Tree Gecko

Projects in process.

Archive for January, 2010

Puppet Eye construction planned for weekend

Jan 28

Posted by admintg in Puppets | Comments off

I received 50 1″ hard wood half balls today that I am planning on testing as eyes for Mabel and Maxwell this weekend.  They were purchased from Cincinnati Dowel.  I am hoping that painting, and gluing some skin on them works out.  Will post more details over the weekend.

I am hoping to have a sunny weekend so I can do some depth of field adapter testing.  Still want to get the comparison images up.

Also, I did some searching on the dark brown dye problems, and think more heat, and longer time should fix it.

Lots to do.

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Working with Dyes

Jan 24

Posted by admintg in Puppets | Comments off

I experimented with Rit Dye‘s yesterday trying to come up with new recipes.  All colors listed are standard Rit Dye colors with the exception of Peach which was mixed from 2 boxes of Tangerine, and 1 box of Rose Pink.

My goals in these tests were to come up with realistic skin tones for a variety of races.

For these experiments, I used approximately 1 gallon of hot water, and soaked the swatches for about 2 to 3 minutes each.

I have attempted to white balance as accurately as possible, but some colors may not be exactly the same as in person, so I have added notes where appropriate.

Reference

White Antron Fleece (As purchased from Georgia Stage)

White Antron Fleece

White Antron Fleece

Test 1

  • 1/2 Teaspoon Tan
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Yellow
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Rose
  • Notes – Looks to be a tan Caucasian color.
Test 1

Test 1

Test 2

  • 1/2 Teaspoon Tan
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Cocoa
  • Notes – This was an attempt at a dark African American skin tone.  The results were too purple and are not usable.
Test 2

Test 2

Test 3

  • 1/2 Teaspoon Tan
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Peach
  • Notes – Attempt at a light Caucasian skin tone.  The results were pink/orange.  Not likely to be used.
Test 3

Test 3

Test 4

  • 1 tsp tan
  • Notes – Attempt at a Hispanic skin tone.  The results were slightly darker than Test 1, and I believe it is useable.
Test 4

Test 4

Test 5

  • 1/2 teaspoon cocoa
  • Notes – Attempt at medium African American skin tone.  The results were light purple and not useable

Test 5

Test 6

  • 1/2 teaspoon Yellow
  • 1/4 teaspoon tan
  • Notes – This was an attempt at an Asian skin tone.  While I like the resulting color, a tan yellow, I feel it is too yellow to be used for a realistic skin tone.
Test 6

Test 6

Test 7

  • 1/4 teaspoon cocoa
  • Notes – Attempt at a light African American skin tone.  Light purple and not usable.
Test 7

Test 7

Test 8

  • 1/8 teaspoon cocoa
  • 1/2 teaspoon tan
  • Notes – Attempt at a light African American skin tone.  Light purple and not usable. Close to Test 7
Test 8

Test 8

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Maxwell’s Upper Body complete

Jan 21

Posted by admintg in Project - Horror Comedy (2010) | Comments off

With the exception of the facial features and hair Maxwell’s upper body is now complete.

I finished up the mouth plate, and attaching the arms tonight.

Upper Body

Upper Body

I also started the hand sewing of the feet.  I got one of the ankles sewn tonight.  Hopefully can get the feet closed up and finished tomorrow.

Hand sewn ankle

Hand sewn ankle

The goal for the weekend will be to play with dye’s  to develop some darker skinned characters.

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Give me a hand

Jan 20

Posted by admintg in Project - Horror Comedy (2010) | Comments off

Back to working on Maxwell.  Spent the evening working on his arms and head.

The arms are straight forward.  Sew up the shape.

Arm sewn up

Turn the arm right side out

Arm turned right side out

Arm turned right side out

And stuff.

Arms stuffed with batting

Arms stuffed with batting

My eyes are killing me from focusing so close for so long.  I hand stitched the head on to the body and the mouth into the head.  Lots of hand stitching.    Not the best picture below of the stitching.  Will try to get better shots later.

Mouth and Neck Stitching

Mouth and Neck Stitching

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Very busy day

Jan 16

Posted by admintg in Puppets | Comments off

I spent most of the day reclaiming some wood from an office building.  I have one more load to pick up tomorrow, but should have enough plywood now to finish the set for the Horror Comedy (2010).  Will still need a few pieces of 2×4 for the frame, but this is a good start.

The puppet tree is now finished and starting to fill with puppets.

All done

All done

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Tung Oil for the Puppet Tree

Jan 14

Posted by admintg in Puppets | Comments off

I just got done putting a coat of tung oil on the puppet tree.  Hopefully will be dry enough to bring it in and put puppets on it in the next day or two.

Now I have a place to put the puppets, so I can get back to sewing puppet 2 tomorrow.

Puppet 1 is named Mabel, Puppet 2 is going to be Maxwell I think.

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Puppet Tree almost finished.

Jan 12

Posted by admintg in Puppets, Woodworking | Comments off

Today the glued up trunk had had 48 hours to dry so it was time to plane it down.  My concern was to make sure it was totally dry before removing the clamps, since I am going to have to drill holes for the branches into the seams.  I decided to go with 2 1/4″ x 2 1/4″ rather than 2″ x 2″.  Just seemed like less work.  The extra 1/4″ of wood came in handy when it came time to put on the legs.

Planing down to 2 1/4 " square.

Planing down to 2 1/4 " square.

