Why do I do this to myself?

So, I have a few new armatures prepared for whatever they'll turn into - 2 medium and a small. But I still have 3 weeny ones and I've been thinking about acro balances again...

So last night I tinkered with the tiny temper trials, starting with some work to better secure all the bits together, then replace one of the heads cos I twisted it once too often and the wire snapped. Then I added a stronger piece of wire to 3 legs to make it more solid - limbs at this size are so slim there's not the density to keep things really solidly in place. Or at least, not as much as I'd like.

Getting the arms to stay in place for the top proved finicky as well. Ended up using embroidery thread to wrap them together then a bit of superglue to set them in place.

This morning it was time to secure the lower figure to the base and that's been a tricky thing as well to get the leg angle right and keep the hands where I need them while I grapple with a staple gun. Which doesn't want to staple really solidly today. Okay, so a dab of superglue to keep the hand in place, staple again then use a clamp to squish the staple good n flat.

Okay, staples don't want to play, glue hasn't set quite enough and I need to be an octopus to keep all the parts in place while I wrangle with the clamp. It's taken 3 attempts to get the first hand in and another 3 to sort the second one but I think it's okay now.

[Insert random sculpture here since I don't have a pic of the acro aggravator at the moment.. This rhythmic one went through several paint jobs before I calmed down and went for a simple white, blue and gold mix. Much better. Less is more and all that.]

Now for the real stinker. How to attach the top to the bottom. I have an idea which will involve more wrapping with thread and glue around another stiff piece of wire. If the two pieces sit securely at the armature stage then I'm good to go. At this size the armature is crucial since I can't rely on layers of densely squished pulp to solidify everything together. And always that concern of over-stressing the wire to snapping point.

Aand not sure how I'm going to do this. It may take a while to get it. Cursing may be involved. Probably close calls with gluing fingers together and a scratch or two. Watch this space. Next blog in 2 weeks so I'll have work in progress pictures and likely the finished piece. Unless I change my mind aka realise I bit off more than I can chew and opted to make the balancer do something different instead. Patience has its limits!