Production Hiccoughs

It looks like I won't be able to order eyes from that Gumdrops site because they're not answering my emails. There are other sites with similar products but they're not as nice. However, I have to make due so I will probably purchase from one of them or just make my own eyes. (I have everything I would need to do it, I just have never done it before).

LINK 1 (Mystic)

LINK 2 (Ever Purple)

LINK 3 (Enchanted)

LINK 4 (SOOM)

(There are others but I already weeded them out.)

I'm also having trouble getting caught up in my classes so that I can meet with everyone and get done what I need to get done. For instance, I've been trying to meet with my costumer but I don't even know if my sewing machine can be fixed. (I may have dropped a couple hundred bucks on a useless machine).

I'm having trouble choosing a natural wood for props. Here's the site I want to buy from LINK.

That last one's not so bad. Also, my boyfriend cut some of the wood for my shooting stage. I think the legs need to be cut again because the height seems a bit ridiculous at 4', but that's why I wanted 8'- 4"x6" pieces. Now I can cut it down to what I want it to be (a height that is both easy to get under for working with Tie-Downs as well as easy to reach across for animating). Anyway, I'm excited about this one!

Photos soon!

My Home Shooting Stage

As I mentioned before, I will be shooting at home on a homemade stage. It's 4'x8', WOO!

Here's what it cost:

* 4'x8' sheet of plywood (3/4") - $29.77 (Home Depot)
* 2"x4"-96" - 5 pieces @ $2.36 ($11.80) (Home Depot)
* Box of 50 Wood Screws - $9.87 (Home Depot)
* Tape Measure - $4.86 (Ours went missing, like everything else...ever) (Home Depot)
* Rope - $11.24 (To tie the sheet of plywood to the roof rack on my van) (Home Depot)
* 4"x6"-8' - 2 pieces @ $11.97 ($23.94) (I wanted 4"x4" but all of Home Depot's selection was wet and gross. Also, with as large as my set is going to be, I can use the extra stability).

Info Concerning Shooting Off-Campus

Here are some notes for SCAD kids about shooting off-campus:

1) Stop Mo kits can't be taken off-campus because they belong to each of the shooting stages on the 3rd floor in Monty.

2) Another camera can be reserved with approval from both your Senior I professor as well as Professor Hal Miles (Stop Mo Guru and Special FX Mastah). Oh yes, and even with these signatures, the camera can only be taken out in 10 hour blocks. (Even the Stop Mo kits can be out for 24 hrs. ... as I remember.)

3) Lights can be taken out but require a signature from your Senior I professor EVERY time they are taken from the cages. (I am not sure how long they can be out for at a time).

4) If shooting with Stop Mo Pro (which I believe I will be, once I purchase the program), a digital SLR camera (still camera) is best. (The images will have to be edited to your liking, but they will work for even HD.

5) Don't forget that you will need a tripod for the camera and some way of hanging lights.

Armature Stuff & New Materials

I have purchased some more items and made some more progress.

Below you will see suede for costuming, etc. ($2.29 @ Michaels), a black paint swatch for my sets (free @ WalMart, Ha. I will be purchasing a gallon of flat black, it will cost about $25), wood screws for assembling my set ($9.87 for a box of 50 @ Home Depot), a card for Mr. Smiley (who fixes sewing machines) (free @ Hancock Fabrics) and a wax cast of the original hoof (which actually worked this time...strange).

Below this set of text is the first run of the deer's armature. Jenna got this baby rocking and rolling and will be putting together the other girl tonight. We wanted to attach the hooves but found that one of them needs to be recast (the nut was too close to the surface of the top of the hoof; when we drilled into the resin, in order to insert the armature wire, the nut became visible). (Also, we're not sure about the leg length). The other thing we need to do is add facial wires and ear wires. The same goes for the girls...minus the whole ear thing.

I also purchased the wood to build my shooting stage. My set will be 4'x8'! Yowza! My boyfriend and I were going to saw and assemble it today but with the rain, decided against it.

There will be more to come.

Twisted Armature Wire & New Deer Hooves

Here's the twisted Armature Wire and the new Deer Hooves. They're even separated and labelled by what puppet each wire goes to. This was all Jenna except for the hooves, which I made, but Jenna clipped the excess Resin from around the bottoms. (They still need sanding however. Also, one may need to be re-cast as when the Resin was being clipped, the Nut inside became exposed.)

