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Brother Thomas Film

15

Jul
2015

No Comments

In Fabrication

By Steve Leeper

BT Puppet: Armature/Brenda Baumgarten

On 15, Jul 2015 | No Comments | In Fabrication | By Steve Leeper

From a guy who’s been walking around with a rigid maquette for the past 12 years, you have know idea how satisfying it is to post these following images!

All I can say is THANK YOU FOR THE AWESOME ARMATURE BRENDA!

Brenda assembled this armature from existing parts that she had in her shop but you wouldn’t know it to look at it.  I gotta get me some of those spare parts. 🙂

Just look at those feet!  There’s even holes to wire each and every toe!

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06

Jul
2015

2 Comments

In Fabrication

By Steve Leeper

Body Parts II: Storm Trooper Underwear

On 06, Jul 2015 | 2 Comments | In Fabrication | By Steve Leeper

Because Br. Thomas is rather portly there was a concern that his girth would interfere with the puppets ability to pose and bend.  Especially if he were cast as a solid block of silicone rubber.

The solution was to give Thomas a rigid set of “storm trooper underwear” that could suspend a piece of lightweight upholstery foam between his chest and hips to fill out his middle without inhibiting movement.

BT PARTS-Underware1400w

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29

Jun
2015

No Comments

In Fabrication

By Steve Leeper

Body Parts I: Creating Puppet Patterns

On 29, Jun 2015 | No Comments | In Fabrication | By Steve Leeper

The first step in building the Br.Thomas puppet was to create patterns for each of the body parts that would later be cast in flexible silicone rubber.

The images immediately below are a detail of a rough armature used to sculpt a hand and a detail of the finished hand pattern.  The beautiful thing about silicone rubber is that every wrinkle, bump and fingernail you see in the finished pattern will show up with amazing accuracy in the final puppet!

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15

Feb
2015

One Comment

In People

By Steve Leeper

Brenda Baumgarten: Puppet Fabricator

On 15, Feb 2015 | One Comment | In People | By Steve Leeper

Brenda Baumgarten: Puppet Fabricator

Brenda is a good friend and a most excellent puppet maker who has been working on this armature over the last couple of months in spite of a very busy production schedule.  Not to mention the hours she has invested via Skype advising and mentoring me through the design and fabrication process. Read more…

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