The holes for the branches are going to be drilled at a 30 degree angle into the trunk.  So I adjusted the bed of the drill press and clamped up a jig to allow the trunk to slide up and down but to hold the trunk side to side.

Drill Press Jig

Drill Press Jig

The holes are laid out in a spiral pattern wrapping around the trunk 2″ lower at each side.  The top hole is 2″ below the top of the trunk.  The holes are drilled approximately 1 3/4 inches through the boards so that the glued in branches will help hold together the seam of the two glued up boards.

Drilling the holes

Drilling the holes

Rather than screw in the legs (four 14″ pieces of the original 2×3), I decided to dowel them in with 5/8″ dowels

Dowel Holes drilled for legs

Dowel Holes drilled for legs

The dowels were then glued and clamped in place to dry.

Dowels glued and clamped

Dowels glued and clamped

Once completely dry I will use a Japanese style saw to cut the dowels to the surface.

The branches were then glued into the trunk, and the balls were glued on the end of the branches.

Tree almost done

Tree almost done

I believe that I will leave the wood pine colored, but think that I will poly urethane it so that the sap doesn’t damage the puppets.  Hopefully the urethane won’t.

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Work begins on Puppet Tree

Jan 10

Posted by admintg in Puppets, Woodworking | Comments off

I have started work on my puppet tree.  It is going to hold 20 hand puppets when complete.  The design is to have a square 2″ x 2″ central trunk with 5 branches on each side of the trunk.

Gluing up the trunk

Gluing up the trunk

The trunk is glued together from 2 pieces of 2″ x 3″ (1 1/2″ by 2 1/2″) purchased from Home Depot.  I planed down one surface on each board and glued them together with wood glue.  The final trunk will be further planed down to exactly 2″ x 2″.  The trunk will be 5′ – 6″ tall when finished.

For the branches I am using 3/4″ dowels with a 1 1/2″ sphere on the end to protect the puppets.

Balls for the ends of the branch

Balls for the ends of the branch

The wooden balls were purchased from Michaels and are listed as Doll Head/ Knob.

To hold the balls so that I could drill into them a 3/4″ hole for the dowels to fit into, I had to build a clamping tool out of a 2 x 4 and two bolts.

1 1/2" Ball Clamp

1 1/2" Ball Clamp

To build the clamp, I first drilled a 1 1/2″ hole most of the way through the 2 x 4.  Then I rough cut with a chop saw down the center of the 2 x 4.  I then cross cut one side of the 2 x 4 off to allow it to move.  I then drilled two 5/16″ holes through the sides of the 2 x 4.  It probably would have made more sense to do this first, but I didn’t have a long enough drill bit.  I then inserted the 5/16″ bolts through through the holes and put on washers and nuts.

Clamp with Ball

Clamp with Ball

I then inserted the ball and tightened the nuts to hold the ball secure.  I then drilled the whole with a 3/4 ” paddle bit approximately 1/2″ into the balls.

Ball after drilling

Ball after drilling

The balls now are ready for gluing onto the dowels.

Ball on dowel

Ball on dowel

The next steps will be to glue the balls on the dowels, and drill the holes in the trunk for the dowels.

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Playing with my new drill press lathe.

Jan 9

Posted by admintg in Woodworking | Comments off

I didn’t really have room for a true full size lathe, or really money for a small one right now.  But I still wanted to be able to do small projects, so I found a nice alternative from Grizzly which is  a drill press lathe attachment.  It was only about $20.00 plus shipping.  So a really affordable option.

I just turned down my first square into a cylinder.  Not advanced stuff yet, but worked well.  I will post some photos later.

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Cutting the circular glass filter for the Depth of Field Adapter – Version 2

Jan 5

Posted by admintg in Videography | Comments off

Since the glass blank is larger than the required size, I needed to cut it down in size.  This also gives me 3 additional pieces should I make a mistake.  When cutting glass you are really attempting to do a controlled break of the glass, so always wear eye and hand protection.

Glass Blank and Tube

Glass Blank and Tube

I laid out the cut lines then scored the lines with a standard hand glass cutting tool.  The cutting tool has a hard rolling disk at the front that scores the glass for controlled breakage.

Glass Cutter

Glass Cutter

I used a straight edge with the glass cutter to score the line.

Scoring the cut lines

Scoring the cut lines

To complete the break of the glass, I use running pliers.  Running pliers are pliers that have a mouth that closes on a curved surface.  The curved surface forces the glass to break along the scored line.  The mouth of the pliers has rubber tips that help to protect the glass from being crushed.  You simple line the center of the pliers up with the scored line and gently close the pliers.  If the glass does not completely snap you can do it again at the other side.

Running Pliers

Running Pliers

Then with a pair of Running pliers I force the scored line to snap.

Using the Running Pliers

Using the Running Pliers

I repeat this process and end up with four equal pieces.  At this point I can use the circle cutter to score a circular cut.  The circular cutter has a tip with a rolling disc that is similar to the glass cutting hand tool.  The arm is lowered down and rotated in a circular shape to score the desired circular shape.

Scoring the circular cut

Scoring the circular cut

The final step is to make radial scores with the hand glass cutter, and use the Running Pliers to carefully break these pieces off.

Radial scores

Radial scores

In this picture, you can also see that I pressed too hard and broke the glass.  Luckily this break was external to the circle, but could easily have ruined the entire piece.

The hand glass cutting tool was purchased from Home Depot.  The Running Pliers and circular glass cutter were purchased from Delphi Glass.

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