pouring the mould up with the base of the knight facing upwards, it means the nose of the horse is a high point, and this can cause air bubbles to form, which it did on the tip of the nose. So cutting a vent (like a little channel) between the nose and the neck allows the air to escape and prevents those bubbles from forming. My second casts turned out beautifully, and I was very quick to make some earrings to wear. For my first set, I used one of the original black knights and one of my cast white knights. I do intend to make some cool multicoloured sets too.
In terms of what I was working on for the film this week. I continued working on more dressing dummy’s for the costume department. This entails building simple wire armatures as outlined in previous posts, casting in soft expanding foam, trimming the foam back, and then casting skin overtop in silicone.
Prior to this week, I had not had the opportunity to cast using expanding foam. My previous armatures for dressing dummy’s had been padded out using upholstery foam (gluing it on and sculpting it to the right shape) which is also a fine technique to use. The expanding foam can be used in the mould so creates an exact body for the character you are casting. It is a very fun material to work with, it is like a school science experiment, the way that is bubbles up and rises when you mix the components together. It is very quick to cure, so you need to work fast.
Once you have your foam cast, you need to trim it back, just enough to allow a layer of silicone skin to be added on top. Using small scissors or a sharp blade, you take off just a few millimetres width all the way around. Once you have done this, you mix up some silicone with the skin pigment you want and some ultra-fast catalyst. You then paint this on in a thin layer simply to coat the body and close up the pores of the foam. Once this has cured, you are ready to cast your skin in the mould. Mixing up your silicone with the skin pigment, you cover both halves of the mould, then place the body in one side, cover the body in the silicone, sandwich the moulds together and clamp them tightly shut.
I went through this process with a few dressing dummy’s and of course my work was never perfect, but I learned more with each mistake and continue to see improvement, not only in my technique but in my understanding of the processes. As you can imagine, it is a lot of new information to try to retain. Again, why this blog is so important for my own documentation. I am sure I will be refering back to it in future.
On top of this, I also cast up some hands for background characters. The trickiest part of this was updating the hand armatures to fit and getting them in place perfectly before casting… this was a very time consuming process, but again I learned a lot. Also seeing how the armature team make the hands is a great glimpse in to that department.
Speaking of the armature department…
Obviously since quarantine began, the plan/ itinerary we had created for my placement has been somewhat left by the wayside. We had no way of knowing (and still don’t) how long this working from home caper would go on, and in the beginning it seemed very fitting and fortuitous that I had just begun my stint with the mould making department, and I live with a senior mould maker. As time went on however, though I am having a wonderful time learning from Zilla, I began to feel some disappointment that I was/ am missing out on spending time learning from the artists in other departments.
Puppet production manager Jennifer Hammontree knew how much I was looking forward to working with the armature department, and last week suggested I speak to senior armaturist Miel Paredes to ask for some advice, some methods to try… Essentially some homework. Basically to act as somewhat of a mentor from a distance. I was very excited by this prospect, and also humbled that Jennifer was thinking about me and my journey amidst the million other tasks on her to-do list. After speaking with Miel, and receiving some excellent advice, I have some armature challenges ahead of me, and am excited to tackle them. As always, I am sure there will be plenty of trial and error and opportunities to learn from my mistakes. This conversation also prompted others; one with head of puppetry Georgina Hayns (who worked as a senior armaturist for many years), offering to have me over to her house one day soon to teach me (while maintaining social distance) how to solder amongst other things. And another with Jennifer about creating a new plan for my placement, where I can still move between all the different departments, working with artists from costuming, hair, paints etc
It has boosted me up so much, to not only have all of these people thinking of me, and on my team, but to have this potential plan, to make the most of this time and continue my learning. It truly means the world to me, and has done wonders for my mood. Though my mental/emotional health does fluctuate, I have my good days and my bad days, I am feeling really positive right now and am determined to work hard and learn as much as I can. As my primary school taught me, “Always do your PB”, your personal best. It is all any of us can do. And I do acknowledge that at times your PB includes rest, and cutting yourself some slack, especially in these uncertain times.
And so I begin week 15.
If you want more regular updates of what I am up to, follow along on Instagram @thepuppetsmithery
Till next time!