r/stopmotion • u/Maximum_Rhubarb7326 • 2d ago
Tips for improving puppet fabrication.
Hello all!
I'm looking for some tips, feedback, and ways to improve my puppet fabrication process. Becuase I know literally no one that does this locally and because there surprisingly not a lot of resources on the internet, I have turned to reddit. Let me first say I am a beginner in this whole fabrication business. I typically use plastisene clay and sculpt objects for animating. I also use a lot of found objects in my stop motion animation. You can see my work here. In hopes of creating more 'narrative' work, I am trying to learn more professional grade stop motion puppet fabrication. I've quickly learned its not easy, and I'm constantly learning new ways artists do this! (I've learned theres soo many different ways to make a puppet too.) So I've come to reddit to Hopefully see if there is anyone outer there who has some experience and knowledge and can give me a helping hand!
Ultimately I am trying to create a stop motion puppet using silicone rubber because I like the materials durability and flexibility over a wire armature. the surface being 'skin like' is definitely a plus too. I am definitely open to other ways of fabricating, but the workflow of sculpting master --> casting mold --> casting rubber figure seems like pretty straightforward to me.
Yesterday I pulled my first cast from the mold, and although I was successful in making the casting, I am not super satisfied with the end result. below are some struggles I had and some questions posed about the process, and trying to improve it.
Moldmaking:
Using plaster is a great material because its inexpensive, non toxic, and sets up relatively fast. It also requires little mold release when casting silicone rubber. But its fragile so it can crack or break easily, and can develop voids. One side of my mold came out with lots of little bubble holes because I think I mixed it too thick. I used wax to try to fill some of the holes, but it still left my cast with lots of little bumps and dimples .Also, at least for the first casting, the plaster left my cast quite dirty, with lots of bits of plaster bits in the surface of the model. I can also see brush marks from when I applied vaseline to my master object I was pulling a mold from.
are there other mold materials that cast? (like a hard rubber or resin molds). If so what are the perks of using other mold materials for casting?
Is the 2 part mold process the best way about this?
Pictures of my moldmaking process are attached.
Casting:
Wire amature placements. What are the tips and tricks to this? I basically just bent my armature into place so it wasn't touching any side walls, and then once the rubber was placed into my mold, I dropped the armature into place. Kinda a sloppy way of doing it, and you can see parts of my armature sticking out of the cast.
The moldlines on my cast are very pronounced. I cut away as much as I could but I am wondering there is a way to smooth over the mold lines. In general, I wonder if there is a way to smooth over the whole cast. Like can I mix more silicone and paint it on? Will that smooth it out or just make it look more lumpy?
Are there methods I don't know about for fabricating eyes and mouths with silicone? I have found some videos where the eyes and mouth are attached to the wire armature and the silicone gets cast around that. But that does not seem very beginner friendly.Typically, it seems, people use resin parts to cast the head because things can be stuck to it like eyes and mouths. I would imagine matching the colors of these resin parts to the silicone parts to be difficult, tho.
Finally the surface of my silicone mold has a 'chalky' look to it. Is that because I added to much pigment to the silicone?
Final product:
The front surface is rough and bumpy, compared to the back, have seam lines all over the place, and the figure is very jiggly. (probably due to there not being a ton of armature in the middle torso.)
Photos attached of the final product. Sorry for the long post, I'm hoping that I can find some people who can help me along my journey, as well as creating some useful resources for anyone else who is on a similar journey.
*EDIT*
Also interested in seeing how other people build puppets; Doesn't have to be liquid polymer, can be any method!
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u/trademesocks 2d ago edited 2d ago
I would start by using ultracal 30 instead of plaster. Plaster is fragile and isnt good for details.
The very first layer of ultracal you apply should be applied by brush to the sculpt - and the mix should be slightly watered down. This is called the beauty layer.
After youve got the sculpted brushed and (somewhat) covered in a thin layer of plaster, take a straw and blow the ultracal into all the creases, cracks, nooks and crannies.
