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Description
Nov. 17, 2012 - My sister is getting married!

So, for their wedding, I wanted to make her something rather then go out and buy something. Since she lives in Arizona, and they're big into southwest art, and she's marrying a Native American, it seemed right I should make her something to reflect that.

I was originally thinking of doing a Kokopelli... since she likes those. But, as I was surfing through Google Images (my resource material of choice), I started thinking... "Ya know, Kokopelli's are really simplistic. And she's already getting a Kokopelli quilt. And they're a really common theme in the southwest.... so what else can I do that not a lot of people will have.... Hmmm...."

I've always liked the Kachina dolls. So that is what I decided to make!

This is my take on the Eagle Kachina.
Spent this last weekend putting it together, with subsequent short visits during the week to touch things up.
The glass in the background is actually taken from my Phoenix Ring (I wasn't originally going to use glass for the background, but my mom talked me into it. ), and I built a frame of scrap around it.

The long 'needles' are little brass.... somethings. I found a whole ton of them in my last shop. I'm assuming they go in cars somewhere? Either way, they made really nice decorations for this. I used nails to attach them, which is why you see those stick-like studs sticking out of the wings and head. I kinda liked how they looked. It gives it a unique design aspect.

This was actually quite a lot of fun to make. I haven't done a lot of human figures to date, and it's challenging to get such a simple pose correctly. Just a quarter of an inch off on a leg, or a wing, or the body, and it turns something that should look like a graceful, ceremonial dance into a silly guy throwing his arms up in the air, or doing high-step exercises.

I grew up in Arizona, and as I said, I've always liked Kachina dolls, so I was always looking at them whenever I was in a shop that had them. This helped out a lot when crafting this. I already had a pretty good idea of what I was aiming for.

I used a wire wheel and scrubbing pads to do all the shining-up and cleaning of the metal, so that it would keep some of the texture of the semi-rusted metal (while removing the rust in the process), and ensuring that nothing ended up too bright. Bright, shiny metal tends to give a very 'new and shiny' feel, and that wasn't really what I wanted here. I like the duller, more natural shine you get with the wire wheel.

Also meant that when I took a scrubbing pad to it at the end of clean it up, the scuff marks weren't glaringly obvious. Shiny-glossed metal is REALLY hard to keep that way. And with all those little studs and wires and edges, there was no way I was gonna get a flap disc in there once I had it all put together.

Finally, once it was all put together, I took my torch and heat colored the Kachina and the frame, before coating it with a clear top coat.

As a final touch... I took my Migi Nail Art pens (go look them up. They are freakin amazing for use on crafts and artwork. Nail polish in a pen), and added some simple designs and details. Kachina are often featured with some form of face paint and decorations on their form.

The only thing I'm not liking... and am considering taking back to change... is the frame.

EDIT:
I did take it back and buffed some of the color off the frame. Took my grinder to the scrap edges to shine them up and remove all the color, then I took my wire wheel to the whole thing to dull the shiny edges and subdue the heat color. The overall effect is notably lighter then before. There's more variety in the color around the frame without being super obvious, which makes the overall piece more pleasing to look at, rather then a giant blob of dark on the wall.

-------------------
I didn't realize how DARK it was until I was all finished and brought it home. This is one of the down sides of my new area in the shop. The lights they installed are these terrible, dark yellow lights. Not only do they not property illuminate the area, and make working in the dark irritating, but yellow lighting totally obscures colors. It tinges everything a yellowish color, and if you have anything that's already yellowish, or brownish, it completely obscures it. So I literally can't see color changing with my torch until it starts getting into the blues and purples. And even then, I can't see the extent of the change.

So yea... I ended up with this incredibly DARK frame... which I kinda don't like. The Kachina dancer just does not stand out against it very well. Sooo... I'm thinking of taking it back to my shop and running my wire wheel across the frame. Not remove all the color... but lighten it up so it's not so freakin dark. I'm just a tad worried this might make it too textured.
---------------------------

Size: Roughly 17" x 17"
Hangs on the wall

Description
Nov. 17, 2012 - My sister is getting married!

