#barry leith

[downthetubes]

The Wombles celebrates 50th anniversary, new book about their creator, Elisabeth Beresford heads to bookshops

The 50th anniversary of The Wombles first television appearance has been marked with the re-release of the original animated series you can watch for free on YouTube

This month marks the 50th anniversary of The Wombles first television appearance, and has been marked with the re-release of the original animated series you can watch for free on YouTube, with commemorative coins and medal collections, and more, to come. A scene from the fist Wombles episode, first broadcast 5th February 1973 on the BBC A new book about The Wombles creator, The Creator of the…

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[jamesfennellba2a]

Week 13 Summary (Character Bestiary)

I once again spoke with Barry Leith this week. We discussed how I should progress with the construction of my stop motion model and assembled several key componants. Later that week, I completed and glued-in-place the armature. I also melted out the wax core of the shell and began decorating it's surface. Only a few more details need to be added before I can paint the model and it is completed. Assembling the model has highlited a few things that I will be changing in terms of the overall design. I will now be sewing felt on to the foam body to mask various seems. Barry's experience has proved extremely useful and saved me a good deal of trial and error.

[jamesfennellba2a]

Week 11 Summary (Character Bestiary)

This week, I spoke with animator and model maker Barry Leith (The Wombles). We discussed how to turn my design in to an useable puppet, cutting the body out of soft foam and making a hollow snail shell using wax and Miliput. Later in the day he demonstrated how to make a mold using wax and herculite (a type of molding plaster). His solutions to the issues that I was facing with the construction of my model were different from what I had in mind and will no doubt prove to be very effective. I now have a starting point for the practical side of this project.

[ekniemisba3a]

Barry’s animation - you can tell he has been doing animation for ages and has perfected it, he knew exactly how many frames for each pose of the puppet and came up with this on the first try without one look at the monitor

Barry helped me set up the lighting and chose what filters were best to create moonlight/night light through windows with medium strength blue filter and low spotlight without filter onto puppets head 

[ekniemisba3a]

I will be working closely with Barry Leith again on this project who is kindly offering us guidance. He has worked on a variety of anthropomorphic characters including the Wombles and Paddington bear so his opinion will be very valuable when it comes to fabricating my rat. I will, of course, do a lot of my own research but relaying my ideas and research back to Barry and making sure I’m heading in the right direction helps me push the puppet to its full potential. I am forever grateful for his generosity, hands on attitude and knowledge of industry used techniques and processes, that help us really get ahead in our practice of puppet fabrication. 

[pieflavour-blog]

Barry Leith aka Bazza, my stop motion teacher. I had no idea he did Paddington Bear.. wow.

I wonder if he used actual marmalade for the sandwiches......