Random Materials, Prices & Progress

Here are some things I talked about that I've purchased.

10 reams of paper from Staples. (I think I included the price for this in an earlier post).

Paper cutter. It's got a travel handle, wee. I will say, however, that I'll most likely be needing a new blade within the next couple of reams... (Price in earlier post I believe. Purchased at Staples).

This is what 2 reams of paper looks like when you spend a billion hours cutting it.

I got this beautiful set from Home Depot, on sale for $22.00, down from $29.99 and apparently worth $120. (I bought this mostly for 2 bits: the 2nd from the left on the very top and the 5th from the left in the same row. I wanted something round to create eye sockets and I think these will work wonders).

Here's the Stiffen Stuff spray, Stiffy liquid, fake Blood, liquid Gold Leaf ($7.49 at Primary, $8.01 with tax), and Petroleum Jelly. (I forgot to mention this item earlier. The Machine Screws must be coated with a bit of Petroleum Jelly before used with Resin. When setting the Resin around the Machine Screw and Nut, the Petroleum Jelly will allow the Screw to be removed upon drying. If this is done, Tie-Downs can be screwed into place and removed at will. If you didn't use the Jelly, the Screw would most likely be set with the Resin, thus rendering your Tie-Downs useless). (The Jelly was purchased at WalMart for about $3.50).

Here we have: a Hole Punch with 3 bits that allow for 3 hole sizes. (I will use this to punch holes in some of my paper stacks so that they can be rigged with Armature Wire). (Purchased at Michaels for a depressing $24.99, but this won't be the first nor the last time I will be able to use this tool). Next we have a Putty Knife and Spot Putty. (These are to hide drilled Tie-Down holes in my set. I have never had to do this, but anticipate having to for this project). (These were purchased at Home Depot and WalMart. To be quite honest, I forget the price of the Putty, but I believe the Knife was $7.49). Then we have some Hemp to bind some of the stacks of paper. (This I purchased at Michaels for $4.99). Finally, I have some Circular Mirrors. (These I got to make the broken mirror for the evisceration scene.) (I purchased these in a pack, not seen here, from Michaels for $2.29).

*I actually had a coupon for 15% off of my entire order from Michaels so anything you see here, from Michaels, I have listed at it's normal price.

I ordered these 3 Rabbit Pelts off of eBay. They are being recycled. This is also the case with the other fur that will be used in the film. (It will be coming from my Great Great Aunt's old coat that we had in our hall closet for about 20 years). I will be using these for the fur of the deer. (Sorry for the quality of this photo).

Here's the 1st run of my armature. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, I will be shortening the neck and I still need to add the hands, add facial feature wires, dremel out some eye sockets and then I can begin the foam build-up. (This was assembled by Jenna Wylie).

I have included this because it caught my eye in Michaels (not during the 15% off trip) and I was very inspired by the texture and color palette. I don't know if I will include it in my film, but I thought I'd share because inspiration comes from everywhere. :) (Oh yeah, and sorry for the blur here too.)

Fabrication Pushes On

I went to Michaels and Primary today to buy more supplies. I will photograph and itemize them soon.

Other than that, I ordered wigs from Monique Trading Corp. I decided to buy 3 wigs. 1 to spray or otherwise tack into place with "Stiffy" or "Stiffen Stuff" and 2 to rig with wires for the running scenes. (I'm almost tempted to take this photo into Photoshop and see if I can change the colors so I can see what this wig would look like in red.)

I'm on the course to order eyes and really want to order through Ethereal Angels. They carry versions of all of their eyes in standard (meaning with black pupil), albino (with muted pupil) and no pupil (which speaks for itself). To get 3 sets of eyes in the color "Rose Blush" but I want one standard for the main character, one albino for the white deer and one without pupils for the hunter.

This is the Standard "Rose Blush."

Below you will see examples of the albino and no pupil series but at the moment the website doesn't have photos of these in the "Rose Blush."

This is an albino eye in another color I liked, "Orange Brulee." (Sorry, I don't know how to add the accents over the "u" and 1st "e".)

And here is an example of a no pupil eye in the color "Nostalgia." (Like the last image, they didn't have an example of the eye I want, but this gives you an idea.)

These eyes take 8-12 weeks to be made and shipped, so I hope to order them tomorrow and though I won't have them for Senior I, I will have them for shooting. (This all pending my decision to order from this company). These eyes are intended for BJD so I may do another search with BJD as part of my keywords.