So I thought I'd give another type of armature a go, this one doesn't involve any wire, and relies on joins made of nuts, bolts, wooden dowel, washers and eye screws, as you can see form the joint below.

The dowel splitting on several occasions, grr.

I'd say it's turned out a a reasonable technique to use if I could overcome a few problems, mostly, the wood splitting, but more importantly the loosening of the joints as they become unscrewed.

Next step: trying replacing regular washers with spring washers, and maybe nylon ones, see if that helps.