Stop Motion Animation- Plasticine

Plasticine is a material commonly used in the making of stop motion animation and is used by children when they get their creative streaks. It is very malleable so it is easy to manipulate. It was formulated by William Harbutt in 1897, unlike Play-Doh plasticine doesn't dry on contact with air so it is long lasting. However plasticine does melt when under high temperatures and can be flammable with extremely high temperatures. Plastillin is a similar product created by Franz Kolb in 1880. This didn't quite get as popular as plasticine.

Aardman started using plasticine in 1989 when Nick Park created A Grand Day Out. It was used by Aardman to create other popular animations such as The Wrong Trousers 1993, A Close Shave 1995 and The Curse of The Were-Rabbit. Although Aardman Animations replaced plasticine with Newplast in 1997. They preferred newplast due to it not melting under high temperatures and can easily be used with armatures. Stop motion animations isn't the only creative use for plasticine, 2000 members of the public helped to create a whole garden out of plasticine for the 2009 Chelsea Flower Show it was called 'Paradise in Plasticine'. it went on to win awards. I personally think it was a great idea that is now a great success with being an attraction for the public.

I have worked with plasticine in order to create an animation in the past. I did find it quite hard to work with due to it melting under the spotlight, however it was very easy to manipulate and control. Another problem I had with it is when I was creating shapes my fingerprints were very noticeable and hard to remove even when I wore gloves the glove marked the clay. But over all I liked the colours it was available in and the softness of the clay.
My work with plasticine

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