Tag Archives: Model Making

Lemmy and Slash Statues Campaign reignited!

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Reigniting the Lemmy and Slash Statues Campaign


Hi 5 Years ago I started a campaign to get statues of Lemmy and Slash built in Stoke-on-Trent. That campaign gained traction and was noticed by national newspapers and many international blogs and news sites, I attended council meetings pitching the positive roles these musicians have had on the world and continued influence and suggested these icons be celebrated in their home towns.

Since then I’ve had the honour of meeting both Lemmy and Slash after their concerts in the UK, Slash even came to Stoke-on-Trent for his amazing concert “Made In Stoke” which was recorded and released on CD, DVD and BluRay.

Stoke-on-Trent is well underway into it’s refurbishments and redevelopment of the city centre and has seen a big increase in it’s arts and culture sectors, sadly with Lemmys passing it only seems more fitting we push for this monument now. I was on BBC Midlands Today promoting the idea once again stating their continued inspirational influence and that it would be an honour and increase tourism to the area and be a welcome addition to the growing arts culture in the area.

Lemmy and Slash are also much loved and celebrated state side as well which is why this campaign now wants to celebrate with the USA too, we’ll be producing identical statues for the Sunset Strip in LA and Stoke-on-Trent, truly showing the international appeal and links for these two icons.

Since launching the Kickstarter we’ve already received £1,956 and growing with some amazing backers pledging thanks to everyone so far but we need more for these dual statues to be built

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Please if you can, help us out and I hope to rock out with you soon!

Live LOUD!

You can download our press release here https://www.dropbox.com/s/bxtadubfvvvqz77/Lemmy%20Kickstarter%20Press%20REL%201.1.docx?dl=0

Visit the Facebook page here https://www.facebook.com/StokeStatues/

More Silicone Puppet making

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Since my last post I have managed to track down and purchase more materials such as Chavant clay and Toluene (A paint thinner that also works on silicone) And I used the process to make 3 more models and moulds the 3 part mould (my first ever) for an aardvark, an ape and a toad.

Arvin in chavant

Arnie Aardvark in chavant

Arnie and Slinky

Arnie and Slinky

arnie divided ready to be cast in plaster

arnies first section curing

arnies 1st part of the mould cured

arnies mould part 2

arnies mould ready for part 3

 

arnies mould complete, left, right and underside

arnies 3 part mould assembled

arnies armature

Arnie’s armature has metal nuts in his feet, they’re magnetic, so I can use magnets to secure the model when animating OR use ‘traditional’ tie down screws too (I’ll probably use magnets)

arnies armature

 

For the toad and ape I made armatures first so I can be sure they fit inside my models, they also have nuts in their feet for magnetic tie down

terry toads armature

terrys armature

terrys model

terrys model

arvins model in chavant clay (armature inside)

the crew so far

arvin ready to be cast

arvin detail plaster coat, painted/daubed onto the model directly so as to preserve fine details

painting the first detail coat of crystacal R plaster onto arvin model to preserve fine details

detail plaster coat finished

Arvins top half completed, hessian is added in layers of the plaster mould to add strength to the mould

Perfect £1 bucket for plaster, it’s flexible so dried plaster can be cracked off and disposed of, DO NOT wash wet plaster down sinks and drains.

arvin’s mould removed, lots of left over WED clay that needs to be cleaned off

arvins top half ready for casting

Easily the best way of cleaning off moulds, I saw them doing this on Face Off with a hose, I don’t have a hose, but I do have a shower!

these clay blocks in the middle will form drainage pools so excess silicone can pool into these resulting in thinner edges on the model and a tighter mould.

Terry Toads mould and armature

Arvins Mould

 

Yesterday I cast the aardvark in silicone.

Arnie’s silicone model, a few issues, mainly the bi air bubble on its back

excess silicone edges/flash/sprue trimmed and bubbles cut out, I decided to patch the holes with more silicone

Bubble holes filled in the mode is shiny because the silicone is still wet

The bubbles were a shame so I had to mix up another batch of silicone and touch up and fill the areas.

Ears added on, they also have wire inside, a hole was drilled into the milliput skull and ear wire inserted into the hole, extra silicone added to add skin and secure the ear in place

bristle hairs added

 

The ears were carved from some left over silicone, I shoved a wire into them and drilled a hole either side of his head into the milliput skull, and inserted them afterwards adding an extra layer of silicone on top and around the base to stick the ear in place, the hairs are simply a hole pierced into the silicone and old thick paint brush bristles inserted, painted black..

Now to make the toad and ape. Will have to make the feet again for the ape as his model ‘locked’ in the mould and I had to carve it out so now his feet area have holes through to the top. This probably occurred due to poor decision of where to build my dividing wall for his feet as such his toes were wider than the space behind it and once the plaster had set I had sealed his foot in a chamber it couldn’t pull out of.

Jungle Tails Concept Models

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Hello! Long time no blog post!

I’ve been busy working with a local author on turning her creative childrens book, Jungle Tails, into a short animation. After some scripts and storyboards and designs I’ve reached the concept model stage now, so I have something nice to share with you guys.

These models help establish a scale between all the characters (which is 1/20th their real life animal counterpart size, except the pixie frog he’d be a bit too small at that scale, so he’s a bit larger)

So we have a giraffe, an african elephant (females have tusks too), an ape (based on a chimpanzee), a shoebill bird, an aardvark, a pixie frog and finally a snake.

So enough talk, here’s the photos.