Hands... putting the finger on Wire vs Joints?
I've been in a little bit of a dilemma lately, when it comes down to making the hands for the X-Rex I've been torn between making them either in wire or in ball and socket joints... here my problems.
I'm torn because making the fingers as ball and socket would not only reflect the type of jointed fingers Ray used in his own early puppets but also reflect on my own skills as a armaturist in that I can solder and assemble parts as small at this to make delicate functional hands for puppets. However finding the right part for the job, which I do believe I would need to be looking at joint sizes between 1-2mm, is incredibly hard unless you know how to make them yourself by milling a ball joint from a M3 rod, they are also extremely expensive to buy from people that can make them and are also extremely hard for those armaturists to make, hence the price. There maybe ways around the ball and socket option though, buy using K&S brass tubing to construct jointed fingers, such as these which were based from the hands Mackinnon & Saunders made for the Badger puppet on Wind in the Willows, but the one issue I'm finding is the correct screw size for such a small joint, I did purchase a set of 1.6mm cup screws and whilst they are indeed small, I think I would be in need of a 1.0mm screw to fit the scale of finger I would need.
However, using wire isn't exactly a terrible thing either, I made my original Rex puppet from 2012 with wire fingers and they still hold up today, I've even learned how to make industry standard wire hybrid fingers whilst I worked at Telegael on "Morten and the Spider Queen", so in theory they would be more hard wearing than just simply using aluminium wire.
But now comes the moral question, do I stick with ball and socket or revisit wire?
Well I've found an armaturist that can make small ball joints, as small as 1.5mm, so I will be contacting him soon to discuss prices and time to make such small pieces. Fingers crossed it all comes together.
Wire finger Pros.
Can be cheap
Flexible
Easy and quick to make
Countless option to make with copper and wire variations
Wire finger Cons.
They eventually break
Need to make multiple copies for quick replacements
Attention to details with notes of wire combinations that work for specific purposes.
Ball and Socket Pros.
Long lasting
Can give atomically perfect joints
Ball and Socket Cons
Sizes must be exact in order for them to work
Need tightening over time of use.
Not cheap
Hard to source
Can be fiddly to assemble the smaller you go
Take into account the size of the ball, the plate thickness and the size of the screw needed
I'm torn because making the fingers as ball and socket would not only reflect the type of jointed fingers Ray used in his own early puppets but also reflect on my own skills as a armaturist in that I can solder and assemble parts as small at this to make delicate functional hands for puppets. However finding the right part for the job, which I do believe I would need to be looking at joint sizes between 1-2mm, is incredibly hard unless you know how to make them yourself by milling a ball joint from a M3 rod, they are also extremely expensive to buy from people that can make them and are also extremely hard for those armaturists to make, hence the price. There maybe ways around the ball and socket option though, buy using K&S brass tubing to construct jointed fingers, such as these which were based from the hands Mackinnon & Saunders made for the Badger puppet on Wind in the Willows, but the one issue I'm finding is the correct screw size for such a small joint, I did purchase a set of 1.6mm cup screws and whilst they are indeed small, I think I would be in need of a 1.0mm screw to fit the scale of finger I would need.
However, using wire isn't exactly a terrible thing either, I made my original Rex puppet from 2012 with wire fingers and they still hold up today, I've even learned how to make industry standard wire hybrid fingers whilst I worked at Telegael on "Morten and the Spider Queen", so in theory they would be more hard wearing than just simply using aluminium wire.
But now comes the moral question, do I stick with ball and socket or revisit wire?
Well I've found an armaturist that can make small ball joints, as small as 1.5mm, so I will be contacting him soon to discuss prices and time to make such small pieces. Fingers crossed it all comes together.
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