new armature

i have started work on the new armature, its taken a bit longer than the other one because i had to get used to making everything a bit smaller. 

originally this armature was going to be the girl (Charlotte) but after doing some work on the story and character development i decided i wanted the girl to be moody and older than the boy, so she needed to be taller to fit with her age. 

because the original armature is fairly big i didnt want to make another armature that is bigger, so i have made one that is smaller. 

my idea now was to make the new armature the boy and use the original armature as the girl. as i have been thinking about it, I'm not sure this will work. as the images show, the new armature is quite a bit smaller so, will the boys head look too big on the new armature? also will the armature be able to perform under the weight of the oversized head? i have already made the head and faces for the boy so i dont want to remake any of those.

because of these things i think the easiest thing to do and the cheapest thing, is to change the story.

so, the plan is to finish this armature and see if the head looks stupid on it and if it can even handle the weight of the head, if it can't, this armature will become the girl and a few changes will happen to her character and personality.

with this armature i have decided to not use the surgical steel threaded balls in stead i have bought some brass bead spacers, basically brass balls drilled all the way through. they are 4mm and because they are brass, so much easier to solder to the brass bar. 

it is a bit tricksy to drill the holes because you cant apply to much pressure with the vice because they are quite soft, but i think they work fine and its a lot quicker. 

because of their size its allowing me to make everything a lot slimmer and smaller but still has a lot of strength. 

bellow, the armature in process and a picture of the original boy puppet alongside the new armature to show sizes. the original puppet is measured at 9inches.

also, my liquid plastic arrived late today. because its cold weather i have left it indoors to warm up and tomorrow i will start the day by finishing off my mould cast. very exciting. i hope it works, the sculpt has been sat in 3/4 of a finished mould for about 2-3 weeks, will the release agent still be active? i bloody hope so!

ill keep you posted. 

wow this is probably my longest post, thats what Thatchers Gold cider does.