The history of The History of Gloves - part one

There are only four of us at the Tiny Circus now - Carlos, Grace, Jess and Sarah. Amy left three days ago, and we took Holen to the station yesterday. We wish them both goodbye and thank you. We miss them.

Today we started work on our next project. This is a step by step version of how the process works.

Planning started in the Saints Rest coffee shop.



There's an ever increasing list of possible subjects now, ranging from The History of Moustaches to the History of Reality. We have been working by choosing random numbers and counting down which history they apply to. Then from this shorter list, we vote on which subject we will take.



Our choice this time was The History of Gloves. Then we all discussed different possible story lines and scenarios. How did the first glove come into being? Several versions were discarded before we all agreed on one, and then we started to draw up a storyboard in the cafe.



Back at the studio, via Walmart to pick up supplies including plastic gloves, several prototypes were worked on.



After a supper of English shepherds pie and ice cream with plum sauce, we got to work making gloves for the herd that will soon be running free in the garden. The small versions are made from modelling clay, and each one has its mirror hand-sized version.



Jess made several hundred tiny plums for the tiny plum tree under which the tiny gloves will play.



Sarah is making baby mittens.



And Grace is stuffing the latex glove with fiberfill. Each finger is wired so it can move.



The idea is to finish as much as we can today, so we can start filming tomorrow morning.

summer hauntings

The cornfields in the late August sun.

All is well on the farm; the baby squirrels are growing and all the dogs, cats, horses, and chickens are well. The rains have passed and the tiny circus films the History of Ghosts.

Grace and Sarah at work in the Studio.

History of Ghosts

The Sets

Testing shots

Moving bats and fog

Graveyard views

Carlos, Grace and Holen filming in the graveyard at midnight last night.



Holen cutting out a skeleton.



A scary rat with Grace.



Dancing skeleton.



The grim reaper gets ready for battle (and Carlos)



Holen setting the scene with a mixture of earth and fruit loops.



Jess and the bone factory.

Stills from the Ocean

Plate Tectonics

Today, the ocean: earth, venus, mars, birds, water, stars, salt, hydrogen, oxygen, water, a boat.

Yesterday, we said goodbye to Greta, she is headed back to Florida to teach. We give many thanks for her ideas and making and cooking and hard work. Thanks Greta!

Greta running a bee factory for the history of maps.
Other bees.The hive.
A still from the animation.Baby squirrels fell out of a tree that blew over in a storm. We have plans for circus squirrels.Yum. If they live a week, we'll name them.

Work in Progress

Lisa on the camera, Holen, Susan, Jin.
Lisa, Janelle, Susan, Greta, Jin. Kumbaya.
Jin + volcano
Janelle, Camille, Nick, Amy: making puffs of smoke.
Amy and Carlos, an extended staring contest.



Janelle, Lisa, Jin, and Susan trucked back west to Omaha today, they will head back to NYC in the next few days. Tiny Circus misses them!


We've been working to experiment and expand the kinds of animations we are making while still holding to a "histories of" concept, with each piece figuring the first time for whatever our subject happens to be. We add to our pool of possibilities each time we meet and then select one more or less at random to illustrate. So far, The History Of: rain, popcorn, staring contests, the lover's knot, loss, smiling, constellations. Some stills from the results below.

Iowa State Fair & New Projects

Over the past couple of days, we said goodbye to friends and welcomed a few new ones and attended the Iowa State Fair. There, we paid a visit to the glorious cow made out of butter and gorged on anything and everything you could imagine on a stick (preferably deep fat fried). We also took in the lights.




















Janelle (left) and Lisa (right) munching on a chicken on a stick.









In the studio, we began a project called the History of Love and embark on the production of another on the smile.
















Marie on the set of our new video on the smile.

Laura (pictured here) and Jen stop in to lend a hand and provide the team with a tasty enchilada dinner.