Video of the Day: My Paper Mind

Some people are purists, for whom the hard way is the best way. We’re talking about the folks who rub two sticks together to start a fire, spin their own dental floss, or thump cream in a churner just so they can butter their bagels. This ethos might not be commonplace, but you can find it in just about any sphere — including animation. (Perhaps I should say “especially animation,” come to think of it.)

Enter Javan Ivey.

^{[images courtesy Javan Ivey]}

Inspired by the mind-blowingly intricate strata-cut stop-motion technique used in some claymation, Ivey uses an approach he dubs “stratastencil,” in which each frame of the film is a layer of cut paper. The results are eerily beautiful, as the motion flows like a river of time. Link [via Make]

Bonus video (discovered while doing research for this post):

Here’s “Buzz Box,” the epileptic opus of strata-cut master David Daniels. This film demonstrates the slice-and-shoot process pretty clearly — maybe not terribly pleasant to watch (and YouTube’s pixelation is brutal), but it’s quite a marvel nonetheless. (For beautiful high-res videos by Daniels, go to BentImageLab.com and click on “New Scientists.”)

In case you’re having trouble viewing the embedded video, here’s a direct link.