Post #801529 by Prikli Pear on Tue, Mar 24, 2020 5:51 PM

I'm making new decor for the Lagoon of Mystery. I, like many here, got a kick out of the Disney animated film Moana, and loved the Kakamora, described by Maui as "murderous little pirates." Surprisingly, the Disney money machine never got around to making actual coconut-sized versions we tiki folk could buy. Tiki Rob makes some amazing Kakamora mugs, but sadly those were out of my price range. So I decided to get some actual coconuts and make my own. Not knowing how didn't stop me--I'd figure it out as I went along. Step 1: Get some coconuts. Step 2: Use Dremel cutting bit to carve away the rough husk in the face area. Step 3: Use Dremel sanding attachment to smooth the face area. This could be accomplished using carving knives, chisels and sandpaper, but since I had the Dremel, why work harder than necessary?

Did you know coconuts come in different shapes and sizes? I hadn't paid that any attention prior to this project. The shape and size of the coconut influences the Kakamora face design, don'tcha know.

I put down a base coat of white, then a topcoat of tan to match the look from the movie. I used acrylic paint because 1) acrylic's cheap and 2) being water-based, it's easy to clean up after.

Once the paint dried, I sketched in faces. Then I painted. In the movie, the Kakamoras all had red war paint, but I wanted to put my own spin on it, so I thought I'd do each one in a different color. To further distinguish mine, I'd match their limbs with that war paint color (in the movie, all the Kakamoras have magenta arms and legs).

Ah, such grand plans are easier said than done. I had no idea how to make the limbs. I finally settled on using Sculpey polymer clay. I've never messed with clay or sculpting. I had no idea what I was doing. I cursed a lot. I started out with Sculpey III, which turned out to be too soft and mushy for my liking. Eventually, I switched to Sculpey Premo, which I liked a lot better. The feet of my Kakamoras went through something of an evolution to give the assembly more stability. They don't look much like those from the film. So be it. After more trial and error, I figured out the best way to attach the limbs to the coconut was to screw hanger bolts into the coconut where said limbs would go, press the still-soft limbs into place to the bolt would leave a socket, then bake the Sculpey limbs. The Sculpey III limbs I made always overcooked and came out singed. The Premo limbs came out perfect. I also mixed small amounts of the colored Premo I had with some Sculpey III white to get lighter shades of clay for the toenails on the feet. I think that worked out nicely.

Once the limbs came out of the oven and had cooled, I mixed up some fast-setting epoxy and applied a liberal amount into the socket with a shard of bamboo I keep handy for such things.

Then I pressed the limb into place over the hanger bolt, holding steady until the epoxy hardened (six minutes in this case).

I also used bits of leftover Sculpey to make weapons. This spear point is epoxied to a bamboo skewer.

The serrated "shark tooth" look of the blades was achieved by shaping the main blade out of brown clay, then pinching a rope of white onto the perimeter. I used an Xacto knife to slice triangular wedges away, leaving the serrated edge.

Baymax was my proof-of-concept. My kids requested him because they love Big Hero 6 and liked his Kakamora cameo in Moana. I agreed because I figured he'd be easier than the others, and I was right. Even so, I made many mistakes with him. This is one of those projects where experience really is the best teacher. His limbs were all Sculpey III, and came out looking like overcooked marshmallows, so I had to paint them. I got better, honest.

Also, I gave each of my family a blank coconut they could personalize. The Wife painted a pink cat face on hers. So I just went with it. I don't know if this counts as a Kakamora anymore.

Other than those family ones, I started a couple more that still need limbs. There's a green one that's fairly traditional in design:

Then this. It's still Moana, right? Are self-referential mashups allowed?

As always, a more detailed step-by-step build-along may be found on my blog for those who are interested.