INTO THE OVEN - Part 4: Leith

The raw foam rubber is ready for mixing. See the
entire procedure in the PREPRODUCTION folder

It's raining. It's humid. These conditions are not ideal for running foam. Humidity tends to cause foam to gel quickly which means there is less working time … and that's exactly what happened. This run included Leith and the back up puppet of Isaac. Running two puppets at once is always tricky, especially when you are working alone. The foam gelled after 10 minutes which gave me just enough time to fill both moulds and get them closed. I spent more time working on the Leith mould since it is a hero puppet while this Isaac puppet is a back up which will only be used for wider shots and for setting up lighting. After the requisite 3 hours baking time and 2 hours cooling time the moulds where opened. Again, there were numerous problems with air cavities on both puppets but more so with the Leith puppet. This problem has persisted in all the foam runs this time around and has been a major frustration. While I have had occurrences of this nature in the past, it has never been to this extent. One other side effect of this last foam run; the mould of the back of Leith's head split in half. This can be repaired but it is just another example of the types of things that can go wrong when making a stop motion film. As far as the Leith puppet is concerned, I am not happy with the final result and with the amount of time Leith spends on screen, in close up no less, I feel a second foam run is necessary. Rather than gut the puppet to get at the skeleton I am going to build a new armature for the second attempt and keep the current puppet as a back up. The Isaac puppet is adequate.