Armature

        Despite using an Armacreature kit, rather than building our own armatures, the process of assembling our puppet's skeletons was far from plain sailing. We encountered a number of issues along the way, the first being the lack of clear instructions provided. All that is supplied with the kit itself is a diagram with no written guidance. It was not until we had already completed the armatures that Fiona discovered some instructions were available on the Animation Toolkit website (however, none relating to how to construct the fingers from wire). 

        While for the most part we were able to interpret the diagram in putting the balls, sockets and rods together in the correct formation, when it came to applying the Locktite (to keep the joints secure) we were on our own. I was unsure of how much to apply to each joint, or indeed how long it would take to dry. It was not until we had found the online instructions that we realised we were meant to leave the armature, with Locktite applied, to dry in a warm place for 12 hours. As we did not do this, there have been a couple of instances of the Locktite no bonding correctly, but nothing that could not easily be salvaged.

        However, unfortunately Fiona had on a couple of joints applied the Locktite in the wrong place, fixing the joint completely and preventing any movement. Boiling water unstuck the vast majority of the affected joints, but some were a little more stubborn and we had to recruit the help of the metal workshop staff to loosen them. Embarrassingly, what we had been anable to loosen after numerous attempts, they were able to undo in seconds, However, had brute force been unable to overcome the Locktite, we have been told that acetone would have been the best option.

        With the armatures assembled correctly, I still encountered problems. While I was prepared for the fact that the joints may need tightening throughout the production process, due to natural wear and tear, there were some of the double joints (with two balls in a single socket) that would be incredibly tight over one ball, but loose over the other, meaning the armature would be unable to hold some poses. I tried switching the joints around, to see if the problem would persist, which unfortunately it did. The problem is not too pronounced, but it does mean that one arm is incapable of maintaining any pose where it is raised at the shoulder, and will be unable to bear any weight.

        Fortunately the addition of layers of thin packaging foam (the kit recommends upholstery foam which can then be sculpted to shape) worked wonders to strengthen some of the looser joints. However there was a slight downside to this, as the strength of the foam sometimes draws the armature out of some extreme poses, and back towards its 'natural' position. However, had we sculpted the body shapes out of foam latex, this issue would no doubt have been magnified, as the foam latex is firmer than the packaging foam (although the latex could have been separated at the joints to prevent spring back). I also enjoyed the freedom the packaging foam gave me to build up the muscle/body shape in stages, cinching or adding layers where necessary.

        I chose to keep the joints free of any padding, to allow easy access should I need to perform any emergency tightening, and also to allow greater freedom of movement. The only joins which needed covering were those in the spine, as to leave those open would have drastically deformed the shape of the torso.