Smaller and smaller we go!

I've started the gloves! Having Ceri (WoollyMonster) doing miniature work as well is great encouragement. This is using 0.5mm needles with 1 strand of embroidery thread - there are approx. 30 stitches per inch. Since they're fingerless I'm going to cheat and pinch the fabric together between the fingers rather than make teeny individual bits, so the piece below is the pattern to follow. It's slow going - the thread is very slippery and the needles very bendy!
I've also been working on his sweater (he wears alot of clothes, this one!) I couldn't find a properly scaled verigated yarn I liked, so I bought a thicker brown embroidery cotton (original colour seen in the second pic) then dyed it with black and white acrylic ink.

I like how the colouring turned out, but it turns my hands gray when I knit it! No doing this on the bus. I'll probably coat it with a diluted matt glaze when it's done so it doesn't powder gray all over the set.And here's part of the sweater vest! He puts this on after waking up from falling asleep in his chair - a way to add character and incidental animation (hopefully!) Knitting's been great for giving me time to think over the next storyboards and really try to develop it fully.
And... can't film without a nice orderly set room! I've been spending time trying to get the spare room I work in to an 'everything in it's right place' mentality. It's coming along but slowly! Too much stuff.
Detail - paints, Sculpey and supplies.

Planning Ahead

So I've still got a ton of storyboarding to do before I even begin set building let alone props... but... when can that stop anyone :D
I'm really excited about this new project, and keep thinking about it. One decision - admittedly largely influenced by Coraline - is to venture into miniature knitting - eeks!
I've been knitting since I was little, and this has been my most ambition project to date:A 4x8' 'Castle in the Sky' blanket made from a pattern I created in TVPaint. So it'll be good to work smaller this time ;)
Will be awhile until the needles get here (special order off ebay) but I can't wait to get started on making his gloves, hat, scarf, a sweater or two, etc! Get them going and work on them on bus rides so I'm not losing time later on.
Can't wait to start - has anyone here tried working with the tiny needles - any advice?

Sweet Coraline....

Just about two weeks ago I got an email that's kept me pretty excited since then - the promise of something special in the mail! It arrived and special doesn't begin to describe it. I can't describe how excited I was unpacking this package, and it lives up to every bit of hope! From the upcoming movie 'Coraline' (that every stop-motion fan is already a fan of from the trailers) this is a unique box sent out through the mail.

The outside of the antiqued box, numbered 11/50.

Opening it is magic! Inside is a key and the password 'PUPPETLOVE' to the www.theothercoraline.com website which unlocks a clip about the world from a puppets point of view - and great teasers for the puppets for the film. The letter is sealed with wax and, appropriately, a black button.
Inside the envelope is a letter from the Coarline Team.
"Since ancient times, strangers who work on feature films have sent strangers with great websites mysterious gifts in the hope that they can connect over a mutual interest and come to love each other. Some people think that receiving random gifts from strangers in the mail is illicit. Not when the gifts are awesome, right?"
A detail of the included photograph. Pay attention to the Other Fathers arms/hands...
Because here they are! They're 'JOINTED/WIRE/SILICON' and include the metal square tubing at the end where they'd join onto the puppet. An actual part of the film! I know stop-motion is so tactile but being able to touch a part of the puppet used is an amazing experience! Seeing the tubing on the end, and feeling the resistance of the wire in the fingers is a learning experience in itself, I feel like x-raying them to see how the finger wires are joined inside ;) I'm incredibly thrilled to have this part of movie history, and this box will find a prized place for display!

To quote from the letter: "Led by Henry Selick, the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, this team has created the first stop-motion feature shot in 3-D. Based on the beloved best-selling children's classic by Neil Gaiman, Coraline is a fairy-tale nightmare steeped in classic storytelling, craftsmanship, and the old-fashioned art of moviemaking magic. That means everything is handmade. Every leaf, drawer pull, and roast turkey. Even the rusty shower water."

I was looking forward to this movie already - now I can't wait!! C'mon February, and c'mon IMAX to show it here in 3D!!