Puppet making

What I find interesting is the little differences between different studios approaches to model making. We had our first session with Ian Matthews, a model maker from Calon, who will be taking us through building a basic armature. We’re talking k&s, tie-offs, aluminium wire and lots of filing.
It’s great to be doing some really hands on work in the workshops and learning craft skills from someone in the industry. It’s refreshing to have someone new come in with a different dynamic and I’m eagerly anticipating what comes out of these workshops.
A month or so ago I did a model making workshop with Aardman as part of the new Bristol Festival of Puppetry. The workshop was application only and a great chance to quiz the makers from Aard about their technique. We made a similar armature to the ones we’re making with Ian but it’s the subtle differences (of which I’m probably not at liberty to disclose) that really fascinate me. To my surprise Ian said that all of Calon’s series work use ball and socket armatures whereas at Aardman a lot of the series work is done with these wire builds.
Here are some image from the first session with Ian (where we’ve just about got all our k&s cut and wire twisted) and from the workshop and talk with Aardman.