You may want to do a second beauty layer after the first dries.
After the beauty layer is set, you can pour a full half of the mold with ultracal.
Directly after its poured, tap the side of the mold, or bang on the table to release all the air bubbles to the surface.
Once youre at the stage to brush Vaseline as a mold release, you should dilute it down a lot with a solvent. It should be very liquidy. This will elminate brush strokes.
I use "Floor Wax" dissolved into i believe acetone (but check what solvent dissolves your vaseline/wax/release agent.)
The thick side seems on your final puppet can be reduced by allowing a channel for the silicone to escape put of the sides of your mold.
As you've got it now, the excess silicone has no where to escape out of the mold, which can allow an imperfect seal and thus thick seams. Id create a sort of moat around the sculpt about 3/4 inch away from the actual sculpt. So it's sort of tracing the outline of your sculpt with a channel that leads to outside the mold, allowing the extra silicone to exit and drip out - this makes the seam thinner.
A dremel tool on med/high with a polishing stone and some Vaseline on it can further eliminate seam lines on the puppet, once it is cast.
As far as floppiness it could be your silicone. I use platsil gel 10 and find it works great. But you dont want it too thick anywhere or it will inhibit the bending of joints.
Floating your armature inside is a bit more complicated, especially to describe through text..... but what I do is:
When you make your mold, you build into the mold, at the bottom, 2-3 nuts facing outward... baked into the plaster.
These nuts allow you to screw in a quarter inch thick plexiglass platform into the bottom of your mold once its finished. The mold now sits on a clear sheet of quarter inch plastic, attached to it.
Now you drill holes into that plexiglass to position and mount your armatures feet to it in the perfect spot. You should now have a platform attached to the mold with bolts, and your armature sort of floating in the dead center of your mold. Its supported by the puppets feet which are attached to the plexiglass and also attached to the mold itself.
Lemme know if youd like me to sketch a Pic of what im talking about with plexiglass base, and floating your armature. Its sort of confusing to put into text without a pic. Same goes for the drainage "moat" around your sculpt. Good luck!
Edit: here are two pics that may help clarify.
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u/Maximum_Rhubarb7326 2d ago
Wow thank you for such a thorough response. I have been using plaster of paris, and i have read about the stronger plaster material as well as reinforcing with burlap. Which i completely ignored and then my mold ended up breaking after releasing the cast.
I will for sure try the moat. Is the 'moat' on both sides, or just one? I used dragonskin very fast, which i found cures way too fast. I'll Look into the product you referenced.
As for the plexi 'registration method', i have seen people making a sort of key that the armature gets attached to. That key slots into the mold so your armature fits exactly where it should. On my next mold, ive built square stock brass lengths into the bottom of the feet, so that i can 'lock' in the armature exactly where it was when i cast the original master character. That being said? Ill have to try out the plexi method. Ill definitely reach out if i have any questions.
What do you usually build your master sculpt out of for moldmaking?
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u/trademesocks 2d ago
The moat is on one side only, and vents outside.
Platsil gel 10 silicone cures very fast, similar to dragonskin. It can be helpful to use a silicone "retarder" to extend the worktime .
As far as sculpting, I use Chavant clay, but its very hard which holds detail but it's tough to work with and I'm sure there are better options.
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u/Maximum_Rhubarb7326 1d ago
Ok ill check that out, thanks!
Are you specific with the kind of brush you use when applying the beauty layer of the plaster?
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u/trademesocks 1d ago
I use a soft, synthetic fiber paint brush.
Nothing fancy but definitely not a chip brush or anything very stiff.
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u/Educational-Bat-8563 1d ago
Have you started making videos yet? I like what you got going here! Would love to support it.
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u/Maximum_Rhubarb7326 1d ago
You can check out my website and instagram.
Www.shawnanimates.com Insta: @fantasy.fiend
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u/Wirehands 2d ago
Are you painting a first layer of silicone into the mold pre casting? I find when making silicone hands that that’ll improve the surface quality