I've started making some hand armatures which I plan to do some material experimentation on when they are done.
Here's some images of how I made the armature:

It's important to keep a tight grip on the wire you are twisting to stop the wire from contorting in places you don't want it to!

I've only gone and created Frankensteins' monster!
These creatures were created by merging different peoples body parts together to create something new.

Today me and other people from my course made a group animation (and got quite sunburnt in the process!)

We each had to pick a word out of a hat and draw what we were given on to the long strips of paper seen in the photo above. We then had to morph our drawing into the drawing of the person that was next to us, which when filmed would create a cyclical animation. I drew "Great Aunty Dot" out of the hat which I had to morph into Yusrys' "Teacher". I'm looking forward to seeing the animation!

I added some white sculpting milliput onto the polymorph skull to give my armature some bone structure.

Once this was dry I could add a layer of foam dipped in latex. This would give me a coarse surface to work on when painting on latex at a later stage rather than working straight onto the shiney plastic polymorph surface.

I attended a workshop to learn how to make a stop-motion puppet head that has an animatable brow and jaw. Here's how I got on!

In this case we added a nose in polymorph as well. However this can be added at a layer stage either made with milliput, foam or built up with latex. I made teeth by cutting a thin strip of polymorph and whilst still malleable impressing dents at equal spacing along this to create the look of the individual teeth. I then moulding this onto the lower jaw and repeated the process for the upper jaw as well.

This is a quick animation test I did with my newly made head armature. Excuse the funny lighting, my booth had a broken light.

(When I played this back for the first time all I could think of were the aliens from Mars Attacks!)

The next stage is to build on top of the polymorph skull with milliput in the appropriate places to replicate a human skull. For example as you can see from the pictures above the cheek bones are very prominant.

Below I've put plasticine in areas where I will be doing this so that it shows up clearly on the camera.

I'll let you know of my progress in another post very soon!

I've found this really nifty little video by Nick Hilligoss which goes through the different types of puppet heads and their material properties. I had to subscribe to his YouTube channel...it's cram packed with lovely puppety wisdom!

I had the opportunity to watch a Masters student use foam latex in a mould they had made similar to the one I had created in the casting workshops. The only difference being is that this mould did not have a 'spigget' which is the hole that I used to bung; due to the nature of foam latex this is not needed in your cast.

I used a silicone based substance in my puppet head cast as it is a translucent substance and gives the effect of skin. Foam latex is used as an alternative to silicone when you need to keep the weight down on a puppet and would be well used on the body armature. It is the same as liquid latex but the kit that you buy turns this into foam.

You can buy foam latex from Mouldlife  which sells sillicones, latex and other materials that can be used in animation, film and theatre.

DO NOT DO THIS PROCESS ON YOUR OWN. Two pairs of hands are needed as the foam sets really quickly once mixed.

The foam latex comes with instructions on how to mix the foaming agent, curing agent (which sets it), and the gelling agent (which gives the bubbles a structure). However it is best to use half of the volumes stated as this mixes too much.

Make sure the puppets armature fits into the mould and it can close before you start to mix and substance together

1. Paint the release agent over the whole mould rather than just where the puppet will be. The foam latex will more than likely spill out over the whole mould when the two componants are joined together.
2. You will need a different speed mixer.Mix equal amounts of the latex with the foaming and curing agents for 30 seconds on a slow mix setting and then for 2 minutes, then 4 minutes on faster settings. The latex is thick and heavy so use a spatula to get the heavy material off the bottom of the bowl.
3. Finally add the gelling agent, the warmer the temperature is the faster the gelling agent works so
use less gelling agent than it states - it does not need that much and will set too fast. The bowl contents will be foaming and thickening, should be very smooth and very fine.

4. NOW MOVE VERY QUICKLY! The foam latex has already started to set. Paint a layer into the mould first so that it covers all the detail and fills all the more difficult to reach areas of the mould. Two people should be working on this, one on either side of the mould. Then pour the mixture into bothe sides of the mould.

5. Place the armature into one half of the mould and seel the two pieces together. Leave this to set.

6. Then you need to cook - if you don't cook it will set but it is not very durable or long lasting. Set the oven to 18 degrees. Make sure when you take your mould out of the oven that you don't let it cool too quickly otherwise it will crack and will be unusable.

I rescued this bit of foam latex from the dreggs of the bowl to get a feel of the material. It is a very spongey consistency and bounces back when gripped with your fingers:

I found this online tutorial which goes through the process step by step which is pretty handy:

The grand unveiling!!

Once opened, I could now remove all clay and plasticine from the mould along with the plasticine puppet head. The mould was then cleaned with water and a scouring brush to get rid of any unwanted dirt or left over clay.

I then peeled off all the plasticine from the puppet head that was cast to reveal the lightweight core and K and S; alternatively I could have made a new lightweight core but for time purposes this was the quickest option. I then needed to determine which way up the core sat in the mould so that the two pieces could close together perfectly and labelled this onto the sculpey.
A blob of plasticine was put over the tunnel in the back part of the mould ready for the silicone to be poured in. I painted a release agent into the mould and then placed the eyes into the right position. The mould is now ready.

The silicone substance we used to cast our puppet heads was Platsil and it can be bought HERE. It is more commonly used for prosthetics in TV and film but works well when casting puppets too. It comes as two components which when equal amounts are mixed together it starts to set. We also added some paint to colour it when mixing the gel, which you can see Katie and Mae doing in the picture above.

Acting quickly because the gel starts to set as soon as it's mixed, I painted a thin layer into my mould to ensure that the gel reached into all the nooks and crannies. As you can see from the picture area's like the nose, ears and around the eyes could be difficult for the gel to sit evenly by itself.

I then put the lightweight core into place which was made easier by the labelling being done previously and started dripping the gel around this into it started to overflow into the shim. I did this to both sides of my cast.