Dodo Lantern referbishemnt 2010

Hello one and all! One event I help out with and participate in is the annual Lantern Festival every September at Ulverston, Cumbria. Here the video I shot last year with an ordinary point and shoot camera.



A quick note on the construction of these lanterns, they are produced by the cutting and taping willow withies into different shapes, then tissue paper is added with diluted PVA glue (half and half mix of PVA glue and water) Illumination comes from a candle installed in the main body of the Lantern (LED light is used in lanterns where narrow spaces where a candle would result in buning the lantern) Each year there are different theme for people to build lanterns (In 2009 it was Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, This year was Circus of Dreams)

Last year I produced the Dodo featured in this video. I had originally wanted to have it with wings extended and looking back the top of the head wasn't very well illuminated by the candle installed in the belly of the lantern.

For this year I wanted to create the wings I originally planned for and add LED lighing into the Dodo for non-candle based illumination (much safer for indoor display)

Here we see the Dodo's wings half completed.


Side view.


Front right view. To be able to work a little easier I tempoarally added a side stand on the rear right of the lantern so I wouldn't have to keep propping the Dodo against tables and chairs.


Scale view, The Dodo is on a table but this gives you an idea of the size of my lantern.


Video of the referbishment of the Dodo, partly completed.

After a few more hours of manipulating the withies, liberal use of masking tape, instalation of LEDs and gluing up of tissue paper results in the final lantern!


Front three quarter view.


Side view


Rear view, I'm quite happy with the details on the wing tips for the feathers.


Close up of the head of the Dodo.


Front view to the left of the Dodo.


A video of the complete lantern. This shows there some of the LEDs are inside the Dodo.

I hope you have enjoyed this showcase, if you are in the North West of England it's something I would reccomend for anyone the participate in for next year!

And now for me acting like an idiot! Enjoy!



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A.M.I.T.I.H.T.S.F.B.E.T.S.E

A moment in time where it's hard to stand far back enough to see everything, or at least enough of my own world.

So today I visited Kendal to catch up with my mate Adam Clarke to talk about creative projects. Mainly Machinima and my film script 'Danny'

We visited Game and looked though the Wii Games, me having acquired a Wii before Christmas Holiday. Adam is aliment on buying a PS3 even when they were £425 at launch but I argured that the PS3, unless you want to have Blu-ray isn't much better than the 360, plus the 360's games are cheaper by about £10 on average. He didn't think much of this and I couldn't talk much as I've only got a Wii at the moment (did used to have a 360 but sold it for laptop funding, BUT ONCE I GET SOME SPARE MONIES!!! gonna get a 360 again xD )

Anyway after that important discussion, we moved onto the matter of finding some coffee and cake *still haven't played Portal :'( * we visited a bar called Bootleggers, partly because of the lure of free wifi but there was no cake :'( anyway, Adam is getting into Machinima using Second Life as you can see below.



I haven't got into Second Life yet as I'm anti social... *cough* NO! I'm very nice in reality but I just don't get Second life, I could understand if you had objecives/being able to do battle with others across the world. Second life is like Big Brother, only more boring >:(

Personally, I'm getting into Cinema 4D cause it is something I can understand xD be sure to watch out for more on that! anyways...

Today was kind of a weired day today, as I feel as if the winds have stopped blowing and I'm adrift in a sea of possibility but I'm in the middle of all possibilities, but if I go for one, I would miss out on everything else. I've lost structure in my life and I float from point to point. I want to get on with my film project but I'm dependent on other people. I don't want to stay in this cycle of waiting for possibilities from other people, so I'm thinking about doing a small personal project like an animated short but I lack the confidence of starting it. I've lots of ideas I came up with during 2007 but I was getting used to the idea of making a feature length film. I guess I need to just have a mind dump sort of video where I just try out lots of stuff.

Also with the start of the new year, I've been teaching myself some new skills for animation, Flash mainly. I really Like Flash, even though it doesn't do everything I would want it to do, but thats how you learn to work within a medium.

Anyway, that enough talking for now, see you in a bit!

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My New Russian Hat

This was a late Christmas present and its super cool...

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Christmas Day

Well, today is Christmas Day. And Here's two pictures of my friend, Adam Clarke. not very Christmasy, but I'm sure when I wake up later today, I will have something better...

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Sun Flower Painting

To be honest, I did this in Photoshop. Enjoy...

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