Kachina Puppet

This puppet was my main project this Summer. It's a fully-posable stop motion puppet based on Hopi Kachina dolls. I was very inspired by Sia Salako in particular, but made modifications to fit my own needs as far as animating the character goes. Her head and hands were hand carved from Balsa wood. The hands have little wires that run through the joints so that they are still posable. Her cloak's embroidery is all hand-done but for the line of embroidery at the bottom, which my sewing machine helped me with. The necklace is beaded with wire, so that it is animatable, and the edges of the cloak and dress are rimmed with wire so that they are animatable as well. The feet have bolts at the bottom for tying down. The "feathers" are made from tea-dyed craft foam.

~yebkamin took these really nice pictures of her for me while I was at work! I don't currently have any projects in mind for her, but I might do some animation tests.

Check out my tumblr for WIP photos of her: [link]