MRI Flipbook (2011), prototype, 52 images

After several attempts I finally finished my MRI flip-book. I already announced it a few weeks ago but had issues with printing it. I tried different kinds of paper, and eventually found one that shows all the tiny details like scratches or parts of my bones perfectly. (I kept the images after an MRI scan of my left wrist in 2002, and since then I wanted to use them in an artwork.)

I made a small video to show you how it works:

I printed all the pages on matte finish 170g Superior Inkjet Paper (Avery® Zweckform) on my Brother DCP110-C office printer, and I'm surprised how good it looks. And it's all about the paper it seems. I used normal inkjet paper before, and you couldn't see what the print was about.

The flip-book itself is 13 x 6.5 x 1.2 cm, and contains 52 MRI images. Since I'm a huge fan of book-binding, I assembled the single pages myself by using an adhesive binding technique. It also is another self-portrait as I do them quite regularly (like this and this or that). I like the idea of giving you some insights into my inner life by displaying it in a semi-scientific manner.

And I also like the idea of using flip-books for promoting a film, and I'm thinking about producing this one as a multiple. So far it's only the prototype....

(Oh, and there are more flip-books on vimeo.com!)

I wanted to do this for a very, very long time: Last year I presented my Myctophyformes Draco to you, a Chinese Lanternfish puppet I made for Shelley Noble's Halfland saga. And I promised a longer version of the making of back then.

Since I have documented the complete process of mold making and puppet casting, I thought it would be nice to write a small e-Book on how I do things. Perhaps the description of my workflow is helpful to at least one of you. Well, it took me about a year but here we go:

Click the image to download the pdf file (1,7 MB).

This small guide isn't perfect, and I'm sure you'll have a few more questions after reading it. But it's not my approach to offer you a perfect guide – this topic is way to complex to describe it properly within 30 pages.

Nevertheless I really hope it may get you started with

• making models for puppet animation
• mold making and
• casting stop-motion puppets from cold foam latex.
  

If you still have questions, please use the comment section or write me an – I'll do what I can to help!

The knowledge I share with you today is based on the knowledge of a number of amazing people I'd like to thank:

All my gratitude (again and again) to Mary Murphy, who taught me most of the things I know about cheap'n'easy puppet making, and I highly recommend her as a teacher! (You could also buy her books!)

Also a lot of thanks to my internet friend Shelley who's giving birth to one creative outburst after another, and who encouraged me to join her Halfland underwater party.

And last, thanks to all of you out there sharing their knowledge on the internet, and especially to the sma.com community! You all are great!

So. – Have fun!

Click the image to download the pdf file (1,7 MB).

Supplemental:

There's a mistake occurring throughout the whole e-book: I talk a lot about cold foam latex, but it's only cold foam, without any latex involved. To be more precisely, it's an expanding polyurethane foam I use. However, that doesn't change the process in general.

(My brain somehow connected the words foam and latex strongly, probably because a lot of the pro puppet makers cast their models from foam latex that needs to cure in an oven. – Sorry for that!)

Thanks to Nick Hilligoss for the reminder!