Giant Orchid Mantis Attack

[geohaber]

The link is self explanatory http://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffhaberman/6103767551/

 

[gripen]

so cool! great animation!

 

[Idolofreak]

Cool. My sister does stop motion animations with Legos when she has the free time.

 

[geohaber]

Stop motion is fun to do but time consuming, on the flickr site there is a stop motion for the Solygia sulcatifrons and the Shivaramantis indii

 

[Chivalry]

Wow that is wild that they are so well articulated that you can get motion that realistic out of them. How long does it take you to do one?

 

[geohaber]

Wow that is wild that they are so well articulated that you can get motion that realistic out of them. How long does it take you to do one?

The mantises take anywhere from 75 - 130 hrs to make, I don't really keep exact track of the time as it doesn't matter to me how long it takes. The orchid in the video was probably at the top end of the hour range. The amount of time really depends on the species, I'm working on an Acanthops now and I've been on it for 4 days so far and have only completed the head and preliminary shaping of the pro-thorax. The pair of antennae took close to a day in themselves.

 

[meaganelise9]

Oh, You are Geoffrey Haberman! I've browsed through so many images of your brass insects. They're amazing! I didn't know they had moveable parts. That's even better.

 

[geohaber]

Oh, You are Geoffrey Haberman! I've browsed through so many images of your brass insects. They're amazing! I didn't know they had moveable parts. That's even better.

The parts aren't generally movable, except when the piece is first finished. When I like the the pose I permanently lock the joints, that's to prevent them from loosening off because of me playing with them. Sometimes I leave the raptor legs free so I can reposition them, have to be careful though as they sometimes lash out and give me a nasty pinch. :shifty:

 

[meaganelise9]

So have you kept all the species that you have sculpted?

 

[geohaber]

So have you kept all the species that you have sculpted?

I have given away the Parasphendale, the Idolomantis nymph, loaned out the Phyllocrania nymph, and given away the stag beetle and walking stick. I still have 23 mantises and a soldier ant. I'm in the midst of fabricating an Acanthops, got the head finished and pro-thorax almost finished.