So, for their wedding, I wanted to make her something rather then go out and buy something. Since she lives in Arizona, and they're big into southwest art, and she's marrying a Native American, it seemed right I should make her something to reflect that.

I was originally thinking of doing a Kokopelli... since she likes those. But, as I was surfing through Google Images (my resource material of choice), I started thinking... "Ya know, Kokopelli's are really simplistic. And she's already getting a Kokopelli quilt. And they're a really common theme in the southwest.... so what else can I do that not a lot of people will have.... Hmmm...."

I've always liked the Kachina dolls. So that is what I decided to make!

This is my take on the Eagle Kachina.
Spent this last weekend putting it together, with subsequent short visits during the week to touch things up.
The glass in the background is actually taken from my Phoenix Ring (I wasn't originally going to use glass for the background, but my mom talked me into it. ), and I built a frame of scrap around it.

The long 'needles' are little brass.... somethings. I found a whole ton of them in my last shop. I'm assuming they go in cars somewhere? Either way, they made really nice decorations for this. I used nails to attach them, which is why you see those stick-like studs sticking out of the wings and head. I kinda liked how they looked. It gives it a unique design aspect.

This was actually quite a lot of fun to make. I haven't done a lot of human figures to date, and it's challenging to get such a simple pose correctly. Just a quarter of an inch off on a leg, or a wing, or the body, and it turns something that should look like a graceful, ceremonial dance into a silly guy throwing his arms up in the air, or doing high-step exercises.

I grew up in Arizona, and as I said, I've always liked Kachina dolls, so I was always looking at them whenever I was in a shop that had them. This helped out a lot when crafting this. I already had a pretty good idea of what I was aiming for.

I used a wire wheel and scrubbing pads to do all the shining-up and cleaning of the metal, so that it would keep some of the texture of the semi-rusted metal (while removing the rust in the process), and ensuring that nothing ended up too bright. Bright, shiny metal tends to give a very 'new and shiny' feel, and that wasn't really what I wanted here. I like the duller, more natural shine you get with the wire wheel.

Also meant that when I took a scrubbing pad to it at the end of clean it up, the scuff marks weren't glaringly obvious. Shiny-glossed metal is REALLY hard to keep that way. And with all those little studs and wires and edges, there was no way I was gonna get a flap disc in there once I had it all put together.

Finally, once it was all put together, I took my torch and heat colored the Kachina and the frame, before coating it with a clear top coat.

As a final touch... I took my Migi Nail Art pens (go look them up. They are freakin amazing for use on crafts and artwork. Nail polish in a pen), and added some simple designs and details. Kachina are often featured with some form of face paint and decorations on their form.

The only thing I'm not liking... and am considering taking back to change... is the frame.

EDIT:
I did take it back and buffed some of the color off the frame. Took my grinder to the scrap edges to shine them up and remove all the color, then I took my wire wheel to the whole thing to dull the shiny edges and subdue the heat color. The overall effect is notably lighter then before. There's more variety in the color around the frame without being super obvious, which makes the overall piece more pleasing to look at, rather then a giant blob of dark on the wall.

-------------------
I didn't realize how DARK it was until I was all finished and brought it home. This is one of the down sides of my new area in the shop. The lights they installed are these terrible, dark yellow lights. Not only do they not property illuminate the area, and make working in the dark irritating, but yellow lighting totally obscures colors. It tinges everything a yellowish color, and if you have anything that's already yellowish, or brownish, it completely obscures it. So I literally can't see color changing with my torch until it starts getting into the blues and purples. And even then, I can't see the extent of the change.

So yea... I ended up with this incredibly DARK frame... which I kinda don't like. The Kachina dancer just does not stand out against it very well. Sooo... I'm thinking of taking it back to my shop and running my wire wheel across the frame. Not remove all the color... but lighten it up so it's not so freakin dark. I'm just a tad worried this might make it too textured.
---------------------------

Size: Roughly 17" x 17"
Hangs on the wall