Here’s the steps taken in building a

stop motion animation puppet.

Note: It’s not as easy as it looks.

After the design is approved we determine how large the stop motion puppet should be. The Bull is approx. 14” tall. We machined a ball and socket armature made of stainless steel and 2024 aluminum.

Using oil base clay, we sculpted directly over the armature. The horns were sculpted in Sculpy clay and cast in resin from a silicone mold.

An Ultracal mold was made from the finished clay sculpture. After the mold was completed the clay sculpt was removed from the mold. The  mold was cleaned and prepared for casting. The armature was securely placed in the mold and then foam latex was injected into the mold and baked. After baking the puppet was removed from the mold cleaned, seamed and painted.

Eyes were added and details such as buttons and a ring in his nose. A hard hat was sculpted and cast in resin and a series of replacement mouths were sculpted and cast.

As always a puppet or character starts with a sketch. On the left is the version we wanted for the Bull puppet. But as this is paid work, the client wanted the version below. You have to choose your battles and we chose to loose this one.