WireHead II: Physics

I'm getting more advanced! Oooh. This is a production shot from the set I put together last night, and really I'm sort of glad I did it last night and then slept on it because now that I look at it, I want to change the lighting and move some stuff around. Below is a wide shot of the full stage so this will make more sense.



Okay. So. I think I want to add diffusers to the top light and the light that is on the far left. I also think I'm gonna move Wirehead and the sign to the far side of the oil puddle and I may add a blue or 'bastard amber' gel in front of the lamp on the right. Oh! And if you look up in the top right, you can see my little bendy clip light! A close-up of my LED bendy lamp Also, if you look just to the left of the crane arm, you'll see my other 'light', the fabulous 'Mirror on a Stick'. Well. Okay, on a wire, but 'On a Stick' sounds more amusing. I just put a lipstick mirror on a piece of armature wire so I can bounce light from a stronger light to a position and then it's just clamped in place.

Anyhow... All set to animate tonight! Wish me luck! :) Oh! And any suggestions about the set or lighting would be totally appreciated! I'll check my LJ before I start working! :)

Scores!

I've been scoring really well on stuff for animation. Stacey had to return her hub because it wouldn't keyboard-boot her mac and the more expensive hub was on sale at Frys when we returned the first one (was not on sale the last time we went) So I noticed some bendy desk lamps with.... 20Watt Halogen bulbs! Exactly what I'd be fiddling with. They had heavy bases and a flexible neck and were < $10 a piece and... Best of all, they don't catch fire! So I abandoned building my own halogen (since my first one had a smoking habit that would make a tobacco advertiser proud) and am now using these. :)

Then, class got out early on Saturday and it was the day of the big DeAnza flea market. Like miles and miles of junk! Ooooh. :) So I wandered around for a while. I found a really weird-looking little mouse-candle. I'll have to take a photo of him, but for a quarter, he was way too odd to pass up. I'll haveta animate with him sometime. :)

Then there's the big scores! I found a guy selling plastic utility clamps. The kind that are about $3 a piece in the hardware store... The kind that I needed a lot of for making my sets good and solid... His price... $5 for a dozen! YES!!!!!
So now my stage is all securely rigged.

And the other big score? I'd been looking at better clay tools in the art supply store. I've got a set of plastic ones that cost around $10 and the clay sticks to them and is frustrating to work with. I'd been wanting mental tools but couldn't find the ones I wanted and the ones I could find were like $10 and up a piece. I found a set of wax-carving tools (5 of them) that were exactly the tools I wanted in stainless steel for $5. So happy!

So now I have everything I needed AND wanted for my stop-motion animation. I guess I'd better start working since my excuses have just dried up. :)

Garden

I finally got everything planted this weekend. I hope my little eggplants are alright. They got really dehydrated last week. They seem to be doing mostly okay now, at least they seemed fairly perky this morning, but I feel bad about not getting them in the ground sooner. On the other hand, I was also worried about slugs. This place has the most ferocious slugs I've EVER encountered. So... Yesterday I set up a slug pub. Hopefully that'll take care of the problem.

Slug Pub==half-empty beer cans half-buried in the ground. Slugs totally can't resist beer and drown themselves in it. I dunno why this works but it does and it keeps me from having to salt the ground.